A One-Way Ticket to Conakry

Me, Mr. Thiam, and Matt

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Thiam's daughter Satou, Mr. Thiam, and me

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Mr. Thiam is an extraordinary man and he has taken very good care of us here in Dakar, Senegal. There's really no way to thank him. Matt and I have had a fabulous time getting to know him and his daughter Satou. But it's time to leave. It is time to get out of this good man's hair and let him have his life back. So we're off tomorrow morning. Today over breakfast Mr. Thiam handed us our plane tickets. I have them right here in my hand. A one-way ticket to Conakry, Guinea. It's intoxicating just looking at them. After five years of dreaming about it, we're finally one flight away from Guinea. This time I mean it: my next post will be from Guinea.

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We've been in Africa 15 days now and we've fended for ourselves exactly one night out of all those nights (and that was only because we arrived in The Gambia at night. The next day when people found out we were there, we had an invitation to stay with a member of the PC The Gambia staff (a former Peace Corps volunteer) right away). We've stayed with The Ndoye family in Pout, Tim in The Gambia, Alpha (Abdou's older brother) in Kaolack, and with Mr. Thiam in Dakar. We didn't expect any of this. We're so grateful for such a warm welcome to West Africa. We've met some amazing people and they've all made us feel at home here.

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Tomorrow we're finally headed to Guinea. It feels so close I can almost taste it (peanut sauce, leaf sauce, achecke...).

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Until Conakry...