Mini Beach Vacation!!

So last Monday, the Peace Corps FINALLY made a little room in our schedule for us to have a day off when we weren't all separated in our training villages. Obviously, we jumped at the opportunity and all 50 of us decided to head to Popenguine, an eco-tourism site on the coast, for a little mini beach holiday. I volunteered to plan the trip, but being faced with the prospect of finding transportation, renting houses and procuring enough food and drinks was a little bit daunting. Thankfully though, there is a PCV in Popenguine who, when I called him to get the number of the guy we usually rent houses from, volunteered to take care of reserving the houses. Ankith also called ahead and warned the boutiques that 50 Toubabs were rolling into town, so they needed to stock up. A couple of relatively smooth phone calls in French to arrange Alhams and texts to all the PCTs letting them know the plan and we were ready to go...

So on Monday afternoon, PC cars came and got us from the 11 different training villages and brought everyone back to the center. Then we all ran around packing up stuff for the beach and borrowing foam mattresses to bring along. We got everything strapped onto the 2 Alhams and crammed ourselves in to head out, only an hour and a half later than intended...which is pretty much a miracle for the Peace Corps and Senegal in general. Of course travel in an Alham is always an adventure and the one I was in stalled and came to a complete stop while trying to go up a hill on the way. We were thinking we'd have to push it to the beach, but thankfully it started again after 5 or 10 minutes and we were on our way.

Once we got to Popenguine, I decided it was about time to pass the torch on being in charge and enjoy myself, haha. So we stopped at a boutique to get supplies and I handed all the money to Kathryn, another PCT, and let her take over. All 50 of us piled out of the Alhams at this point, which was total chaos. Everyone was in charge of getting their own snack and drinks, but we also had to get everything we needed for a communal dinner that night and breakfast in the AM. Plus, some of the PCTs were in charge of walking into random compounds looking for ice. In Senegal, you can't just walk to the gas station or grocery store and buy ice. You have to look for houses that have freezers. Frequently, the women that live there will fill up plastic bags with water and then freeze them to sell as ice; so that's what we were after. After about an hour of running around like chickens with their heads cut off, we finally piled back into the buses and drove the rest of the way to our houses.

That day was possibly the hottest day since we arrived in Senegal, so that plus 25 people packed into an Alham equals I've never been so sweaty in my life. So as soon as we got to the house, most of us dropped our stuff and headed straight for the ocean, while a few people got started on making spaghetti.

Everyone took a break from swimming to eat spaghetti Senegalese-style (aka 15 forks attacking each platter), but otherwise the entire night was spent enjoying the ocean. It was a gorgeous evening and the water was the perfect temperature, so it was pretty much amazing. It was nice to have a chance to unwind and hang out with everyone out from under the eyes of PC staff.

We rented 2 houses for the night, which sounds like a lot, but with 50 PCTs plus 6 or 7 PCVs who came down to join the party, things got rather crowded. So it was pretty much sleep wherever you could find enough space to lay down, haha. I, for example, ended up sharing a flimsy foam mattress with another PCV out on the porch of the big house. Thank goodness for mosquito coils preventing us from getting bitten to death, because there was definitely no where to hang a net. But I got to sleep right next to the beach and spent the night swimming in the Atlantic, so who am I to complain? Waking up there was definitely one of those moments where I have to pause and take a step back...it still seems surreal that this is my life now. And of course its not all fun times and parties on the beach, but its still an amazing opportunity to experience.

The next morning some of the girls cooked pancakes for everyone (which I slept through, wah wah) and then we spent the rest of the day hanging out in the water or around the house. Unfortunately, I missed putting sunscreen on my chest so I got my first major sunburn since getting to country...but frankly, it was worth it. It has been far too hot the past 2 weeks to even consider not staying in the water when I had the chance.

Around 5 it was time to pack up and head back to reality. I wish we could have had one more night to enjoy the beach, but oh well. Thankfully everything went off without a hitch planning-wise and everyone had an awesome time. Great trip!!

Right now we're in the middle of counter-part workshop so I'll let you know how that goes next time. Later!