The Canary Islands

Aqualand kids areas

the beach

The view from Palmitos Park

An eagle during a free fly show at Palmitos Park

The dolphin show at Palmitos Park

Mysterious phone calls

So today I missed 3 calls...then 3 more but on purpose. The last of the mistakenly missed calls I called back. I had missed it by only a few minutes and figured the caller would remember why they had called me. I am not usually in the habit of calling back misses and usually figure they will call back if it's important and eventually I'll get to speak to the wonderful person who has decided to harass me. Today is different though.

Ross is in Abidjan (or was and is on his way home) and I have gotten calls on the home phone (this rarely happens) from various people informing me he was on his way home. I wanted to make sure that if it was the embassy calling that I was not missing some sort of important news (where my mind went before I called back is not important).

So I call this person back and he is clearly not from the embassy. He tells me his name, which after several repetitions I still don't know, though it started with Muhammed as many names do here. He tells me that he is a Marabou (a sort of psychic - according to Juliette who is a Christian from Burkina Faso but has lived here several years...she equated it to tarot readers) calling from Touba (the holy city of the Mourides who are a brotherhood of Sufi Muslims who call themselves Marabou) and while reading today's passages in his Qur'an three numbers came up and one of them was my phone number.

Now I have to pause here for a moment as I find it incredible that the Qur'an has hidden numbers that correspond to today's cell phones. Did Allah actually give Jibril my phone number to give to Muhammed (not my caller but the writer of the Qur'an) to pass on to the people so that I could get this call? What about area codes and country codes? Does the reader, in this case the Marabou Muhammed that called me, know when one number starts and the other begins? Or what year to call that number in? I guess it doesn't really matter how he ended up calling me, just that he did.

Now normally I would have hung up on some religious guy cold calling me for whatever his reason (after all, we tell Jahovah's witnesses to F*&%^ off...or in Ross's case we toy with them) but in this case I was intrigued as to what he had to say. I came here to experience the culture and when he didn't say to me "sorry, wrong number" I was kind of curious.

So he goes on to tell me that there is evil in the air and that his Qur'an told him to call me because there was a hex on me. He said something about a light I couldn't get to because there was something in my way. At this point I was really intrigued, basically I was getting a cultural lesson on the phone and was very curious. So to make sure I was understanding correctly (his accent was very thick) I put Juliette on the phone with him. She listened and then told me he was freaking her out and asked if she could hang up. We did at this point so I have no more info other that there is a hex on me and something to do with light. Juliette confirmed the same info that I had and then went on to tell me that she had had a similar call last year.

Juliette's caller was from the same brotherhood and after explaining the hex to her he told her she had to come see him so that he could remove it. The removal of the hex involved buying a cow for sacrifice as well as paying the healer (the Marabou).

So I suppose the call would have went on to reveal how the hex could be removed. Travelling to Touba then buying a large animal. The slaughter of said animal, a cow or goat, depending on the severity of the hex or the size of the village where the Marabou lives as well as some dancing and singing and lets not forget a feast for all the village (in the form of my cow or goat) as well as a monetary sacrifice to the Marabou healer for all his work.

Needless to say I won't be purchasing any large farm animals in the near future but will be staying away from lights...you can never be too safe!

I stopped answering his calls after that but he did call back several times.

Staff Quarters in Dakar, Senegal aka our house

 As promised long ago here are some pictures of our house. The second and third floor can be seen here and the first floor is to follow...soon, I promise!


Third floor living and play room

 Small guest room on the third floor with en-suite

 Main guest room with en-suite on the second floor

 Rooftop terrace

Declan's playroom with en-suite. Across the hall from the family bedroom on the second floor.

 The family bedroom

 The family bedroom en-suite. (There is a standing shower just out of field on the right)

Birthday Brunch

Ross took me out for birthday brunch to one of the hotels in Dakar that does an all you can eat seafood buffet appetizers with a main course and all you can eat desert. I have NEVER eaten so much seafood in my life. The food was fantastic but the choice was just incredible.

