La Foire

Addie and I wanted to see what this market dealio was all about, so we met up on our class-free Friday. Our professors had told us that a taxi would know what we meant, however that was not the case. Our taxi driver had no idea what we wanted, although we had explained we wanted to go to the event in the foire with a lot of vendors. In any case, he dropped us at a general area, and Addie and I decided to wander around and get our bearings before asking someone. It turned out to be of no concern, because we wandered straight to the fiara, which was what we’d wanted all along.

There were a lot of strange buildings, many quite official looking – it was the center of commerce. We paid 500 cfa and ended up in an exhibition center – kind of like the Expo Center for my Waukesha people. There were tons of products: juices, jams,  honey, spices, incense, fabric, jewelry, sandals, rice…all from different regions. Some of them looked like they were projects for specific groups of people to help elevate them out of poverty. We noted that some things seemed more sustainable than others. Oh yeah, and there was a giant lamb that had just been slain and was hanging waiting to be butchered. Its head was just lying on the ground. Yeah that was gross.

We left that and checked out the tractors/rice harvesting equipment and saw some animals, like chicks, bunnies, ostriches, goats, birds, and the likes. It was very surreal, and we wondered for a moment if we were still in Senegal, or if we had been transported back to the Midwest. As we were leaving, a lion in a cage much too small for it was brought in. It made us uncomfortable, especially with all the school children on fieldtrips running up to it. We went around an area we don’t think we were supposed to be in, and decided to find a bus.

We walked over to the bus stop and asked a woman which one we should take to get back. Turns out, she was taking the same one. People are so nice about just telling you things like that. Yesterday, two girls chatted between themselves to figure out what would be our best route.

It was definitely worth going, and I’m glad Ibou told us about it because otherwise we wouldn’t have known, and it ends on Sunday.

 A look inside the action

 If that man weren't wearing a boubou, we could totally be in WI

These rabbits are bigger than my cat

 Fluffy mystery birds

Pretty bird

 Baby ostriches

To quote Addie: "What did they breed these things with? A donkey?!" 

Ended the excursion with frozen bissap juice in a bag