Malika - Day 6 - Far Trek

Perhaps I'm not as used to swimming as others but I didn't get to sleep until around 3 this morning. My left ear was so clogged that it was either putting a sharp pain in my ear or it felt like the left side of my face was going to implode depending on which side I slept on. Luckily the Lord had mercy and I was able to get some sleep. After breakfast Herma decided to take John and Dave and I on a walk that was supposed to only take about 45 minutes. Like I've mentioned before, Herma loves to entertain guests. Once she welcomed a couple that were guided out into the forest and were robbed and tied to a tree. The first place she said she was taking us was ... the forest. I was a little hesitant to go at first but she assured us that we wouldn't end up tied to a tree. Of course being so close to the desert it is extremely hot here. Thankfully the forest was pleasantly breezy. With the shelter from the sun and being so close to the beach the forest provided an excellent temperature for walking. There were some evergreen trees and eucalyptus trees growing there. Unfortunately, because if the trash dump being so close, there were piles of trash everywhere, which is commonplace around Malika and Dakar. Coming out of the forest we ventured onto the beach of which there were no trees to shade us. I did have a hat which I kept switching positions to keep the sun off my neck. Needless to say, the beach was beautiful again. The waves would crash off in the distance. The surf would slide along the smooth sandy beach and reach your legs and provide a quick moment of coolness before the tide would sweep them back out to sea. Jeebs came with us and tried for a while to catch a crab by laying a loop of string around the top of a crab hole and waiting for it to peek it's head out. He tried this for a while to no avail. We started the hike back to the compound which was not covered with trees. There would be an occassional building that would provide some momentary shade and it was welcomed whenever the chance arose. What was supposed to take 45 minutes took almost 2 hours. Just like returning from Dakar, the compound was an oasis of refreshment. We had a quick glass of water and then put on our swimming suits for a dip in the pool. Lunch was served outside by the pool and consisted of a ring of salad on the outside and some chicken on a bed of noodles. Following a quick siesta after lunch was a mosque prayer call like I've never heard before. Most of the time it is someone singing solo into a microphone with ,usually, a soft tune. This time there was a duet of what sounded like a couple of teenagers that were expelled the first day of choir. Well let's hope I sleep better tonight. Good night.