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One of our best trips started in Barcelona.  We rented a car and drove across the Pyrenees into France, had lunch in Foix, and then stayed three nights at a nice B&B in Lourdes.  (My wife is Catholic and wanted to visit the site there, which to me was rather confusing in a way.)  The B&B lady suggested a place for dinner in walking distance that was so good we dined there all three nights.  We drove west to see Pau where some friends had moved and then to Biarritz, which was "interesting".  Then back to Barcelona for a cruise, my wife's first, that went to Italy and back up to Monte Carlo and Nice and then Maiorca (which was OK) and then back to Barcelona, where we stayed three nights.

That's when my wife decided she liked cruises.  You unpack once, and get to see a variety of places, usually for one day, sometimes two.  We're trying now to see "Asia" as best we can.

You're a nice fellow, CD, but I can assure you after scores of visits to Mexico, nobody there is going to sell you something for a "bargain."  They will actually let you walk away if you go below what they consider a fair price.

This is especially true in Cabo.

One my friends and I were in a Farmacia on our last trip to get some various things. I got my deal for my stuff, but my friend wanted better. They actually asked him to leave and refused to sell him at the price I paid. You can't be an asshole, which he was, in my opinion. I even told him so.

One standout scene in West Africa is the dress(es) of the local women. It’s rare to see a grown women wearing anything besides brightly decorative, multi-colored dresses. Everywhere for all kinds of daily outings. With most hems reaching to the ankles. Hardly ever shorts, jeans, or pants – only worn by the men.

Their other standout feature is the effort given to their detailed hairstyles of thick braids, afros tied back with colorful headbands, spiral/frizzy curls, zig-zag cornrows, and cornrows ending in colored beads or colored extensions. Likely a lot of the hairstyles we’re used to seeing African-American women proudly wear.

It all goes to show you how universal matters of apparel, hair, and appearance are to women. That even in the most economically impoverished regions of the world, poverty is no obstacle to the amount of time and resources women will invest into flattering clothing and stylish hair. As an innate personal dignity of theirs.

Their faces are pretty, but “pretty” isn’t quite the word that captures it in West Africa. Striking is a better word for the formalness expressed in their faces; there’s a striking seriousness to their facial expression that exudes elegance over the more relaxed friendliness that’s more often emanated by a quicker-to-smile Western face.

The below picture is a good example of women in their daily dress(es). This is a picture not that I took but rather from an internet search. It’s too difficult to take unsuspecting pictures of the locals given just how much immediate attention our group draws in streets. More on that in another post.

One of the hotels where we spend several nights passing through has a beachfront. Like anywhere else in the city, we draw outsized attention on approaching the Atlantic waves. We are relentlessly solicited for horse rides, necklaces, and cigarettes. The beach smells like salt and marijuana smoke.

We buy a few items we’re otherwise not allowed to go into the city for, overpaying for more jerseys, fridge magnets, and key chains. A dozen others gather around where we’re seated beneath beach umbrellas. Instead of buying more items, we share pizzas and bottles of the national beer we order from a waitress checking in on us from a beach bar. In the equatorial heat and humidity, our new friends drink fast; the waitress increases the price of each round.

We ask about their daily lives. They puff their blunts and tell us they get by selling souvenirs to beachgoers. They sip beer and tell us they quite often have zero-profit weeks where they resort to dining on their personal reserves of rice, bread, and mince.

The man in dreadlocks pictured below is named Adji. He is a former pipefitter now spending his days on the beach, smoking and hawking. He tells us he quit pipefitting for pipe smoking because his pay was too inconsistent. Meaning he’d worked for too many construction bosses who too frequently skipped out on paying his $40/week rate. Adji answers more of our questions: the average nurse only earns about $250/month. Most of the ornate dresses worn by their population of women are not bought but rather hand sewn by those wearing them (or by other family members). Many neighborhoods suffer power and water outages lasting up to 3 and 4 days. And larger infrastructure projects such as port improvements or highway widening can take a decade to complete due to work stoppages caused by chronically defrauded federal budgets.

It’s time for us to say goodbye as a bonfire is lit at sunset. Leaving the beach for the hotel behind us, we are confronted by a group of fire-breathers asking gratuity for a performance we hadn’t even noticed occurring off to the side. Fortunately Adji and his friends tell them to get lost.

Heading off in a few hours for my retirement trip.  14 days trans-alantic cruise (6 stops in European ports), then another 14 days in England and France and then a week in Maine & Mass.  Not sure how much internet access I will have, but when I do I will post some pics.

Know it all seemingly knows nothing.

Your trip will now be better!

Needless to say, West Africa is not the place to go chasing the night.

Guess he couldn't cut it