An early start to our day, as we were heading for the holy city of Touba, and it being Friday, if we didn’t reach the mosque by mid-morning it would’ve been closed for prayers. We entered the city by a gate, of which there are four: north, south, east and west. Within those boundaries the city is like the Vatican, a self-governing state with its own rules. Which include no alcohol and no smoking, also no car registration, although you do still need a license to drive one.
We stopped along the road at a random compound, our guide went in and asked the family if we could visit, and they were really welcoming. The compound contained a side-by-side duplex, with one brother and family in one side, and a second brother and family in the other. The children stay in the family house until the boys have an initiation ceremony, usually around age 8 or 9, at which point they start sleeping at night with other older boys in the “bachelors house” across the courtyard. The girls stay on in the main house, though, with their parents, sisters, and younger boys. It’s peanut-harvest time, and the ladies gave us a demo of the process. They pull up the plants and pile them up to dry, then after some weeks they can rake into the piles to break off the peanuts, put clumps into big basins, and winnow it to separate the peanuts from the dry plant-tops, which are fed to livestock. They were extremely amused when Geoff tried it out, and one of the ladies very quickly tried to show him the correct technique. Gales of laughter all around!
And for those of you who thought that “Zebu” was simply a great Scrabble word, here is a herd of Zebu!
Elizabeth,
I am enjoying your travel blog and photos. I am traveling myself this week. I am in Ottawa with Emily. We fly back to BC tomorrow. We have had outstanding weather and the city in general but it will be good to get back home even though the winter wet season has set it.