It was time to move closer to Banjul, capital of Gambia. Our driver was full of interesting information. As we got closer to Banjul, we started passing by much nicer homes. He called this area Fake Gambia. He told us the money to build these homes was made in Europe or USA. Many whites come here and marry Gambians and age was not a factor. That was apparent when we saw usually much older whites holding hands with young Gambians. Our driver felt mixed marriages were good. He said we may think different, move different but we are one people. Our friendship will go deeper when whites marry blacks. Probably right. We passed by a huge stadium which he told us was built as a gift from the Chinese. They are also building a road from the airport to a conference center that is under construction. Many countries will be coming to this conference.
When we got to our airbnb, we soon discovered it was not as advertised. No water in the sink, toilet didn't flush and the cleanliness standard was very low. It did have good internet, hot shower and a nice pool with shaded lounge chairs…too bad the big dogs took turns using the chairs too! The Kachikally Crocodile pond was close so Rog mapped out a walk we could take. We soon noticed that his route followed an open sewer. It was very disgusting & smelly. I heard a baby crying and I thought…that baby doesn't even know how much it has to cry about. There was quite a nice museum at the entrance which included traditional ceremonial masks, clothing & instruments. A display showing the Gambian soldiers who fought in WWI and WWII. A picture of Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1965 along with some chiefs & other political leaders. A short walk led us to the small pond where the crocodiles were—over 100 of them! As we approached, we saw a large albino one which we both thought was stuffed. Wrong. With a bit of encouragement & after checking the guides hands for 10 fingers, I bent over and pet it…as Rog took a picture. It was amazingly hard! This pond is considered sacred & if you pour the pond water over you…you will be cured. I drew the line and declined.
We managed to find another way back to our hotel and spent time reading & swimming. Around 4, we walked to the Botanical Garden. There the caretaker said it's heyday has long gone. There was a few flowers & some trees but nothing to write about. The caretaker had been there about 20 years and it made him sad to see the decline. That night I spent quite a bit of time on Instagram with Cameron, Claire, Colby, Reagan & Addie. Fun to be connected with them!
Next day was Saturday so @2 we called Ben and then Jake…talking to each of them about 45 minutes. WhatsAp is such a gift to us! We went to find dinner & ate at the same place as last night because it was so good: shrimp & Schwarma first night and fish cakes & shrimp spring rolls the next. Back to our room, we called Bekah and spent almost an hour catching up with her. Later I noticed Sarah was active on Instagram so ended up talking to her and their whole family and even got to listen to Jake play the guitar. We felt like we'd spent the day with our kids & gkids! Between mosquitoes & a noisy fan, it was a long night. We ate granola bar for breakfast, read abit & I talked to an older lady from UK. She's been coming here for years helping a friend who runs a NGO to help young men learn to be very successful gardeners. It's honest work and takes some of the load off the women who do most the garden work. She said Gambia had improved some over the years but the work ethics remains extremely low. This airbnb is a good example. If something needs work…it probably won't get it because the owners live in Holland and the caretaker is lazy. We were eager to get out of here so by 11 we hailed a taxi to a hotel about 10 minutes away. SOOOO much better! Clean, air conditioning, flush toilet, a tub with hot shower, a huge pool and just a short walk to a beach. Oh nice it felt! After we settled in, we walked the beach but I had to return quickly cause I had a case of diarrhea. Ugh. Some meds, a hot shower & rest on a comfy bed was all I needed. Rog went off in search of some lunch. We have a TV so we watched that a little while & then worked on our Morocco trip. We shared a delicious shrimp/noodle dinner & had big dish of ice cream with chocolate sauce. Nice!
