BEER.....

Anybody that knows us knows that we like beer. We like to drink it, brew it, cook with it, but most importantly, we like to try other peoples beer. One of our favorite activities that we consider VITAL when traveling anywhere, BREWERIES!! how many are there and do we have time to see them all. As luck would have it The Gambia has 1 and we have plenty of time to visit provided its not a: Weekend, Religious holiday, Friday, Fasting, Too early, Too late, or a Spontaneously declared public holiday.  We have driven by numerous time to what seems to be a boarded up warehouse. My last call to inquire about tours went a little something like this; "Hello, do you have tours?" --"Juice?"-- "No, Tours"-- "Juice?" "No, No, Tours you know like tourists?"---"Juices?"--"Nevermind" We will keep trying until success is achieved. They Brew 3 beers; Julebrew, Julebrew Export, and Guiness.  Julebrew is a basic lager that could use more flavor, a slice of lime really helps it. Julebrew Export (made right here, nothing exported about it) a bit darker and stronger not a bad beer though. Then the Guinness is actually pretty good, we have been told that its the original Guinness recipe, brewed and bottled right here. Very rich, with coffee and chocolate more flavorful than what we are all familiar with. Over 7% ABV. They also do quite a bit of soft drinks, for the strict Muslim population. I will repost if we ever get a tour.

Landrover (Defender) 90

The local Landrover parts and repair facility

Getting a new-used (less cracked) windshield

Gutted for the engine Overhaul

The engine on the Landrover is nearly done, she should be on the road by midweek. Hopefully. Then we can really explore. Near as we can tell, it a 1988 one of the last years it was just the Landrover 90 before it was renamed Defender 90.  Finding parts for any vehicle here is like an epic scavenger hunt, and only the locals know the answers. Side roads to parts yards frequently lead through puddles deep enough to reach the doors. Or weaving between kids wrestling or playing soccer barefoot in the road. Infants and toddlers roam the sand streets freely with no adults in sight.  Its common to see goats and donkeys tied to roadside grassy patches or being lead around by a young boy. There are tons of baby goats out now, super cute, no bigger than Thor.

Tide is out

When the tide is out we can walk from our closest entry point on the beach all the way to the Bakou harbor/fish market. Its a couple miles and very pleasant, save for the occasional local bathing naked or taking a dump on on the beach.

Nice Dog

Thor is going to think we changed his name to Nice Dog after we leave the Gambia. Exaggeration aside I probably hear it 50 times a day, anytime we leave the house. All the other dogs are long legged mangy and covered in sores, many are kind of aggressive. Some actually ask what Thor is? Not what kind of dog, what kind of animal?? He makes friends quickly though. Provided they don't run screaming in the other direction.

New Chickens

We enlisted the help of Modou to head back to Serekunda market to find a new hen. The chicken lady insisted that we needed a rooster for them to lay eggs. I tried giving her the analogy of human females ovulating without a male. She commenced laughing in my face, OK, thats fine maybe I really have no idea. 6AM!!! That stupid bird start crowing, let me paint a picture. 10 foot Concrete compound walls completely surround the house, majority of the yard is covered in concrete tiles, concrete house, tile floors. This is the Carnegie Hall for a rooster, the acoustics are superb, the echo of each proceeding crow is immediately followed by the crescendo of yet another. This guy is rocking the house, joined by a chorus of numerous other cocks in the neighborhood. I almost had to restrain Nikki from taking action  with a machete. It took 20 minutes of me, Thor, and the gardener  chasing the little bastard around the compound to catch and bag him. Taxi back to the market and return with a hen, eggs the very next day. Yummy.

Getting Settled

Obviously after spending nearly 36 hours traveling to get here we slept in, then had a delightful brunch at a local place called the Butcher Shop. There are probably a dozen of these “Butcher Shop” establishments in our town of Fajara however none of them are the same nor owned by the same person.

