Mboro, a termite mound, and the door of no return

Ken traveled with us to visit our land on the beach in Mboro. These first two shots are taken in our front yard with our Uncle Abdou Dieye, who gave us a grand tour of Mboro and fed us a wonderful air-conditioned meal of the Senegalese national dish, theibujen (fish over rice). My highlight of the tour was meeting the local Senegalese rasta man who has two American wives, living in the traditional African style. Unfortunately his wives were in Oregon at the time.

Ken and I also visited Goree island, where we toured the famous and haunting maison des esclaves (house of slaves), served as target practice for the local kids playing soccer, relaxed in the shade with a couple cold sodas, and took in the ambiance of a fresh new dawn of human freedom.

Uncle Octopus

We enjoyed two wild weeks with Kenichi Okamoto just after we arrived in Senegal. We hustled on the streets of Dakar, hit a couple late night dance halls, and ate great big plates of fresh fish and rice. In a national park near Saint Louis we took a boat ride chauffered by a 15 year old Tupac fan and his two 7 year old assistants across the delta to the peninsula and watched the fishermen who sleep on the beach, fishing with one line tied to a simple stick buried in the sand. They keep their fish in a hole in the sand next to them and we bought two holes worth of fish and ate them when we got home. Ken chan also continued his tradition of doing calligraphy for the children of the world, which was a great moment of success.

Getting the Senegalese Groove

Have been settling in to our life in Dakar and gradually getting into the groove. Helps to find our patience, walk a little slower under the sun, enjoy the good times surrounding all the good meals, and stay out until 3 am to dance to live Senegalese salsa.

Munda's in Brooklyn

We have spent the past few days at Chris's sister Amanda's place in Brooklyn. We've enjoyed many of Keith's wonderful homemade meals and Paulina's specially decorated cake for Kathleen Aiza and David Ibou, with icing made from scratch. We fly tomorrow on Royal Air Maroc from JFK to Casablanca. We have a 15-hour layover in Casablanca, during which Royal Air Maroc puts us up in a hotel. Then we have a short flight to the Leopold Senghor Airport in Dakar, Senegal, where we arrive around 2am on March 8th.

60 more

David and Kathleen Vaught both turned 60 in the past few months and we celebrated their birthdays with family cheer and wished them 60 more before heading out for Senegal.