To Basse and Back

On Sunday I traveled to the village of Basse with a few colleagues from the Biomedical Engineering team. I will be helping with an oxygen project at the major health centre in this town, so the purpose of the trip was to visit the health centre, meet everyone involved, and start making a plan for the weeks ahead. The map below shows the path of our journey - a total distance of only 370km, yet it took us about 6 hours! For the whole trip, I was sandwiched in the middle of the back seat of an MRC land rover.


View The Gambia in a larger map

Only stretches of the road were paved, the rest of the time we were on gravel or dirt roads. Anytime we crossed paths with another car, we had to quickly roll up the windows or else the red dust stirred up from the road would completely fill the cab of the truck. The temperature got progressively hotter the further east we travelled, to the point where the once refreshing breeze from the (sometimes) open windows felt more like a hairdryer blowing directly on my face.

We stopped about half way in village called Soma for a bite to eat. I had to go to the bathroom so badly, but was a bit afraid about where I might have to go considering our surroundings. We were in a market area, with rows and rows of little shacks selling everything you could possibly imagine. Luckily, we found a public facility of sorts, with doors labelled male and female, but they were really just rooms with a hole in the ground. My colleagues Edi and Nyassi looked amused as I was sent off with a little watering can of water to do my business. (I have learned to always travel with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Next time, I think I'll wear a skirt).

Many of the shop owners were cooking up the day’s lunch specialty in large pots out in front of their shops. I had a sandwich with fried corned beef (which looked more like chunks of Spam), onions, and mayonnaise (yum!).

The MRC has another field station in Basse which is where we were able to stay. Here are some shots of the surroundings.

From Gambia 2011

From Gambia 2011

From Gambia 2011

We spent most of Monday at the health centre and MRC field station. For the evening we went into town to visit the family compound of one of Edi's childhood friends. I wish I had photos of this, but I usually feel weird about taking pictures in people's homes and places of work. More to come on visiting compounds, including the tradition of making and sharing Ataya - a hot sugary tea!

Tuesday we were on the road again, and back to work today.