Isle de Gorée

I want to preface this post with apologizing for not writing more. Believe me, it's not for lack of news etc., but rather my own laziness. Ok, I should really say exhaustion. The only time I have online is write after class ends, and I'm usually so tired/overheated/deyhdrated that I'm not in the mood to try and be witty and informative. I just want to pass out next to my 15,000 cfa fan.

It was also difficult for a while for me to write, because (honest truth) I wasn't happy for some time. This will be known as my "cultural adjustment" period. I believe I'm nearing the end, mostly because I've gotten used to a lot of things that used to bother me- like there being garbage absolutely everywhere, the cockroaches in my bathroom, the crazy ass drivers, the constant blackouts...
you get it.

So after that intense day of fasting, me and some of the other students took a trip to Gorée Island, which is off the coast of Dakar. This is the oldest settlement in Senegal, and where many slaves were kept before they were shipped off to the Americas. After our exhilarating ferry ride, we went to La Maison des Esclaves (House of the Slaves), which is known for La Porte de Voyage Sans Retour (The Door of No Return). It's difficult for me to really express what I felt when I was there...it was like I couldn't process the knowledge of how many people had suffered and died in those same rooms I was walking in.
After that, we had lunch at this outdoor restaurant that was right next to the ocean. I had shrimp and peas (gots to get my veggies) and some delicious buy juice, which comes from the fruit of the Baobab tree. We were all pretty excited to be eating good food in a pretty place, but then we couldn't be left alone! First it was the billions of flies swarming around our food, then the merchants who would hang over the fence and try to sell us things, then the cats that would walk around our heels, then the beggars...By the end of the meal they were about 5 people asking us for money while one of the cats climbed on the table and snatched up the last of the yassa poulet. That put a bit of a damper on the day.

Then we went to another museum that discussed the history of Senegal. While it had interesting information, it was all poorly presented. So we ended up spending most of the time on roof (it was some sort of fort), looking at the amazing views of Dakar and the rest of the island.