4th May - Still Fansu's Beach

Yes, we are still here!! It's Nicki again. Due to our decision to skip
Guinea Bissau we have gained a week and while it is lovely and breezy
on the coast here at Fansu's, we have decided to stay a little longer.
However today it was harder to enjoy the scenery when the wind was
whipping the sand on our legs every time we left the truck, but a
minor detail really.

Today started early when I arose at 7:45, to enjoy a farewell
breakfast with the two Spanish cyclists who left today. David
abstained as he doesn't eat breakfast (he burnt some photo CDs for the
others instead). It was the first time I have started the day in
Africa with a hot drink and although it wasn't tea (those who know me
know I drink tea religiously every morning and most of the day too)
the coffee with milk powder substitute was nearly as good. Bread,
margarine and honey accompanied. Then came the rounds of photos and
email address swapping, I think we are going to have many hundreds of
email addresses from fellow travellers by the end!

We learned from Tony that Saikou, a friend of Fansu, was travelling to
Makasutu today. This is a nature reserve we planned to visit, so we
quickly offered him a lift in exchange for his directions! It took
about an hour to get there and was the most touristy spot we have been
to yet. Having said that it was very informative and well laid out, so
we were willing to leave our local lifestyle for one day and turn into
temporary tourists. It is an ecotourism site set up by two British
people, who have effectively turned the sacred forest into an
education centre.

The start of our tour took us on a river trip. We gingerly stepped
into our pirogue, a boat made from a hollowed out mahogany tree, which
took us on a tour of the mangroves. Our guide was very informative,
explaining in great detail exactly what everything was and what its
uses were. We learned that oysters grow on the roots of mangroves, for
example, and that mangroves are often used to segregate fresh and salt
water. It was very pleasant floating along in the very clear river,
although it was starting to heat up as the time approached midday.

Post pirogue trip we stopped for a cold Sprite before our tour
continued. The next stage was a 1 ½ hour walk through the forest.
Again the guide told us about everything, which was very interesting
although I was unable to remember most things he said as he told us so
much! We ambled through the forest amongst wild baboons who were
totally used to people, so they came pretty close to us allowing David
to take some good photos. We also saw termite mounds and a red ants
nest. The time was now about 1pm so we were in the full heat of the
sun, and I was starting to flag significantly (although David was
absolutely fine of course!) Next we saw a little old man who had lived
in the forest all his life, who was told he could stay when the
ecotourism site was developed. He was a healer/fortune teller,
although we declined the offer of having our fortunes told on the
basis it is probably best we don't know! Lastly a man demonstrated how
to climb a palm tree by using a thick rope behind his back, which
David had a go at but I decided against due to my total lack of energy
(I could just see myself being a few metres up and passing out!) We
also sampled the local palm wine which contained 15% alcohol, very
nice but I couldn't drink masses of it.

Then ensued the last part of the walk (the bit that finished me off!),
a 20 minute walk back to the start around the outside of the
forest….in the blazing sun. There was no shade whatsoever, and I think
the guide felt a bit sorry for me as he put his sunhat on my head. We
arrived back at the bar where 2 cold bottles of water were
distributed, absolutely heavenly. However either the heat or
yesterday's lunch finally caught up with me, as I was slightly ill.
Bonus though, we were in a place with a Westernised toilet so all was
not lost! Lastly we visited the craft market which had various wood
carvings, jewellery and tie dye for sale. Saikou at this point
presented David and I with a necklace each as a gift, which was
extremely kind of him!

On the way back to the beach we stopped to see Saikou's family in
their compound just outside the forest. It was much the same as
yesterday, a few women and hundreds of kids all over the place! They
were very hospitable and showed us into their living room, frantically
opening the curtains and the shutters. I think Saikou's family must be
fairly well off as they had a full suite of furniture (not Land of
Leather standard, but a full suite all the same) and a TV complete
with Lake Placid on video. We then delighted everybody by taking a
photo of all the family and printing it off for them on the mini
printer, the kids scrabbled at it till it was fairly bent but they
were thrilled! Initially it was the children who were excited, but the
rest of the family seemed just as pleased. There concluded our outing
for the day and we drove back to the beach.

David is particularly excited at the moment, as he has managed to have
a total body wash, hair and all. This he achieved by going in the sea
and washing his hair with shampoo, and body, then using our solar
shower to rinse off the salt from the sea water, before using the
brush from the dustpan and brush to brush the sand off his feet before
entering the truck (much to my delight as I had just cleaned the
carpets and rid them of all the sand!). So the fact we are in the
middle of the beach and he is totally clean AND there is still no sand
in the truck is something pretty special. I might attempt the same
tomorrow, as I still have not washed my hair since Sarah's bathroom
almost 7 days ago!

At around 8pm we headed over for dinner, but Fansu had not returned
with the potatoes at this stage. So we had a drink and lazed around in
the hammocks until his arrival, and soon after sat down to a Spanish
omelette and chips with salad. Although the Spanish omelette didn't
have potato in so we all agreed maybe it was just an omelette! It was
delicious all the same. We retired to the truck around 9:30 ish.