the gambia experience
day one:
got up at 4.30. the father drove us to arlanda. arrived at banjul international airport around 17. it was 40 degrees! the warmest i've ever experienced... the husband and the sister had sandwiches at the hotel, and i had ice cream and wite wine. even though the sun had set and it was dark it was warm and nice and there were weird birds singing in the weird trees (it sounded more like cats fighting than beautiful birdsong, but it was nice anyway). went to bed early. our room was of "extra high standard" :)

day two:
information meeting at another hotel. they warned us about "bumsters" - young men who follow you around and ask for your money. walked on their beach. had at least three young boys following us. Hired sunbeds from lamin boy. not beacuse we wanted to, but because lamin boy wanted us to and we were not good at saying no. turned out to be good anyway, because that meant lamin boy's uncle chased all the other boys away. couldn't really relax anyway, as we were the only tourists on the beach and there were lots of young men watching us. had lunch at lamin boy's restaurant ley bateau. decided to go on a trip tomorrow with lamin boy as our guide. he told us to bring sweets for children. after lunch he called a taxi and followed us to the road. met the first dirty smiling children of the trip. they were very happy to see their picture in my camera, and kissed and hugged it. stopped at a supermarket to buy lollipops. tried the pool at the hotel. walked on our beach and through the village/town around the hotel, and were accompanied by two boys/young men, del boy and someone i don't remember the name of. had dinner at a nice restaurant very close to the hotel. a group of drummers and dancers performed in the street.  ¶ 2:21 PM