Monday - is Banjul day. Ioana and I had been staying in Bakau which is a small little townish outside of Banjul so at this point all we had seen of Banjul was the ferry terminal and the drive out of the city. Since Ioana would be leaving Tuesday we decided to spend the day there. So we took a taxi that probably cost a bit too much. We arrived to the Albert Market. Similar to markets in Dakar, this market is all along the roads but there is also an archway that leads you into the main market area where you walk through a maze of vendors. We didn’t go far into the maze of stores because we weren’t really looking to buy much. Now there is something good to be said about this Gambian market. Although there are tons of bumster men running scams all over the place, the market was clear of the creeps who follow you trying to “show” you where to shop and lead you around then ask you for money. I could not have been more thrilled because those men are the ones that make me want to physically injure them. I could still hear catcalls all over the place but whatevs those I can ignore.
So after the market, we decided to walk towards a nice park looking thing…there was also a place that looked free of people so we could take pictures. Yea that place is free of people because it’s the entrance to the military complex. Oops! So that was a bad life choice and made for some awkward scolding by some army dude like we were little kids. Nope we’re not mentally challenged we are just tourists. Ioana then wanted to find the Tanbi Wetlands. Now if you look at a map of Banjul this is a huge section that should pretty much smack you in the face as you walk up on it. We thought it’d be easy to find by walking. Turns out that walking there was the worst idea ever.
First problem was that we walked all of the city about twice for like an hour and a half. We then found an internet café which made me happy because I was waiting on an important email from Wells. So we decide to go in and Ioana has the awesome thought to look up Banjul on Google Maps. I was too distracted by the excitement of connecting back to real life to come up with solid plans like this one. So we found our path though we were tired and hot. We get on the correct road (there are limited signs but there are more than Dakar) and walked ALL the way back down the length of the city. Finally we come to this four way stop and we have two options. One sign says the name of the road we want but I think it’s pointing in the wrong direction and the other direction which I thought would be the right one looked just as shady. Dirty roads with dirty men lurking. Yay. So we take the road marked with the name we recognize. OF COURSE! The road sign was wrong because why would we need correct signage on our roads. So we went back while being a bit bothered by some dirty men and too the turn instead. This was creepy road where all the cars in Gambia came to die. It was like walking through a junk yard/dock. We did however find the wetlands. The dirty, polluted and sad wetlands. Have to say they were not worth the trouble but perhaps if we hadn’t been cheap college students and perhaps taken a boat from a less dirty end they would have been more appealing. I know that sentence wasn’t grammatically correct in any way, shape or form but it got the idea across. So we took several pictures and investigated some while huge trucks blew past us and send half the Sahara desert with them as they passed. We finally ventured our way back to lunch!
Sorry to Ioana who had to deal with a grumpy Sammy during the wetlands adventure. Part of the problem was I was not well fed. We should have learned our lesson with the forest and grumpy Sammy part one. We found King of Shwarma and it was good. I did have to yell at a vendor who came up to us while we were eating. F***ing rude. Just sayin’. And then we tried to grab a taxi home. One man came up to us and tried the don’t you recognize me from the hotel skit. This is getting old by now. Then we found the world’s worst cab driver. Seriously the worst. Let me explain why I never want to hear you complain about bad driving again unless you are in an actual accident:
First off, this kid was as cheap as they come and stupid. On our way out of town he stops by a crowd of creepy men and as they swarm the car Ioana and I can just remember the guy who ripped open our taxi doors this morning as we were leaving trying to get us out of the car. A little scary. Now we were swarmed by bums. Somewhere in this mix, a woman and her child and a man with her try to get in the car. The man made the mistake of trying to open my door. Nope dude don’t touch my door. Feeling a bit protective of my door right now. So they get in and we leave. Now I realized as we are driving that we passed BOTH turns towards Bakau and are heading somewhere else. This idiot decided to drop this woman off in Westfield then loop ALL THE WAY back to Bakau. This is like the least logical pair of stops ever. Way to be cheap kid. You’re losing money anyways just by the longer route just fyi. Also while we are driving this kid is freakin texting and swerving a bit. Now this was hardly noticeable on the big wide roads but as our roads got narrower and narrower towards Bakau this was terrifying! He wasn’t paying any goddamn attention. So as this gets progressively worse, I tell Ioana I don’t want to pay him in full and then she starts freaking out not to be mean. I thought it was perfectly fare (haha word play see that?). And, as if to further verify that he is a delinquent in need of ADHD medication he takes his key out of the ignition while driving, picks his ear wax with it, and reinserts the key. I guess he thought it just needed some lubrication. The good news is we made it back alive the bad news is I felt like a mother ready to give a lecture. Awkward angry moments. So that was our day in Banjul. This is why I say our first night should have been a solid indication as to the crappy driving we’d face in the future.
