It's pronounced San Loo-eey

I started writing this the day it happened, but didn’t finish it until today (of course). But here’s one of the days I spent in Saint-Louis:

Today has been one of the most amazing days of my entire life. I don't even know how to explain except to start at the beginning.

I woke up this morning after our second night here in Saint-Louis. Saint-Louis is about four hours north of Dakar, and it was the capital of Senegal before the capital was moved to Dakar. It was also the capital of francophone colonial west africa, so it has a rich cultural significance and historical pride. It's a UNESCO historical site, or however you call it. It's much smaller than Dakar, and is much less overwhelming and frustrating. The weather is also better, because Saint-Louis is an island. There are bridges on either side, one connecting to a smaller island/peninsula/thing (okay, so i'm a little unclear on the geography...) and another bridge on the other side that connects to the mainland, where the city continues somewhat.
Our hotel is on the main island, which is quite small and easily walkable. The people in the streets are curious and friendly, and although the kids follow us and call us 'toubabs' (white people) and the street vendors pssst at us (the way to get someone's attention here) and tell us to buy things, it's simply not as intense as Dakar is, and has a much more laid-back vibe.

So back to this morning. It's been amazing sleeping in air conditioning and beds with no mosquito nets and such, but I did go bed lat last night, so I was pretty tired when I woke up for breakfast. Some of the other students have been complaining that there is no substance to the breakfast and that they're sick of eating only bread for breakfast. But anyone who knows me will understand that I am in HEAVEN eating croissant and mini pain au chocolates and baguette with butter or jam. That and a small cup of coffee, lots of milk and sugar, and I was actually prepared to face the day.

Here in Saint-Louis we are working on projects; presentations on different historical sites. I picked L'Eglise du Sud, the catholic church here, which happens to be the oldest catholic church in West Africa. I'm doing my project alone, although some people are doing them in groups. Our afternoon was free to work on the presentations, but we did have a lecture on the litterature of Saint-Louis in the morning. Normally it wouldn't have been part of the best day ever, but we had a HORRIBLE lecture the day before about the history of the city. It was very boring and VERY repetitive and was three hours long when it was supposed to be an hour and a half, so today's lecture was refreshingly interesting and to the point.

After class, I set off to try and find the curate/priest of the church. I had tried to locate him yesterday, but he wasn't in the office. Luckily today he not only was in his office but welcomed with with typical Senegalese teranga (hospitality) and let me ask him questions about the church and the role it plays in the community. It was nice talking to him, and I found myself extremely happy to be in the company of someone who was the same faith as me. That's not something I'd thought would be a problem, but after a month of people asking me over and over every day why I'm not fasting, it was sincerely nice to be able to talk with someone about the social pressures that the minority of Christians here (5% ish) have to deal with in a Muslim country. At one point he opened a cabinet and brought me an old baptism and marriage registry. It was from the mid-1800s, I don't know if I've ever held something so old and interesting and been able to leaf through it like it was just any random book. It was pretty amazing to look at the elegant tiny handwriting documenting every single baptism in the Church with a paragraph each and the signatures of the parents and witnesses afterwards.

Of course he kindly opened up the church for me after the interview, and showed me around and answered my questions about the paintings, old (broken) organ, beautiful original stained glass windows, and the renovation that is so obviously necessary for the church to stay intact. (The government promised money for a renovation years ago, and hired people to come and look at the church and see how much it would cost, but so far, of course, they haven't seen a cent.) I had forgotten how much I love old churches, and how that was one of my favorite things to do while traveling. I haven't had a chance to visit a mosque yet, so I have nothing to compare it to, but the church was simple and open and felt heavy with history.

We were all due back at the hotel by 2:30, to take a little field trip in the bus. I finished up at the church when my camera's battery ran out, and then headed back to the hotel to re-group a little, grab some lunch, and just made it back in time to change into my bathing suit and tie-dye dress. Then we all headed out for La Langue de Barbarie. (Mom and Dad and Ellen, you may remember that name from the Lonely Planet guidebook for Senegal that was laying around our house before I left. It's a national park specifically known for being a bird sanctuary, although I don't think this is the prime season for it.)

We took the bus there, which was exciting as usual. (Without scaring my mom, let me just say that driving in Senegal is an... experience.) We drove for awhile, then we got out and took a pirogue (wooden boat, sort of like a large canoe, I'll put pictures up of them). La Langue de Barbarie is where the Senegal River meets the Ocean, so we took the pirogue down the river for awhile. It was gorgeous and fun, and of course the breeze was wonderful. Eventually we got out and crossed the 'langue' to get to the other side, where we swam in the ocean on one of the most beautiful stretches of beach I've ever seen. Completely deserted except for us.

Eventually we went back to the other side, got back in the pirogue, rode back to the bus and drove back to Saint Louis to the hotel. And it was during this return, during the pirogue ride back, to be specific, that we saw a very faint and very small rainbow, over the river. (Those of you who know me very well will understand why this was one of the highlights of my trip so far.) I tried to take pictures, but it’s hard when the rainbow’s so faint, you know? Anyway, I was very happy.

Going back to the hotel was one of the nicest parts of being in Saint Louis. Opening the door to a blast of (comparatively) icy air and being able to take a long cold shower and cool down before going out again is a luxury I’ll never underestimate again. For dinner we walked the entire length of the island looking for a restaurant that the SIT people had pointed out to us. We went all the say there just to discover that it was closed, but luckily for us we discovered another place to eat very close by. It was clearly the tourist restaurant of choice, since it was full of toubabs (French, American, English, etc). I had pasta, linguine carbonara and it was amazing! I miss pasta a LOT. Saint Louis is much cooler than Dakar, with the breezes coming from the ocean, and by nightfall it’s actually pleasant to walk around outside. We walked back towards the hotel, and met up with some other students downtown. They had met some Senegalese guys and said they were going to the beach to go play djembe (kind of drum). I decided to tag along with them, even though, I have to admit, the whole thing sounded pretty sketchy. We were a large group, so it was safe enough, but I was beginning to suspect that these guys were leading us on a wild goose chase as we walked around the city and crossed the bridge onto the smaller island next door. It was dark and people were shouting at us from all sides and little kids were grabbing us and asking for money, and all in all I was beginning to suspect that the night was not going to end up being any fun.

Just when I thought it was maybe time to turn around and disentangle ourselves from our ‘guides’, we came to the beach. We passed some kids playing late night soccer, our friends put their djembes down in the sand and began to play, and all of a sudden the night when from sketchy to sublime. I think we stayed on the beach for two hours or so, but I have no idea really. We danced, we sang, lots of kids and young women about our age heard the music and came and joined us. They all stayed together and occasionally one of them would start dancing and we’d all cheer her on, or an American girl and a Senegalese girl would dance together for awhile. I mean, I’m making this sound like a Lifetime movie of cross-cultural understanding, but that’s really what it was like. I went down the water and put my feet in. I stared at the stars. I sang Bob Marley songs. I got to try out the djembe, and finally figured out how to make some of the beats they’d been doing for us. I probably should stop using the word amazing so much, but that’s exactly what it was.

When we finally decided to call it a night, our Senegalese friends kindly walked us all the way back to the hotel. I got to talk some American and Senegalese politics, which is always my favorite way to end a night, and then I got to go back and go to sleep in an air-conditioned room. Sure, the whole thing sounds a little cliché, I guess, but it was such a perfect example of everything I love about traveling and being here in Sénégal. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we all went skinny dipping, too. :p

A bientot!