From my mother's mouth

Visiting Jacque in Noudibou has been an eye opening experience. From the donkeys and goats walking all over the place to the garbage everywhere. Just like in any country there are the nice people and not so nice. I like the nice people better. Monday going to the bathhouse was a great experience, if only we would have brought along some towels. Never going to one before, we didn’t know what to expect. First you take off everything except your underwear and go into a VERY HOT room were you rub gel all over yourself, (it reminded me of a sauna experience up in Ashland, with the Brevaks), and you sit there and let it soak in for awhile. Then you rinse it off and you go into cooler room were a lady scrubs you down. When you are done in that room, you go back to the VERY HOT room where you relax for a while, wash off with soap and rinse yourself with cool water. It felt GREAT!!! I never knew my skin could feel so soft. And because we didn’t have any towels along, we had to dry ourselves off with our headscarves. Then that afternoon we had henna done. One thing I learned about getting it done: IT TAKES A LONG TIME!! Jacque and I both had our hands and feet done. Afterwards you have to sit around with toilet paper wrapped around it and then a plastic bag on for several hours to let the ink set. Since Jacque had hers done first, she could take the toilet paper and bag off first, just in time for supper that LRB made, well, actually bought, but that’s ok. And since my hands were still wrapped up, Jacque got to feed me!! I wish I had a picture of that!! The henna still looks nice after sleeping on it, and my skin still feels soft this morning.