The following day was Nikki’s first day at the office so Thor and I went for a Walkabout, the first of many to come. The majority of the roads here are just sand from one compound wall across to the other. The only paved roads are the major highways, they are also the only roads with names. We made our way through the village in search of the beach which we were told was close by. On the way, Thor; a white fluffy Westie about 16 inches tall and 20 lbs with a permanent smile, managed to scare the heck out of an entire beauty salon full of women and befriend every child on the way. We met a local guy named Modou who was collecting fallen mangoes at a small intersection marked by the ever-present tiny wooden shack that serves as a market for that area. Modou instantly became a friend, he spent the next 2 days showing me and Thor all over the area, including a tutorial of plants and fruit and medicinal plants.

Road Trip

All the little black dots are crabs. Thousands of them.

After the disturbing Thor with his Mango maggot morning we decided to take a road trip. We headed south out of Fajara and went through every village along the main road with a few detours on side roads to see where they went. We drove as far as we could until the road ended at the border of Senegal. It was a fairly uneventful trip aside from a bunch of locals all directing us to a location unknown to us, which turned out to be a sleepy little beach bar with a few European tourist. Many of these places will be so full of vacationers by November that there wont be a place to sit for months. 

The Trip

So early arrival to Dulles airport when checking a dog is absolutely clutch. 2 hours and 3 clerks finally got us cleared through brussels and that was with receipt of payment and a confirmation. Thor and I managed to lose a racquet ball into a secured area of the tarmac. Who’s brilliant idea was it to put a 10ft by 10ft astroturf pet area surrounded be widely spaced metal bars directly above the tarmac anyway?

Arrived in Brussels and immediately headed for the Handicap restrooms hoping Thor could do his business. 4 bathrooms later still had no luck. So we chanced immigration and headed out the front doors. 8 hours on a plane, followed by an 8 hour layover and another 12 hours on the next plane is too much for any pooch. Thor is a rockstar had not a single accident at any point nor did he make a sound the entire trip. The flight from Brussels was like a McDonalds play place at 36,ooo feet, nearly half the passengers were under 5 years old. Upon touchdown in Guinea everyone jumped up like a fire hit their seat and feverishly scrambled for overhead bags (The plane was still taxiing down the runway!!). 3 hours later we land in a completely dark Banjul City with a respectful little Airport, 2 hours later we finally leave Banjul airport minus one lost bag en-route to our new home.

Modou

Modou has become a good friend in the past couple weeks. He took me to the Katchikally Crocodile pools and gave me a tour of his village of Bakou, the market and even his home. Modou is a guard for a local company and makes the less than the equivalent of $50 US dollars a month. The guards all work 5 days a week 12 hour days and their shift can flip-flop from day shift to night in the same week. His home consists of 2 concrete rooms each roughly 8×8 feet square. One room is completely bare, save for a small coal cooking pot about the size of a coffee can tucked in the corner. The other is his bedroom, a small bed with a foam pad and tattered cover. I single bare light bulb hangs from the ceiling, pointless as he cannot afford electricity. His wall is adorned with a small old picture of a flower and a magazine clipped picture of the late Princess Diana. He is proud of his job and takes pride in his uniform and his home. He shares a single cinder block outhouse and water faucet with the rest of his immediate neighbors. He is always quick to smile and is teaching me both of the major local languages, Mandinka and Wolof.

Ugly Fowl

It was Friday the 13th, my birthday, and also muslim holiday. Actually every Friday is Muslim holiday so Nikki was off work early. We met Modou and went to the Serekunda market in search of a local gem. Success! we found 2 of the ugliest chickens a person could conjure up. Our yard is very large and we want to have fresh eggs, so why not just buy the source. Walking around a market with two chicken upside down in a plastic sack with heads poking out the bottom is completely normal, trust me. 

