I spent a little over two months in Saint-Louis. I rented a room in Citè Vauvert from Pierre, a friend of my friend Augustin. Citè Vauvert is out on the north edge of the city, bordering on the river, and very quiet. However even there in the evenings I could here the distant chanting from mosques carried to me over the river.
I quickly slipped into a routine of spending my days at Bantalabs working on my laptop, going to French classes at the Institut Français, sharing dinner with Augustin and Clementine and staying up late with them watching TV and drinking ataya. I rode around the town quite a bit by bike and out into the surrounding areas – seeking out the smaller, dustier dirt lanes and paths.
I accepted an offer to resume working at Cayuse in Portland again, and was able to begin work while still in Saint-Louis. Telecommuting a third of the way around the world.
My stay was altogether too short. I miss Saint-Louis but I especially miss my friends — new and old. Augustin and Clementine and all their friends in Citè Vauvert and at Clementine’s store downtown, the crew at Bantalabs with whom I shared lunch and tried to follow what I could of their banter in Wolof, and my friends from French classes.
