I'm in AFRICA

Dear Blog family-
We made it safe and sound. Maria- who is Polish, was given really conflicting advice about whether or not she needed a visa but ultimately was not let on the plane- which is terrible. But she should be joining us on Tuesday. Which is great.

Currently we are staying in the ECCO house outside of Banjul. Last night I stayed awake through dinner and then passed out for about 12 hours. It was nice to get some sleep. They have us sleeping in these double beds on the roof. It is quite cosy. I've had my first bedtime under a mosquito net (still got eaten alive) My first bath/shower with a bucket (Not bad! I only used half the bucket and even washed my hair.)

We went to the beach today and I swam in the ocean! So much fun, though I am quite sunburned along my shoulders now...oops. More sunscreen next time. I went for a walk down the beach and ended up around a bunch of fisher people. One of them pulled a sea snail from its shell...which was gross. But now I have the shell, so that is pretty cool.

Tomorrow we go on the ferry to the camp. Apparently there are only two ferries and it can take hours and hours and hours just to get one one. So we are leaving at 6am. I'll be strong...

After today there *really* won't be any more Internet until the last three days of the trip when we are back at the ECCO house.

Love you all!
CASEY