Hello!!
I'm back!!
Did you miss me?
Well okay to be honest I don't really care because I missed me. I missed this whole writing thing. It's been basically a year since I've last written and my goodness.
Stuff has...
Happened.
Stuff which I will not get into.
Fine fine fine just a bit:
So The Gambia it was.
I immediately started doing research and packing. I only had two weeks to go and I was already way behind.
Yes. I pack far too much in advance. So what. It soothes me.
Anyway, turns out that The Gambia has some unfriendly mosquitos. Fun fact: these unfriendly mosquitos require vaccines.
Fun.
Oh. The best part was that apparently these vaccines have an incubation period (is that the right word?) of 10 days. I had my appointment scheduled for the 3rd of January. And I was leaving the 7th. Several, and I really do mean several, medical officials pointed out that fact to me oh so kindly.
AND that one vaccine ended up being three.
While going to Gambia I though might as well also go to Senegal.
So I booked a 'safari' trip on a reserve in Senegal.
***********************************************
The TUI flight was to leave at 6am, which meant my wonderful father would take me to the airport to be there at 4am.
It was a short 5.5 hour flight. Everything went extremely smoothly. And that's not even sarcasm. It genuinely went well.
You know even they currency exchange people were extremely fair? But extremely?
I didn't really do much that first day. I walked along the beach, but quickly realized that walking alone along the beach was not going to be an option. I'll get to that later.
The next day I was up bright and early for a 6.30 pick up to go on safari!
So we pick up the rest of the crew and head to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, to take the ferry to Barra to get to the Senegalese border.
Okay so it was a trek. We get on the ferry only to discover that we cannot actually leave because, well, a bus was stuck. A bus that already went back and forth on the ferry trip. Twice.
It took them two hours to get the bus off the ferry.
...We saw that bus in the same position 8 hours later upon our return.
While we were on the ferry, there was a man collecting rubbish going around saying "come on guys lets keep this place clean, let's make it like America."
...
Right anyway.
Once we're in the reserve the guide prepares us for the fact that we may not see giraffes or rhino as they tend to be shy and skittish.
Within the first 10 minutes of our drive we see the rhino. Big John. That was his name. He lived up to the name.
We also saw zebra's, antilopes, an ostrich and little pumba's. Yes yes I know they're called warthogs, let me have this.
And then not even 20 minutes later we saw a herd of giraffes AND there were baby giraffes.
The guide told us this was the first time in months of doing this tour that he had seen all the animals.
I don't think I could have had a better day.
Oh. Except. I forgot to mention, despite being extremely prepared for mosquitos, and having put the repellent on every inch of myself, I apparently forgot my lips.
So naturally, I was stung. I woke up looking like I was a bar fight.
So I was reasonably exhausted the next day and took it easy by doing a 2 hour tour around Serrekunda market.
If you've ever been to India, it's like one of those huge markets where they sell quite literally everything under the sun.
I was too afraid of taking pictures so I took this one of chili's.
Some like it hot.
What can I say.
The next day was a 'me' day. I went to the beach at around 10am because I wanted to walk. Which I did. Kind of.
Remember when I said that walking alone was going to be a challenge? Well. Gambia is called 'The Smiling Coast of Africa' which the country definitely lives up to. Essentially what this means is, every single person will approach you and start a conversation. Not necessarily to sell you anything but literally just to talk.
I knew this going in to the walk. I had prepared myself. I had my headphones on and I walked in the sea because I figured they wouldn't want to get wet.
Yeah.
That did not help.
As I was walking many people walked up to me asking me how I was, what I was doing, what my name was (I was Maria for the time being, it's my middle name), and no matter how many times I tried to tell them thanks but no thanks, they just would not stop. I literally had to tell them "please respect me I want to walk alone."
Actually one guy who owned a beach bar started walking with me, he asked where I was staying and he said "oh so we're neighbors!"
Me: yup I guess so.
Him: yes, it's nice to walk with neighbors.
Me: yeah but I like walking alone.
Him: yes with neighbors you're never alone
Me:... yeah but I like being alone
Him: but with neighbors you can walk!
Me: ..............
He got the message.
I did end up walking for an hour and playing with 3 streetpups so all in all it was a good walk.
The next day the guide decided to take me around the monkey park and the Makasutu cultural forest.
So. Many. Monkeys.
I was also kind of scratched by one, but it's fine cause it didn't break the skin.... right?
