Afternoon Bird Lagoon - and two free lessons

Loading pictures very sluggish in this afternoon heat. So I will attempt at a later date. Our Senegalese honeymoon with electricity and the internet is over. Electricity just disappears for short or long periods of time at somebody's command. It went out last night while we were cooking so we ate by candle light and went to bed early. It was off all morning also. And the stove and bathroom door also broke this morning. It doesn't seem to flap Marilyn much -- just do what you need to do. Darwin had fun trying to fix some of these things without his usual tool kit. I even saw him using a hang crank drill. :)

Another fun principle we are experiencing is that nothing is ever free. We were searching for an internet connection several nights ago in hotel row. A very nice young man told us that he knew where we could get it for free. We should have known better at that point. But we were led on a long walk through dark streets to an outdoor 'fast food' restaurant. It turns out that we did need to make some purchase, so we bought a round of Fantas. That did not seem to be enough to please the proprietor so Darwin also ordered fries (with mayonnaise). Then we were unable to connect because the restaurant server was down. We eventually attained the login for a neighboring hotel - which was so weak, we could not sustain a conversation in gmail. Our 'informant-guide' had kindly waited to return us to our car, so we needed to tip him, then he insisted that we tip the fellow who connected us with him. That little episode did not break our budget, but that faulty internet connection was not free.

Darwin also encountered (or rather was encountered by) a shell hawker. When we were walking to the beach to get a boat for our bird viewing lagoon excursion. This fellow thrust shells into Darwin's hands as a gift.....then he wanted payment. The man would not take the shells back. D tried to give him 50 francs which was totally inadequate. This started some activity. We finally gave the fellow another 50 francs. Then it seemed that he was unhappy that we were not pleased with our free shells. So, he gave me another - free - shell.

We eventually boarded a small motor boat with a very friendly guide - he was the fellow who gave his name to Fred E. He drove us gently through the water and we crept up on Herons and Great White somethings, very large Pelicans, and spectacular Flamingos - which we also set to flight. It was so pleasant.