A day in the village

All week we have been coordinating with our guard Ibrahaima to go to his village. I had told him at least 3 times - you are coordinating the transportation. We couldn't go in our truck - there wasn't enough spaces, so we were hiring a "bush taxi" - it holds 7 people. All week he said that yes was arranging the car. Well, Friday night I asked him what time the taxi was coming and with a deer in the headlight look said - I thought you were arranging the taxi! Ugh - I thought our communication was clear. Well, we called a friend who called a friend and we had a taxi - albeit at a much higher price, but nonetheless we were all set. It was an interesting ride - he picked up his cousin along the way (who spoke English) so we had a very full car. Our driver was a little grumpy - after agreeing to a price - he tried to negotiate a little more in the morning, but thankfully there were some of our wolof friends there to tell him no. The trip was a little more crazy because that morning my back went out, so the taxi ride was a little less enjoyable for me! We arrived at his wife's village an hour and a half laterto pick her up to take her to his parents village up the road. So we had an eight month pregnant women added to our very full taxi.
We arrived at his village and of course were celebrities. We met his dad who was the chief of their compound and a village elder. They treated us like family. They fed us beignets (little doughnuts), rice and chicken, melon and attaya (tea). The kids had fun with the other kids - the boys played soccer and Faith hung out with the other little girls. At one point I heard some of the girls call for Faith - "Fanta, Fanta" it was neat how quickly they were accepted. Our kids also had so much fun with all of the animals there - the baby goats were adorable! Faith quickly slid into Momma role with them.

We just basically hung out all day - literally sat in a room, but to them we honored them and their son by spending our whole day there. They weren't happy that we had to leave - insisting that we stay the night. But they were appeased as we promised to come back and stay the night. That should be interesting! Overall it was a great day, with the hope of another day in the future.

His dad had a garden - these are papayas.

Ibrahaima and his wife - she was very shy!

A huge Baobob tree!

This was our lunch - poulet yassa.

The kids getting water from their well.

The kids when we stopped at his house to pick up his wife - were excited to see all of the Toubabs crammed in the car.