Halfway Home!

I'm just about halfway through my trip and I feel like I have learned and experienced a lot so far, particularly last weekend. We left Friday evening and headed to Kaffrine, which is about 230 km away from Dakar (or ~150 miles). If we were driving this distance in the US, then it might take us just over 2 hours, but here in Senegal, the traffic is crazy getting out of the city and the roads are not always like our US highways. Between this and our stopping 4-5 times for dinner and then juice, juice, and more juice (the Senegalese really drink a lot of juices I've noticed!), we didn't arrive at our hotel in Kaffrine until 2 AM! It was neat driving at night though because there was a big full moon out, and with very little light pollution outside of the city, the views were pretty cool.

Saturday was the day of our climate services workshop in Kaffrine. This workshop was a lot shorter and there were fewer glitches than last weekend in Fatick because the Met service has been working with farmers in Kaffrine for a few years now, running these climate briefings annually. I also had the opportunity to interact more with the farmers in Kaffrine because a bunch knew English. It was really great and encouraging to hear their first-hand accounts of how the climate information provided to them has positively benefited their communities by saving food crops, property, and ultimately human lives. I especially enjoyed hearing about a joint exchange that occurred last September and May between the farmers in Kaffrine and farmers in Colombia, South America. The goals of the visits were for each group of farmers to learn best practices from one another (as they both grow similar crops) and also for the farmers in Colombia to model a project after the Kaffrine climate services work. Despite both of these countries and populations being extremely poor and without the same access to resources as those in our own country, they are able to forge such meaningful partnerships and more forward in really inspiring ways. This is what I told the local rural radio who interviewed me after the workshop to see what I thought of the project. Then, as we were leaving the villages, some of the local kids saw that I had a camera and got so excited and wanted their pictures taken. I'd never seen kids get so excited about something that I would always take for granted. 

Me with one of the farmer's groups as they document the traditional indicators they use for the season.

Some village boys posing for the camera!

When the workshop ended on Saturday, it was a bit too late to drive all the way back to Dakar, so we started our trek west and stayed the night in Kaolack. The next day's journey took us between 4-5 hours again because of various stops along the way. These included stopping along the side of the road to pick up hibiscus leaves and baobab fruit from women in the villages, and stopping for mangos on this stretch of road that, I kid you not is just lined with people and tables full of all different kinds of mangos for as far as you can see. I never knew that so many different varieties of mangos existed or how delicious they can be after sitting in the tropical sun all day!

                                              Pretty sky as the sun sets over the Sahel. 

The village women selling hibiscus leaves and baobab fruit. 

After arriving back in Dakar, there was a bit of time for some sight-seeing so I made my way to the African Renaissance Monument. This is a huge monument that sits atop one of two small hills overlooking Dakar. It is taller than the Statue of Liberty and you can go up into it to take in expansive views of Dakar. I had a great tour guide too who told me a lot about the history and what the monument represents.

View of the Western most tip of Africa from the top of the Monument (here I am inside the man's helmet, and you  can see the boy's head in the left of the photo).

                                                     Me standing outside the Monument. 

The rest of this week has been pretty busy with work, including my attending a workshop on seasonal prediction of meteorology, hydrology, and crop modeling for West Africa. It's being held at the big university here, called Universite Cheikh Anta Diop (named after a Senegalese anthropologist and historian). The workshop has been very informative and it's been great to see a few people from Columbia who are here to attend it as well. Other highlights from the week have included checking out some World Cup games which are being shown at a nearby restaurant on a big projector. Even though everyone is speaking a different language and the commentary is in French, everyone is brought together to watch and it's great to all boo or cheer together. 

The restaurant near my apartment where I've been catching World Cup games. 

I have my first (and second to last!) full weekend in Dakar coming up and am hoping to check out some of the tourist attractions that I've been meaning to see. Pictures and more to come after that!