Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Round 2



Its 6:47am… I can’t sleep. I’m back in Tambcounda and its sort of feeling like Round 2. I finished a rough cut of the film and now its out of my hands. A little anti-climactic to have my last day of editing spent on trying to make space on the computer to export. But I’m done for now and getting excited to go back to the village. The next few days I’ll be down in Kedougou at the Agro-forestry summit getting seeds and tree-sacks, discussing past successes and failures, and deciding on future tree related projects. Since AgFo is the best sector in Peace Corps Senegal I’m sure it will be fun. And the area around Kedougou is always fun. Bike rides into the now dry bush, hikes through tranquile riverbeds with the occasional pool to swim in, and waterfalls (though during the dry season they do leave a little to be desired). Its been a long time since I’ve been down in the southern half of Senegal, I almost forgot how hot it gets. In Dakar, a city surrounded by the ocean on three sides, there is always a breeze to balance the burning sun. But here in Tambacounda, the air sits, dry, and very still. Every once in a while you might get a gust of wind but you immediately close your eyes, your mouth, and try not to breath in. The wind is more like a hot dust and debris cloud making sure to dirty everything and everyone in its path. The dust does help to see the movement of the wind. Its not uncommon at all to see funnels of brown wind spiraling down dusty streets, sucking in bits of paper and plastic from the ground and spitting them out in every direction. Yesterday, the temperature here was 107 degrees… And March is only the beginning of the hot season. Last year on more than one occasion the thermometer went over 120 before the rains came in June. The whole way down from Dakar, I was reading this book, "An African in Greenland" all about the lives of villagers living on the other end of the spectrum. At one point while reading, my whole body soaked with sweat from sitting in a tightly packed car, a gust of wind came through the window giving me chills. For a few minutes I was there, in the arctic, surrounded by snow. Of course, you can only trick yourself for a few minutes. Ok, I’m off. I’ll write more soon. Hope everyone’s doing well. Peace and Love ya’ll.