Banjul

The other day I gave Modou a cell phone so we could keep in touch. Its a luxury he could not afford on his own and they are extremely cheap by our standards about $25 for a basic model. He was very appreciative and excited about this unexpected gift. He helped me build a chicken house from cinder blocks and an old piece of corrugated metal that he brought from his village. That evening we drove to the capitol city of Banjul, Mo gave us the insiders tour of the huge market and harbor. It had just finished raining so most of the streets had close to a foot of water on them which went mostly unnoticed by pedestrians and drivers alike as they waded their way to the next destination. Not the most attractive city but interesting non the less.

Kachikally Crocodile Pool

According to the locals if a couple is wanting a child but having problems getting pregnant then the woman is supposed to bathe in the waters of this sacred Crocodile pool and she will become fertile.

Sounds counterproductive to me, small round pool about 6 feet deep maybe 100 feet across with about 80 healthy Nile Crocodiles lurking.

Sailors Bar

Sunday is beach day in The Gambia. This can be very entertaining if staring at the waves and rolling clouds is not your thing. Many of the locals hit the surf on the weekends, Sunday in particular. Hundreds of boys playing soccer all up and down the beach, a few of them wrestling in the sand mimicking their favorite WWE idols. (Wrestling is pretty popular here).  Not to mention the “Bumsters”, this is the elusive yet blatant sex tourism trade (aka. Prostitution). Many older European men and women travel here regularly for the companionship of the local flavor. Its somewhat frowned upon by authorities but its also a huge revenue that is absolutely crucial to a developing nation. For us its both entertaining and disturbing. The beach bars are very nice, this one is pretty close to us. A comfy beach chair under a thatch umbrella with cold Julbrew delivered to your hand for $1 a beer.

The Scottish Embassy

Thor and I went for a walkabout yesterday afternoon and discovered a little hotel called the Safari Garden with a pool just blocks from our house. Upon inquiry non-residents are free to use the pool with the purchase of something from the bar (Remember beers are a $1) SOLD!! Came back with Nikki that evening. Thor decided he was going to raise hell chasing the resident cats, so I began making our apologies to the only occupied table. A very affable man with a super thick UK accent stood up and said “Welcome to the Sottish Embassy!!” Turns out the hotel was just taken over by this crew in an effort to create an NGO support and information resource for any and all volunteers and nationalities in the country. So we all had very entertaining conversation with this animated Scot, two Bulgarians and a local PC volunteer for the next 5 hours drinking more than we should have. We learned the proper way to toast in Gaelic and drink a single malt….I want to go to Scotland for my next vacation. Check them out Thescottishembassy.com

EEEEWWWW!!

This morning we were about to leave the house and head for the Serekunda Market to buy a new chicken since Salt passed away earlier this week. Nikki called me back into the house to look at a bump on Thor’s abdomen that I had pointed out a couple days ago. The bump was now the size of a shooters marble with a white head. (Younger readers or those with weak constitutions should close the page immediately) MAGGGOOOOTTT!!! Imbedded in his stomach. Which we (and by we I mean Nikki) because I DO have a weak constitution and puss filled things make me GAG. She proceeded to try and pop/drain said pustule and out popped a friggen worm. I very nearly lost breakfast. We then cleaned it with Vodka and began the search for a vet, no luck come back tomorrow.

Palm Wine

That first day I met Modou he was very keen to show me as much as possible. After returning from the Crocodile pools he took me to get a taste of a (local underground) type of drink called palm wine. I asked around about it and many people have not had it for fear of going blind. However, Mo assure me that it will cure any ailment the body has. The process is entirely done by the Guinea-Bissau natives that come here for this trade. My first thought was “AFRICAN MOONSHINE!!” They live in grass huts at the base of the trees, shimmy up huge palm trees with no more than a wooden hoop, once at the top they tap the tree and affix a water bottle to harvest the milky fluid just like we would maple syrup. This is highly organic and after 8 hours it already begins fermentation. If a person were to wait for 3 days it might just knock you flat out, maybe even blind..They are very secretive about how they prepare it once they harvest it and I have no intention of asking. It was rather foul tasting, like seltzer water mixed with yeast and milk. I didnt go blind nor do I have any intention of drinking it again.