Gambia, Oh, Gambia!

I feel as though we were thrown quite quickly in to the deep end on our arrival in Gambia. On our first day we broke into small groups to wonder around a large local market. Now, I am quite an experienced traveller, but having been out of the travelling vibe for quite some while now and having literally left uni only a day earlier, I wasn't quite ready for it. We were constantly being hassled, of course, I expected that, but what I wasn't prepared for were the smells, the overbearing aromas of open sewers, dried fish stalls and the butchers - sanitation and garbage disposal just didn't really exist. Of course, we had a guide, a local man named Ensa, but all that really meant was that we delved even further into the midst of the market, where tourists would not normally go. The internal market was a dark and dingy maze of counterfeit clothing and distasteful delicacies, with all sorts in between. Photo's were a big no-no, a lot of the locals were offended at the picture taking and I got severely stared down and told off for what few pictures I did snap. I managed to get this one quite freely though, in fact we got given Mangos for the photo to be taken, which I personally felt guilty about, but she insisted. The women photographed here, a mango seller, was Ensa's mother, who wanted her portrait to be captured. I hope this photo will find it's way back to her.