After finally falling asleep woke up to very heavy rain, worried about being in a thatched hut, but no leaking at all. I've decided my inability to get more than a few hours of sleep each night is a side effect of the Larium I'm taking as a malaria prophylactic - that's not great, but at least I can stop worrying about it. Ventured out into the natural shower, was soaked instantly but no matter, still plenty warm. Tried to find a pirogue (motorized canoe) to Banjul or at least halfway, but was told the regular trading boat wouldn't run on Friday because the owner was Muslim. That left me with the option of hiring my own boat (price started at 75,000 CFA which I could have bargained down to 25 or 30 thousand, but that's still close to US$60) or find another route. As I was debating three French staying at the other campement came by looking for people to share the cost of a pirogue to Foundiougne.
Foundiougne is inland on the delta from Djifere, and should be an easy day's travel to Banjul. It will save me from having to take the same road back towards Dakar, get me a pirogue trip and some company to travel with. An hour later after I'd committed to going to Foundiougne I'm told that the trader did come in and that I could have caught a pirogue South, oh well. The pirogue trip was very relaxing (if you ignored all the leaks where you could see water coming into the boat and the various large insect critters). It rained on and off but that was just cooling and the guys, Eric, Fredrick, and myself spent the four hour trip sunbathing (yep - even in the rain). The delta is a maze of waterways through dense mangrove trees (I'd guess there's land in there somewhere, but it looks like most of the islands were all trees). It could have been parts of Florida except we were in a brightly painted 25 foot long canoe that seemed to be minutes from sinking. Disappointingly didn't see much wildlife. Only birds (pelicans were the only ones I recognized) and the occasional jumping fish.
Made Foundiougne with only three bailings. Found a campement and I'm sharing a bungalow with Eric, who is a student from Paris. I had my first real meal in three days (something other than bananas and bread): some generic fish (with the head and tail - of course), fries, fried eggs, and sautéed onions and tomatoes, with pineapple for dessert - It was spectacular. Played Shithead for awhile with Eric (my roommate), Ankh (a German med student living in France), and her boyfriend Fredrick (A French med student). Team Morocco '98 will be glad to hear I lost two games in a row.