We hung around in the pool and stuff then I wanted to eat. Night had fallen and Ioana was a bit scared of walking to far in the dark. I was a little concerned but less so I think. So we went to the bar were we had eaten before. Ioana practically ran there she was walking so fast. Of course it took forever to get our food. So while we were talking, the guy who had bugged us our first night there came up to talk to us. Ioana and I were in the middle of a conversation but these people, as nice as they think they are, have a) no concept of personal space and b) no concept of a private conversation. I tried to respond politely and as he apologizes for interrupting and tries to sit down I tell him we are in the middle of a conversation. It was rude! I wasn’t trying to be nasty but even my version of nice seemed mean to him and he removed himself from the table. Bumster 0 Sammy 1. I win! My steak sandwich was phenomenal though so I can’t complain too much. Then me and Ioana returned and watched a movie. It was a good night over all and a great day in Banjul despite our wetland mishap. Off to bed early because Tuesday is Border Switch day.
Tuesday – BORDER SWITCH!!! Bam like magic Alice was transported to Gambia and Ioana was transported home in no time at all! Bahaha not really how it went but this was our best travel experience as far as I’m concerned. Ioana and I got up SUPER early and found a taxi to Banjul to catch the ferry. Today was our lucky day! There were two ferries running! YAY! Double the fun. And by that I mean half our travel time. So we got right onto a ferry and were over in a flash (and by that I mean 45 minutes) then made our way up to the border. We took taxis both times which Alice and I learned later is too expensive and that public transport is better. But anyways, we made our way to the border easily which is the weird part and met up with Alice. I had to wait awkwardly at the Gambian border post but it was fun to people watch and speak to some of the guards. I don’t know what took Alice so long to cross but it was nice we made it to the border by like 9am. Couldn’t have asked for a quicker travel time. Then it got better! Once Alice crossed over we were looking for a taxi and instead there was a cheap van going with a bunch of people. YAY! Cheap cheap!
So we sat on the bus and Alice told me her interesting and somewhat horrifying stories about the village. Like how her host mom cut a little boy open after he got a hold of a razor blade and cut his little sister. I suppose eye for an eye…but it isn’t quite the same as pulling hair. Just sayin’. You’ll have to read her blog for the rest. We got to the ferry and for some odd reason got pulled in to have Alice’s bags inspected. They didn’t even inspect them at the border so this seemed a bit late and unnecessary. We waited for the ferry and got a snack and such. This wait was much easier because there were less people and Alice and I decided not to run like Ioana and I. Much better life choice but like I said it was easier because there were less people. We got to the hotel pretty seamlessly and decided to relax. Alice was tired and wanted to enjoy the luxury of running water and I was tired and wanted to enjoy the luxury of doing nothing. It was a win/win.
Luckily that night we also found cheap food! We went into this little place with literally two tables inside and several outside with creepy red lighting. However small and weird, the plates were like 50 Dalasi for good food versus like 215 Dalasi at that bar Ioana and I had eaten at. Damn that’s a good price! And the fries were to die for! They were fresh potato and oil fries. So good! To top it all off the names of the two dudes who ran it were Prince and Moses. Not sure where they came up with those bizarre names but they were interesting characters for sure. We then watched Due Date (the new movie) with some tea and cookies. Most relaxed day yet I do believe!
Wednesday – Banjul Part II. Since Alice had not yet seen Banjul or anything for that matter we made a game plan for the day and were off on new adventures for her and some of the same for me. I say the same but it was all different than me and Ioana’s experience which seemed really strange to me. First, we went to the Crocodile pool. I won’t bore you with a repeat about this BUT this time Alice and I got to TOUCH THE CROCODILE! So cool! I even have photos to prove it. Omar was a sport bringing us there again and I was sad I had to pay twice but hey at least this time I got to touch the croc!
Then, we went to Banjul and this time Alice and I took the minibuses (which are really minivans) to the city which again were WAY cheaper. Made me happy anyways. Ioana and I chose to see other parts of Banjul on our trip but Alice decided we should see the National Museum and I agreed completely. Despite Lonely Planet’s description of the place, it was a cute museum with good exhibits I thought. The layout was a bit confusing but that’s bound to happen the way things are organized in West Africa but there were some really cool artifacts and historical stuff. There was also a music room down in the basement which was pretty cool. At the start of our visit there was a school visiting with a huge group of kids who couldn’t care less so that was a bit irritating but overall it was cool. I did have to go pee on the way out and made the mistake of thinking their bathrooms MIGHT be decent because this is a public tourist spot. Nope scariest bathroom ever. Like a little hall way with a toilet at the end and a nasty sink and no tp. Of course no toilet paper. This was like a hallway out of the Willy Wonka Factory and I was afraid the walls might start closing in on me so I didn’t take my time.
