Meet the Chief

Lompoul Village has a sign that announces who its chief is that is almost as big as the village. After getting dropped off we were welcomed to the village by one of the women who lives there, who I guess is the unofficial guide. She spoke decent French and encouraged us to say hi to the chief. The chief was a regular-looking old Senegalese man who was lying on a matt on the floor wearing an inexpensive boubou and holding a chapelet in his hands. When we tried to greet him and his people in Wolof he got really upset and told us he was Peul. “Sow” couldn’t I see the family name printed in big letters on the sign welcoming us to the village. That is a Peul last name; until that moment I had never heard of it. After sitting awkwardly for a few minutes I remembered that the Lonely Planet guide has some brief section with phrases in each of the major native languages of Senegal. Caitlin and them had a great time when we tried to pronounce simple phrases like “Thank you,” “How are you?” “Good morning” and “Hello” in Peul. After this we had some attaya or traditional Senegalese tea (of course it comes from China). They make it super sweet and hot, and then they want you to drink it quickly so they use the same shotglass to pass tea back to the others. Although you drink it fast, they spend forever making it which turns it into more elaborate ritual than your typical morning tea. Our ride was so long in getting there that we were actually able to finish our tea.