Trick question: we don’t have bottles of water; we have bags! A 16 oz plastic bagged water is sold all over the country, and in my town one packet costs 0.50 CFA or $0.00080 USD. This water is sometimes filtered and safe to drink and sometimes not. I’ve had no problems drinking it in my town, but I try to avoid purchasing it when I’m anywhere else. For everyday drinking water, I have to draw water from a well and pour it into a water filter.
Cucumbers are ripening now and are easily found at the lumo (weekly market). I’ve been making a simple cucumber salad my host mom showed me how to make. It’s just cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, salt, pepper, vinegar, jimbo (local spice) and mustard or mayonnaise. It’s a refreshing snack in the warm weather to offset the regional menu of exclusively hot and spicy foods.
Every weekend brings lots of parties with loud music pumped out over a sound system that no doubt the entire town can hear. The music played at these events is mostly ambiguous electronic dance music (EDM) played on a continuous loop. Sometimes, as a treat for a special event, the jalibe (local band) will arrive with their traditional Pulaar instruments, including a few drums, some violin-like instruments and whistles. When they arrive at an event, it is customary to give them money. They even have a band leader who dances and entices the crowd to give them small change. Some Fulani (native ethnicity) artists my coworkers have recommended to me include Tipsai and DTM.