Look at their little faces!! Okay so the goat wasn't a monkey but I couldn't leave him out.
At the forest we walked for what seemed to be hours. We ended up at a fortune teller who told me that I would end up working for myself and be my own boss. So if anyone has any ideas for me to start something, I'm all ears.
And then we had lunch.
Now, I'm emphasizing the fact that we had lunch.
BABOONS.
These creepy baboons swarmed us! And they are vicious beasts. Who apparently drink wine?
The last two days I realized I was exhausted so I did pool and easy walking days. I walked along the beach the last day, at 9am this time, and went shell hunting.
I saw a pufferfish! Okay it was dead but it was all poofed up! And there was another couple looking at it and I said "oh I don't think customs will let us take that along."
They didn't find it funny...
I took shells with me instead. Also, I'm not sure if I just broke the law or anything but don't tell anyone, kay?
And just like that my trip was over. We went to the airport and flew away.
Haha. I'm just kidding.
We ended up being delayed by 7 hours at the airport in Gambia because there was no fuel.
No no I'm not joking. There was actually no fuel at the airport.
So once the plane finally arrived and we were cleared to leave, the pilot kindly told us that we would be stopping in Dakar to refuel.
It's fine. We landed at 2.30am instead of 10pm the night before.
TUI, I'm looking forward to that 600 euro compensation!
So that was my trip.
I channeled my inner Toto.
A few days later I turned 26. And apparently I dreaded it so much that I ended up having some kind of stomach-flu the day of and throughout the weekend.
I guess that's just what it feels like to be older?
You know. It's been a tough couple of years and I'm working extremely hard on getting myself out of that mindset I was prior to my travels.
I'm still struggling. And that's okay.
I'm off to Switzerland this week to hopefully not break any bones. The fortune teller told me I'd never have any serious medical issues, so maybe I'm invincible.
Who knows.
I'm back!!
Did you miss me?
Well okay to be honest I don't really care because I missed me. I missed this whole writing thing. It's been basically a year since I've last written and my goodness.
Stuff has...
Happened.
Stuff which I will not get into.
Fine fine fine just a bit:
- I changed jobs
- I moved countries
- I lost important people and Frizz
So it's safe to say that I lost myself a bit throughout everything that has been going on. Which is also why I hadn't been writing. Everything sounded fake.
I decided to (and hold for the cliché here) to take back my life.
Why yes, I did cringe writing that.
So I did what I did best.
I travelled.
I went to The Gambia y'all!!
I went to The Gambia y'all!!
It was my first time in Africa and my fifth continent.
Why The Gambia you ask?
Well, my parents (and keep the following in mind) who were concerned about me going to Berlin on my own, suggested it.
So The Gambia it was.
I immediately started doing research and packing. I only had two weeks to go and I was already way behind.
Yes. I pack far too much in advance. So what. It soothes me.
Anyway, turns out that The Gambia has some unfriendly mosquitos. Fun fact: these unfriendly mosquitos require vaccines.
Fun.
Oh. The best part was that apparently these vaccines have an incubation period (is that the right word?) of 10 days. I had my appointment scheduled for the 3rd of January. And I was leaving the 7th. Several, and I really do mean several, medical officials pointed out that fact to me oh so kindly.
AND that one vaccine ended up being three.
While going to Gambia I though might as well also go to Senegal.
So I booked a 'safari' trip on a reserve in Senegal.
***********************************************
The TUI flight was to leave at 6am, which meant my wonderful father would take me to the airport to be there at 4am.
It was a short 5.5 hour flight. Everything went extremely smoothly. And that's not even sarcasm. It genuinely went well.
You know even they currency exchange people were extremely fair? But extremely?
I didn't really do much that first day. I walked along the beach, but quickly realized that walking alone along the beach was not going to be an option. I'll get to that later.
The next day I was up bright and early for a 6.30 pick up to go on safari!
So we pick up the rest of the crew and head to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, to take the ferry to Barra to get to the Senegalese border.
Okay so it was a trek. We get on the ferry only to discover that we cannot actually leave because, well, a bus was stuck. A bus that already went back and forth on the ferry trip. Twice.
It took them two hours to get the bus off the ferry.
...We saw that bus in the same position 8 hours later upon our return.
While we were on the ferry, there was a man collecting rubbish going around saying "come on guys lets keep this place clean, let's make it like America."
...
