Le village de Gorgui

I am in Senegal. I've been here for nearly a week, and will be here until Monday night, when Lindsey and I go home via Madrid. I'll have much more to say when I get home, but I thought I'd mention one of the things we did on Thursday.  We were down in the Siné-Saloum delta, asking around our lodge for a place to eat lunch.  Most guests choose to eat all their meals at the hotel restaurant, but we wanted to change it up.  Palmarin was too far to walk, as it turned out.  But one of the employees, Gorgui, suggested that it was possible to walk to the nearby village where he lived.  He would be working at the hotel, but if we desired, he could arrange for someone to show us around and serve us lunch.  We enthusiastically agreed.

The next day we set out down a clay road, past salt flats and goats.  The hotel dog, Tite, chose to accompany us.  We walked about thirty minutes until we saw a village.  A man was waiting for us near the road: Lamine, Gorgui's older brother.  We met much of Gorgui's extended family, including his adorable baby Babou and his wife Maimouna.  They mostly spoke Serere at home, but everyone was well-educated and conversant in French.  We were taken on a tour of the village and a walk to the ocean.  We drank ice cold Fanta and Africa Cola in a shady room off the main porch.  Maimouna served a delicious two-course lunch on huge communal platters.  We were given spoons, but Lamine, Seleh, and Maimouna rolled the rice, fish, and vegetables into small balls with their hands and ate much more efficiently.  After looking over the two family photo albums and giving Maimouna a small token of our appreciation, we walked back to our hut on the delta, accompanied by Tite.  Not the typical Thursday schedule for me back in Wisconsin.