Leaving The Gambia...

So we leave The Gambia tomorrow for Dakar to catch our 3am flight to JFK. This alone is mind-blowing and rather unsettling, being that I've lived here for the past 2 years - the longest I've been in one place since High School.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is Set Settal (Clean the Nation Day) in The Gambia, which means that no transport is allowed to run between 9am and 1pm. This is rather problematic, since we now have to cross the River Gambia via a ferry and reach the Senegalese border before 9am so we can make it to Dakar on time. Only 2 ferries will cross the river tomorrow. The first ferry crosses at 7am, and the crossing takes an hour and 20 minutes, meaning that we'll arrive on the North Bank at 8:20, giving us 40 minutes to reach the border. Not possible.

Our boss is letting us borrow his car (which has diplomatic plates and can therefore travel even during Set Settal) and a Peace Corps driver has volunteered to drive us from the PC hostel, cross the ferry, and to the border, providing that we pay for gas, oil, and the cost of the ferry, etc. So as long we catch one of the 2 ferries, we'll be fine. However, there's likely to be a huge line, so we're leaving the Peace Corps hostel at 4am tomorrow morn to make sure we get on the first ferry. If we miss that first ferry and can't catch the second one, we won't be able to make it to the border in time before 9am, and will have to wait til 1pm to start our journey - which is risky because the trip to Dakar sometimes takes more than 12 hours...

I absolutely cannot miss that flight - I paid for the damn thing twice!! Good thing we all have safe travel Jujus...