It was so much fun!
It was a fairly open mud plain that is filled with the tides. Mangroves (google it!) are trees whose roots create open arches and then their branches fall back into the water as additional root systems. The women harvest mussels that attach themselves to the branches/roots of the mangroves.
After planting small roots (that look like asparagus basically), we gathered back in hardened mud. Of course, we couldn't behave like my parent's raised me to be. We had mud fights and wrestled and took the customary jumping picture and then I just went ahead and covered myself all over in mud- hey! free spa treatment!
heading out into the mud to plant!
Waly totally beat me at wrestling
wrestling Lisa in the mud
the winner!
the loser...
(this is what Senegalese wrestlers do when they lose the honor of their family when they fight)
... ... ... .. .. ... ... ... ... ... .. . . . . . . . .... ... ... . .. . ... ... ... ... . .. . ... . . ... . ... .. .. . .. .... ... ...
wrestling Lisa in the mud
the winner!
the loser...(this is what Senegalese wrestlers do when they lose the honor of their family when they fight)
The next day, we visited the mangroves in the delta where they are submerged in water. We traveled in pirogue, like long motored boats that just skim the water. The islands in the delta are made of piles of shells basically. On the island, we were walking over burial mounds of the former native population. The bigger the pile, the more important the dude.
Waly (our program director) and his get-up for the dance party on the boat
an island made of shells
the roof of the hut on the island made of shells (totally reminiscent of "Life of Pi")
me!!!
hanging out in a baobab tree
(Griots, basically the fools (of the court, in europe) of the village, were hung inside of the trees to rot after their death rather than buried under a mound of shells because the village did not want them (who were of the lowest caste) to pollute the earth that would then grow their food.)
i spy...
something blue
in a sea of green...
j
the roof of the hut on the island made of shells (totally reminiscent of "Life of Pi")
me!!!
hanging out in a baobab tree(Griots, basically the fools (of the court, in europe) of the village, were hung inside of the trees to rot after their death rather than buried under a mound of shells because the village did not want them (who were of the lowest caste) to pollute the earth that would then grow their food.)
i spy...something blue
in a sea of green...
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