Happy Thanksgiving!!

So in the end I decided not to remain in South Africa, obviously. Although I have to admit it was a pretty attractive option at the time.

I made it back to the Gambia in one piece, despite a little detour on the way home to Cape Verde due to the Dakar airport being closed from a "strike." It must not have been much of a strike, because the airport re-opened after about 2 hours, and we were back on our way to Dakar.

Unfortunately for me, I was passed out during the announcement that we would be bypassing Dakar. I woke up at about 2am or so, and looked up at the screen to see the plane icon out in the middle of the Atlantic, and freaked out because I thought I had failed to get off at Dakar and was now on my way back to the US!!

As the title of the entry suggests, I'm back down in Kombo now, celebrating a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend!! We kicked everything off on Wednesday night with a belated karaoke birthday party, and continued the fun at a massive grilling party at Rodney's on Thursday. Our goal was to grill 60 full chickens in one day for the Thanksgiving Dinner that we were to have at the Ambassador's Residence. It was a pretty ridiculous affair - the grill was really HOT and really SMOKEY, and we had to quarter all the chickens, so all told Beth, Nick, and I grilled up 240 pieces! But we managed to finish the last one with about 10 minutes to spare! The other crew baked 20 pumpkin pies.

The actual Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic. All the Embassy staff and Peace Corps were invited to the Ambassador's Residence, which is a gorgeous mansion that sits on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic. The food was fantastic, and to top the whole night off, we had the prettiest sunset I've seen in the Gambia (see above). Perfect.

Friday we had a ceremony to celebrate Peace Corps' 40th Anniversary in the Gambia. It was a really well done affair, with some great speeches that were both inspirational and touching. It was nice to be appreciated, and to be reminded that we are actually doing good work here, and making a difference in people's lives. It's easy to forget that sometimes...

That night we had a party at the Julbrew factory (with unlimited free beer - Thanks Mr. Mauss!!) to celebrate the occasion. And we wound everything down with the All Volunteer meeting on Saturday. It was a great, American style holiday weekend. Exactly what we all needed. Wish I could have been there with you all, but this wasn't a bad substitute. I'll miss you at Christmas.

-Rob

Not Coming Back.

Y'ello!!

Just wanted to let you all know that I will not be returning to The Gambia, as I have decided to remain here in South Africa and 'volunteer' to be on safari for the next year...

Granted, after spending the past year in the Gambia, any halfway decent place would seem like paradise in comparison, but still, I'm completely blown away by the beauty here. The variety of landscapes and terrain is unbelievable; rolling hills, jagged mountains, beautifully sculpted beaches and bays, sprawling grasslands, and pretty much everything in between. It's like a smaller, African version of the US, just with more beauty packed into a smaller area.

We're now at the safari place just outside Kruger in the northeast corner of the country. It's our second day and we've been on two game drives and one bush walk. The lodge itself is beautiful - unbelievably nice, and I can't think of anything further removed from my hut in village. Not sure how I'm going to be able to go back after this... The animal viewing has been absolutely ridiculous. Dad and I were thinking we'd be looking through binoculars at animals a couple hundred yards away; but literally 20 minutes into our first drive yesterday evening we spot a full-grown male leopard squatting under a tree maybe 20 feet away. And as we watch, he leaps up to chase an impala he had been stalking. Crazy. And a bit later we turn the corner and come face to face with a bull elephant in the middle of the path. It is surreal to be that close to something so big. The animals don't seem to care that we're literally in their face - supposedly the ranger can tell when the animal is irritated, and then we leave. But we've seen giraffes, cape buffaloes, kudus, nyalas, impalas, bushbucks, waterbucks, wildebeast, a hippo, etc etc. No lions yet, but we've got lots more time. The bush environment and flora is very similar to the Gambia, makes you realize what it could be like there if people hadn't killed all the animals...

Cape Town was equally impressive - it might be the first big city I actually could see myself living in. It had the small city feel to it, mainly because most of the people (ie poor blacks) live outside the main city in basically shantytowns, but it means the downtown is small and walkable (and i'm sure expensive as hell). If you can brave the freezing water, the beaches are gorgeous, and the backdrop - with Table Mountain essentially rising out of the ocean - is phenomenal. And the whole Cape peninsula is filled with amazing scenery. As you drive along the coast, it seems every turn opens into another white sand beach strewn with granite boulders and backed by verdant hills. We ate very well - the food in Cape Town was amazing - tons of variety, and I'm trying to make up for the past year of white rice and oil. Weather was perfect too - exactly what I needed - nice and cool, breezy, dry - nice jeans and fleece weather. I had forgotten how nice it was to have to dress warmly and be cold. Oh, and we managaed to survive Dad having to drive on the left side of the road for 5 days - we had some close calls, but nothing too scary.

Hopefully that's enough to convince you to leave your jobs and homes to come here... if you need more encouragement, just let me know. I'll be waiting for you at the airport.

Peace,
Rob