BACK TO BOBOI
For breakfast, Sarjo made some fresh lemongrass tea for me; he just plucked from the grass outside the lodge and placed it in a mug of hot water. When it had steeped it was delicious and aromatic.
Sarjo’s secret recipe Lemongrass Tea …
He also cut the outer rind off an orange, leaving the thin, white layer. Then, he cut a little piece of the top off, creating a little bag, and showed us how to suck the juice and pulp out of the orange from it—the “best” way to eat an orange, according to Sarjo.
We were leaving soon for the ferry and planned to stop at Saikou’s shop in Abene to say goodbye.
Saikou in Abene
It was Gambian Independence Day. We wondered if we might see some festivities on the way back to Boboi.
After we bid farewell to Saikou, we made the border crossing and Sarjo departed for Sandele.
Antje, Karamba, Tor, and I went first to the immigration office to cross into Gambian officially. As before, the man there questioned us, examined our documents, and took a very long time finding ink for his big date stamp, and a pen to manually log our information into a big ledger. No digital efficiency here! The Kartung-Abene border was one of the most old-school borders we have ever encountered.
After we cleared immigration, we browsed at another shop, then wandered back to Dodo’s, a restaurant overlooking the river, where we settled in for a delicious, relaxed lunch; all of us ordering butter and lady fish fillets and brochette.
Janko, in his signature neon orange shirt, came to collect us at the restaurant and drove us back to Boboi, stopping in Kartung on the way to change Antje’s remaining CFA (the currency of a federation of eight West African countries) back to Dalasi.
Back at Boboi, people were coming and going. Saffi said that the weekend had been very busy—they did a buffet lunch on the beach for forty-five people. That afternoon, the wind really picked up, making us actually “cold” for the first time in Africa! As Tor and I sat outside our room, reading, Antje came by to smoke her pipe and soak up the heat on our long porch with its wide, sweeping views of the sea.
Antje & Tor
Eventually, we went down to ask Ablai about dinner and we ordered an egg sandwich (a rather extravagant move) and some of his famous chicken nuggets for Tor. It was so windy, we ate inside the bar with Antje. Saffi asked when I would like my hair braided, so I made an appointment with her for the next day.
After dinner, we walked down to the fire Karamba had built but it was already down to coals, so we added another huge, dried palm leaf and it sparked right up.