June Post

I figure I had better update this at least once a month, and this last month has been so busy I've not yet had time... so got just today and tomorrow yet! So activities this last month include wrapping things up at site, heading to Nouakchott prior to Jazz Fest (in St. Louis, Senegal). Senegal was fantastic as expected. I spent a week down there just hanging out on the beach and pool-side, even though it was a little chilly. After St. Louis I headed east in Senegal to cross over into Mauritania at a new crossing near a town called Boghe. Although it's a bit more of a pain to cross there, it was definately a cool experience. You cross the Senegal River not once, but three times. We hired a horse cart at the boarder town in Senegal. Then piled our stuff up on the cart and jumped on too. A few kilometers later we got to the first river and got sold off to a man who crosses the river (the man we hired didn't cross the river with his horse, so we got sold). Then the canoe man sold us once we were across to a man that would take us across the next river. So we went a few more km on the horse cart til we got to the next river. There they put the cart on one canoe, us in another, and the horse swam along-side. Then there were a few more km to the next river, and then bam we were in Mauritania. Kinda a neat experience, but not one that I need to do right away again. So spent a few days in Boghe, then headed to Aleg. After that we headed over to Aioun (way east), and did some hiking. The scenery was fantastic, and the caves were excellent! After Aioun I went back to Nouakchott for a day prior to heading south to Dakar for the trip back to the USA!! But before hitting Chicago, I stopped for a few hours in Lisbon, and then two days in London. Had a wonderful time in both places... but definately glad to be back in the USA now! So my parents have been keeping me quite busy... I rarely have time for my daily nap! But I've gotten quite a bit done... I've been to Great America, seen a lot of the family, swimming, running, biking, visiting with the roommate and her family... phew! So off to Texas tomorrow! Then California, Kansas and back... in 8 days! Then I'm here for a bit (Wisconsin) prior to heading out to New York (yes all driving... we might be a little crazy). Basically to sum things up, I've been all over in the last month. So that's the latest update. See you all later, and love you lots!