The month of May is a big transition month in Senegal. The days start getting noticeably longer (there’s a surprising difference between the seasons even here at 15 degrees north latitude) and the weather slowly starts to change. Warmer and more humid days creep into the weeks, and thunderstorms begin to slide northward from Liberia and Sierra Leone. This year, there is even more change in the air as we prepare to leave Senegal after four years here. It’s not easy preparing for such a big move but we have a good head start.
So how does all of this upcoming change affect the girl? Probably not much, other than the time change between here and the west coast of the US. She’s really not old enough to be permanently affected by the move – she might miss Leye and Hobbes for a short time, but she’ll get over it.
We had a great three-day weekend recently – headed up to northern Senegal near Saint Louis, where we stayed at a place we had not been to since our first year here. The Zebra Bar is a campement about 15 kilometers south of Saint Louis in the bush, and is a cross between camping and non-camping. The best thing about it for us this time is the fact that it is so child-friendly – Madeline is old enough to really enjoy such a place. Lots of playgrounds and things to play with, including many animals (she became especially attached to a donkey named ‘Piano’). The grounds are expansive, with lots of trees and safe places to run around all day long. It’s right next to the Senegal River, near to where it meets the sea. So the beach is perfect for a kid, with tiny waves and lots of crabs to chase around. The weather was perfect all weekend. Dad’s birthday and Mom’s Mother’s Day were celebrated in tranquil style…
Coincidentally, this was the weekend of the famous Saint Louis Jazz Festival. However, we never even went into town once… our setting at the Zebra Bar was sufficiently relaxing and chasing Maddie around filled our days. The town is nice, but we had been there before, and all of the concerts didn’t start until very late at night so attending them obviously was not a possibility. Frankly at this point in my life in Senegal I am not much interested in attending large events with masses of people late at night (especially with Madeline in tow).
We have almost all of our plane tickets for our summer travels in hand at the moment. Definitely makes it seem more real that we are leaving Senegal.