Right anyway.
Once we're in the reserve the guide prepares us for the fact that we may not see giraffes or rhino as they tend to be shy and skittish.
Within the first 10 minutes of our drive we see the rhino. Big John. That was his name. He lived up to the name.
 |
| Biggie! |
We also saw zebra's, antilopes, an ostrich and little pumba's. Yes yes I know they're called warthogs, let me have this.
And then not even 20 minutes later we saw a herd of giraffes AND there were baby giraffes.
The guide told us this was the first time in months of doing this tour that he had seen all the animals.
I don't think I could have had a better day.
Oh. Except. I forgot to mention, despite being extremely prepared for mosquitos, and having put the repellent on every inch of myself, I apparently forgot my lips.
So naturally, I was stung. I woke up looking like I was a bar fight.
So I was reasonably exhausted the next day and took it easy by doing a 2 hour tour around Serrekunda market.
If you've ever been to India, it's like one of those huge markets where they sell quite literally everything under the sun.
I was too afraid of taking pictures so I took this one of chili's.
Some like it hot.
What can I say.
The next day was a 'me' day. I went to the beach at around 10am because I wanted to walk. Which I did. Kind of.
Remember when I said that walking alone was going to be a challenge? Well. Gambia is called 'The Smiling Coast of Africa' which the country definitely lives up to. Essentially what this means is, every single person will approach you and start a conversation. Not necessarily to sell you anything but literally just to talk.
I knew this going in to the walk. I had prepared myself. I had my headphones on and I walked in the sea because I figured they wouldn't want to get wet.
Yeah.
That did not help.
As I was walking many people walked up to me asking me how I was, what I was doing, what my name was (I was Maria for the time being, it's my middle name), and no matter how many times I tried to tell them thanks but no thanks, they just would not stop. I literally had to tell them "please respect me I want to walk alone."
Actually one guy who owned a beach bar started walking with me, he asked where I was staying and he said "oh so we're neighbors!"
Me: yup I guess so.
Him: yes, it's nice to walk with neighbors.
Me: yeah but I like walking alone.
Him: yes with neighbors you're never alone
Me:... yeah but I like being alone
Him: but with neighbors you can walk!
Me: ..............
He got the message.
I did end up walking for an hour and playing with 3 streetpups so all in all it was a good walk.
 |
| Poor pup was afraid of my polaroid camera |
The next day the guide decided to take me around the monkey park and the Makasutu cultural forest.
So. Many. Monkeys.
I was also kind of scratched by one, but it's fine cause it didn't break the skin.... right?
Look at their little faces!! Okay so the goat wasn't a monkey but I couldn't leave him out.
At the forest we walked for what seemed to be hours. We ended up at a fortune teller who told me that I would end up working for myself and be my own boss. So if anyone has any ideas for me to start something, I'm all ears.
And then we had lunch.
Now, I'm emphasizing the fact that we had lunch.
BABOONS.
These creepy baboons swarmed us! And they are vicious beasts. Who apparently drink wine?
The last two days I realized I was exhausted so I did pool and easy walking days. I walked along the beach the last day, at 9am this time, and went shell hunting.
I saw a pufferfish! Okay it was dead but it was all poofed up! And there was another couple looking at it and I said "oh I don't think customs will let us take that along."
They didn't find it funny...
I took shells with me instead. Also, I'm not sure if I just broke the law or anything but don't tell anyone, kay?
And just like that my trip was over. We went to the airport and flew away.
Haha. I'm just kidding.
We ended up being delayed by 7 hours at the airport in Gambia because there was no fuel.
No no I'm not joking. There was actually no fuel at the airport.
So once the plane finally arrived and we were cleared to leave, the pilot kindly told us that we would be stopping in Dakar to refuel.
It's fine. We landed at 2.30am instead of 10pm the night before.
TUI, I'm looking forward to that 600 euro compensation!
So that was my trip.
I channeled my inner Toto.
A few days later I turned 26. And apparently I dreaded it so much that I ended up having some kind of stomach-flu the day of and throughout the weekend.
I guess that's just what it feels like to be older?
You know. It's been a tough couple of years and I'm working extremely hard on getting myself out of that mindset I was prior to my travels.
I'm still struggling. And that's okay.
I'm off to Switzerland this week to hopefully not break any bones. The fortune teller told me I'd never have any serious medical issues, so maybe I'm invincible.
Who knows.
