Varela has two large, sweeping beaches separated by some cliffs. The beach stretching south from town is where the fishing activity is and where we saw more people (but still not that many!). These boys were curious about our presence. The loved looking at their pictures on our digital camera screen.

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Abraham and I just got back from St Louis last night, and absolutely loved the place. It’s located on a small, 2 kilometer-long island in the Senegal River between Senegal’s mainland and a peninsula. It was the original capital of French West Africa, and the first capital of Senegal and Mauritania. After 1956, however, it lost those distinctions and went into slow decline. As a result, it’s original, colonial architecture has been preserved.
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Abraham and I took the camera with us on Friday as we ran our errands. We’re starting to do this with increasing confidence, no longer intimidated by the craziness of downtown. Still, we have to be discreet. I still stand out, obviously much more than Abraham, and people constantly approach me, either selling me something, directly asking for money or trying to scam me for money.
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