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Journal of African trips

Africa, spring 1999 part II

Agelasto
2004-05-21 18:00:16

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Eventually, we reach our destination. During the formal discussions that took place
sometime earlier (perhaps on the walk to the restaurant last night), it was decided that the
four of us would pay what amounts to about US $20 to hire the taxi, driver and serpent for the day. After we cycle, we are to meet the driver and serpent at the same spot at 5
p.m. Of course, no money will change hands until they return to meet us. It is now noon,
which gives us about 3 hours less to bike than we had originally anticipated.

We spend the rest of the day cycling through the Casamance. The trip is enriched by the
political thoughts of Abdou, who doesn?t hold African politicians in high regard and
considers democracy African style to be a window-dressed sham for Western observers.
The Casamance is itself a fascinating area, and we bike in and out of villages, along dirt
tracks and rice paddies (some sort of joint venture with China, actually with Taiwan
Province), not really sure where we are going. We pass a number of campments, now all
but empty because of the drop in tourism. We visit a traditional estate, called a case a
impluvium, complete with fetish shrines. The animist belief is a way of life here, mixing
comfortably with Christianity, the dominant religion in the region. The trip is topped off
with Abdou?s performing a traditional Senegalese tea ceremony. It is already 5 p.m., but
Abdou says the taxi can wait since it was an hour late in picking us up and then it delayed
us another hour with engine trouble. Senegalese tea making is a complicated process.
First, Abdou builts a fire. Then he washes the glasses. Then boils tea in water. Then he
adds a lot of sugar and some milk. The next step is what distinguishes Senegalese tea
from its peers. The tea is poured from glass to glass, letting the liquid fall through the air
for as great a distance ...