Here are just a few of the things we sampled

Sea urchin

Mussels the size of my hand

Huge shrimp

For the main course Ross had roast beef with veggies and potatoes. The veggies were built up like a lasagna it was very neat. I had mushroom risotto with truffle oil. So they come to the table with the main dishes and before giving me my risotto they bring out a huge wheel of parmesan that has been partially hollowed out. They put my risotto in the parm wheel and start scraping the sides and adding truffle oil. Then once in the plate they added more parm and truffle oil. Needless to say we could not finish it!!!

Desert was good. Nothing to write home about ;) 

The view

Body Pump of the gods

Dear Les Mills,

You have it all figured out don't you? You think that if you set us up in a hot classroom with four good looking, buff, musically inclined, african men and they say "can you keep up" and hand you a pile of weights that we will all go back for more? Even if the next day we are sore and seem a little foggy as to how we ended up in that class let alone that gym to begin with?

So you think that making the class feel like we are in a dance club by blasting the music and having the four instructors take turns with the mike and sing and hoot that we will all just hand over hard earned cash and come for more punishment?

Let me tell you, I think you have got it all figured out. Nothing like some eye candy and good music to keep me coming back for more. It doesn't matter how I got there or that it was still dark out when I got up to get there. It doesn't matter that I am sore and swearing that I don't want to do it again. It doesn't even matter that I know that ultimately I am in for punishment. What matters is that it keeps me coming back. Something about the guys and the music pumping and the singing made it feel a bit more like some strange clubbing scene. It was fun and the pain...well, it's my punishment for wanting to go do it again!!!

Thank you Les Mills,

Sincerely,

Happily married mom of one who feels guilty about the not so Christian thoughts she is having about your instructors.

sifting flour

Not feeling all that bloggy today but I have been told it's time to update the blog.

I had promised you all a story about sifting flour, here it goes...

When we got back form our non vacation in January I was in full fledged "let's get back to it" mode so I decided I was going to bake and cook till I felt human again (for me that means having enough healthy easy grab and go snacks ready to last at least the week). One recipe I had decided on was a healthier version of scones, including whole wheat flour, flax seeds and any other healthy thing I could sneak in. So I pulled the flour down from the shelf only to realize it had gotten everywhere. The bag had somehow exploded or leaked all over the cupboard. So I got the step stool out and peered up into the cupboard and sure enough there was flour everywhere but that bag looked intact. I looked closer at the bag only to spot a tiny little bug halfway out/in of the bag through a tiny little hole he had created.

At this point I screamed for Ross.

Ross acted all nonchalant and said no worries we'll just pick them out but as we started to pour the flour he changed his tune. There were more of them than we thought so he said "lets sift them out". I was all for throwing the flour out but Ross insisted and so he got started and I pulled the whole wheat flour, the rye flour, the bread flour, the icing sugar and anything else I could think of down from the the shelf.

All the other stuff came out clean but my baking flour did not and the sifting was not going to do it. Ross at some point stopped sifting and came to get me. There were more than just mobile leggy bugs in the flour. There were larvae as well. Needless to say at that point we threw it all out but a word of caution, this can happen in your flour in Canada as well. Little bugs lay eggs in your open bag/container of flour and they mature in there and get everything they need from your baking ingredient and then when they are good and ready they eat a hole through the bag and come on out into the world looking for another bag of flour to contaminate I suppose.

Gross...there were no scones that night...

...and we're back!

The holidays were a little insane what with our constant travelling through North America... including Mexico...

We are, needless to say, glad to be back but it is also hard, we have once again left family and friends behind to come back to a strange place that is not yet home. We are having to readjust to the climate, the time change and schedule as well as the pace of life. It is difficult but of course we love it! One thing I did miss is Juliette...we came home to a clean house and fresh sheets and towels and of course did not have to do the laundry from our trip. We were greeted by her always smiling face and it was a welcoming sight.

We have done very little since we got back other that sift through flour (that is a story for another day) and relax. I have started up my scrapbooking again in an attempt to catch up on the past year and have been pleased at my progress. Ross is back at work of course and is as busy as ever and Declan, well, he is not yet back to the right time. He is up at all hours and sleeps in till noon but slowly we will all get back on track.

Declan is walking more and more everyday. He makes small attempts to let go and get going and I am sure he will be very much on his way soon.

Hope this finds everyone well.

Take care and I'll tell you all about the flour sifting soon enough!