Wearing flipflops in Rome

Oooh, and on Sunday there was a “Simba”. Un concours de faux lions. Men dress up as “lions”, there’s drumming, and dancing, and lots of flashy colours. I saw some men all dressed in gold, but didn’t manage to take a photo… Pity. The lions are scary, the kids (and elders!) shout and sing in the streets, and then run screaming into people’s courtyard if the lion approaches. We stayed up on the terrace, watching. “It’s too dangerous for toubabs”. When we left, Malick looked dubious about it being just Pablo walking me home. Oh no. That won’t do. So we had a two-man escort to get us through the throng. Nothing happened though, except for the usual “toubab! toubab!”…