Halloween in Janjanbury

I had never realized what a strange holiday Halloween is until trying to explain it to my neighbors who had never heard of Halloween. Samantha and I traveled half way up the country in two days, stopping overnight at lilys where we missed the donky cart to her village from the main road, and had to literally walk a third of the way across Gambia (width, but still...) and hung out with some Wolofs. Akon anyone?? We then traveled further on to JanjanburyHere are just a few pictures from the trip up, Lily's site, and Halloween night:

Baobab Tree

Rice...lots and lots of rice

The beginning of the long walk down to Jimbala, Lily's village.

NorthBank road

I think Lily might be a bit of a secret hoarder...look at all of that food in her trunk!

Lily's sisters pounding coos

This lovely reminder was painted on a hut at the lodge where we stayed.

Our delicious Halloween foodbowls. Here we have chicken yassa at the bottom and the red one is Benichin . Tasted much better than it looks.

Team name: Jaweayata Baakes (aka the Very Evils)

Watermelon jack-o-lantern.

Kane as Juan.

Samantha as Zombie Apparante

Bakaray (our simi-manly Gambian bartender) as Binta, the seductress. He was the only Gambian who dressed up. He definitely cleared up any questions I might have had on Gambian's opinions of crossdressing.

The Facebook

Lily and Erin as Alice in wonderland and dirty laundry

Walking to the bar as some Gambian yelled "you guys look FREAAAAKKKYY" at us. Whitney then told us that it was ok, her students tell her that everyday when she gets to school.

I dont know who told gambian men that jelly shoes were good for soccer, but a very cruel someone did, so they all wear them all of the time. It was the reason we decided to be footballers for Halloween.

Stretching before the big game...aka the walk to the bar.

Whitney and Katie as a ewe and ram. Anatomically correct!