After the museum, we went to lunch at Ali Baba’s which is a chain I know well from Dakar. They always seem to have good food. So Alice and I chose a table near the door. If only we could have seen into the future. All of a sudden this nasty smelly dude starts trying to sell us some baby shit and shaking a rattle toy at us. At first I try nicely to tell him to go away. Then he continues to harass us and I tell him he’s just straight up rude. He went away for a little while sensing my anger. He clearly didn’t sense my anger well enough. He tried AGAIN! So I finally yelled at him. This guy continued to hang around the door (which is like a large open store front btw) and then entices some kids of a family who are eating in there with the toys he has. He totally disrupts the family’s lunch because now the kids are crying and whining about the toys they want. At least in the states you can just leave your whiny kid home. Here you have these toys constantly in their face and they ask for them just like any kid would. How irritating. I wanted to throw a hard object at the man but I had nothing useful to throw. Now that I’ve written this I actually remember this is Alice and I having lunch the day she arrived on Tuesday. Nevermind that now. It was still an irritating experience.
After the museum we ACTUALLY went to a restaurant down towards Arch 22. The restaurant was nice and dark and cool inside but empty. It didn’t seem to have a great menu but the food was good enough. The server was super awkward. What’s new. And there was some strange man who came up to us twice to talk to us. The first time he completely embarrassed himself because he asked if we were someone…and we weren’t the people he was looking for. The next time he thought we were from the states which instantly makes us like a novelty in this country. Great. Yea yea we’re from the states. Yea yea democracy. Yea yea Obama messing up my Pell Grant so no I’m not happy about that. Always the same conversation really.
After lunch I showed Alice the market. Cool as it was the first time I suppose! We went a little further into the maze which was scary and cool all at the same time. Then we found the internet café to feed our need for a connection to media and real life. Then we walked to the park and took some pictures. Then we found the minibuses home! I was surprised we found the minibus station so easily but it was just a really nice relaxed day in Banjul! It was awesome.
That night we decided to try a new venue for dinner and we ended up in yet another extraordinarily awkward situation. We found we were very good at finding ourselves in these awkward moments. There was a little bar and grill just to the left of our alley way to the hotel. They actually share a wall with our hotel so that’s how close this was. We walking and look around. As you look around it looks like a building, some laundry hanging out to dry to the right, a bar set up to the left, and tables randomly dispersed there. First, we asked to see the menu because we are cheap college students who can’t afford much and want to check the prices. So she tells us to sit down while we look. The menu had more spelling mistakes which made you wonder if a small child wrote it but the prices weren’t bad and there were some good options. This particular night in Bakau was really windy and chilly so we figured hey there’s probably seating inside right? Wrong.
Alice and I made the mistake of asking if there was seating indoors as we were standing up and immediately the family surrounded us and stuff and brought us into the house. Yep that’s right! This building wasn’t a restaurant or some indoor seating this is their personal house. So as we start to say no we can sit outside she starts shuffling people around and throws us in some poor girls room. Yea….we’re sitting in a teenage girl’s bedroom over her little bedside table in two lawn chairs. Couldn’t get more awkward right? Well not only did we wait a while debating whether to move back outside or not but as we were ready to get up and leave, a naked little boy came to our door and stared at us. We were on our way out anyways so that was a bit less awkward but I have to say it’s a long way from anything I’ve ever had to deal with. Then we went to Prince and Moses’ shop for their fries. They were so good the night before we just had to have them again!
We showed up to the shop and to Moses’ surprise we only wanted fries and I ordered a coke because I have a soda addiction. It’s a problem I know. He gave Alice a coke too assuming that we just needed to have two and probably to just get our money. So we finished our fries and to our lovely surprise we were told to wait that they have a surprise for us. The boys had made us a fish and onion jazz! Very nice of them. Of course the night before they asked us for our phone number and email. Alice and I gave false numbers and real emails. No one has to really answer email. Then Alice had her camera so we decided pictures would be cool. What I forgot to tell Alice that night was how Moses slowly slide his hand down to my ass while she was taking a picture to get a free feel. Less than impressed but nothing about it surprised me that’s the sad part. End of day four. Off early in the morning on Thursday.
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