Back in Dakar

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December 20, 2005

We headed back to Dakar today, with Ikupa and Mactar. Luckily for us, Ikupa was heading back to Dakar anyway, because we really weren't looking forward to another drive in the Sept Places. To be honest, we weren't too sad to leave Tambacounda behind us...it's just too boring. We were really excited to get back to Dakar, where we'd have things to do and a little variety in our diets. We were picked up at around 9:30 and enjoyed a relatively peaceful ride back to Dakar. We stopped in Kaolack for a pit stop, about halfway to Dakar. It's really nice driving back to Dakar, because you get all the really crappy part of the road behind you on the first half of the trip, and it's smooth sailing after that. During our stop in Kaolack, we were standing at the back of the SUV, eating our lunch and we saw a fight between the two oldest people I've seen in Senegal so far. A really old woman had all her stuff set out on a little mat at the side of the road. She was sweeping up the dirt in front of her mat (a futile effort in Senegal), and a man with an umbrella ( I think it was an umbrella) came up to her, all hunched over. They were yelling and moving in slow lotion, and she started poking him in the face with the broom. It was really weird, but kind of funny. Anyway, after driving almost all the way back to Dakar, Ikupa asked Mactar to take a little detour and show us Saly. It's the really nice tourist area about 100 km away from Dakar. There were really nice beaches and hotels, and because we came straight from Tamba, we could barely believe our eyes. We walked down to the beach, and soon realized why all the tourists were coling to Dakar. The area was full of people, vacationing for their Christmas break. It was decorated with Christmas ornaments and stuff, very nice. On the way back into Dakar, we were stuck in traffic and we noticed that the car in front of us had about fifty chickens in it, and probably the same amount on the roof. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if the chickens were dead, but they were all very much alive and flying all around the back of this station wagon. The driver would have to periodically stop to pull chickens out from under the pedals and off his lap, and we'd just see a chicken being thrown into the back, feathers flying everywhere. There were feathers all over the car, and they'd fly out the window everytime he'd toss another one back. Just another thing that we've come to think of as normal in Dakar.

When we finally pulled into Dakar, we dropped Ikupa off at her apartment and headed over to the Africare Apartment. We were a little worried about it, since Ikupa just kept telling us that she had no idea what kind of condition it was in. We pulled up to a big pink building, in a nice area, not too far from where our Baobab apartment was. We got all our stuff out of the car, and off the roof, while Mactar laughed about how we had to climb three flights of stairs to get to the apartment. After we huffed and puffed our way up the stairs, we were pleasantly surprised about the condition of the place. It was huge, with three nice sized bedrooms, a huge living area and a dining room that looks like a conference room. The kitchen was in pretty good shape. The bathroom was another story. There are three different rooms that make up the bathroom. One is the size of a tiny little closet, and there was a toilet that leaked and a tiny sink in there. It was really gross, as we could all tell that it was the toilet that was leaking, not the sink. Then, beside that, there was another room with a bathtub, sink and bedet. It's a good thing we don't use the bedet, or else we'd be running back and forth between the two rooms with our pants around our ankles....not good planning. That room also had a handheld shower in the tub, which John promptly broke. The last room had the shower in it, which didn't work. We were just so happy to be back in Dakar, we dropped our stuff in the two bedrooms that Mactar told us to use and headed out for something to eat. Marian and Alex didn't need to unpack, because they were leaving the very next day, and we figured we'd have plenty of time on our hands to get to unpacking later. We walked down to the 'On the Run' and enjoyed the 2 for 1 pizza special. We couldn't believe how busy and crowded Dakar seemed. We were all on sensory overload and could barely talk while we walked through the city. It seemed like you could get anything you wanted, and there were lights up for Christmas everywhere. We barely made it to the store. We filld up on two pizzas and also got french fries, some beer, and a bottle of 'Lock Ness Dragon', a really really cheap rye. Marian and Alex managed to find room for an ice cream bar, and then we all felt awful after because we had eaten such heavy foods in over a month. There was a very scary Santa there, handing out lollipops to children and drunk tubabs. He was the skinniest little Santa ever, and although he was obviously Senegalese, he had a really scary plastic Santa mask on that made him look like a serial killer. We did enjoy the decorations though, and even gazed longingly at the box of After Eight chocolates on the shelf. After sitting for awhile, we decided to take one last walk together along the water. We walked down to where John and Alex used to work out before heading back to the apartment. Soon after we got home, the power went out, so we decided to go to bed and get ready for Marian and Alex's final day in Dakar.

Marian and I had to go to the Africare office in the morning to meet Ikupa. We had our meeting, and then a conversation about what we were doing for the rest of the day. She asked us if we'd like to go to dinner, which we accepted and planned to meet later on. We had decided to spend the day at Les Almadies, where there is a really nice craft market. Marian and Alex wanted to buy a big basket that we had seen there, and I wanted a few more souvenirs. After an hour of bargaining and politely refusing offers to view yet another mask or basket, we headed back home. While Marian and I got ready for dinner, John and Alex went out to find Alex some traditional clothes. Mactar came home to pick us up, and we went out to pick up Ikupa. Marian and Alex had to bring all of their stuff, because they were going straight to the airport from dinner. We went to Ngor Beach, and had dinner at a very nice fish restaurant, right on the beach. It had a beautiful view of Ngor Island, and was a fitting place for Marian and Alex to have their last meal since the first thing they did after arriving in Dakar was visit the island. We had a really yummy dinner with Ikupa and her friend, and had some interesting conversation.

At ten o'clock, I started to get really nervous about getting to the airport. I think this freaked Marian out, because I'm usually the calm one, but their flight was leaving at 11:40, and we weren't even in the car on the way to the airport yet! We left Ikupa and Vijaya at the restaurant and Mactar took the four of us to the airport. I think it was really good that we were rushed, otherwise there probably would have been a really big scene at the airport. We only had a few tears, because that was all there was time for! It was really sad to see them go. We had such a good time together, and had gotten so close over the past three months that we couldn't imagine spending any more time in Dakar without them. They are such wonderful friends and it's sad to know that we won't be living close to them once we get home. After spending so much time together, I feel like I know all their friends and family. We're going to miss them a lot, and can't wait to visit them in DC.

We were still sad when we got home sat down in the living room and just stared at each other. It was suddenly a lot quieter in the house, and we wondered what the hell we were going to do for the next two weeks. Luckily for us, it was Christmas that weekend, and we had to get ready for our big Christmas dinner, and doing any kind of errand in Dakar takes about three hours. I worked at Africare on thrusday and friday morning, and took the afternoon off, as no one else seemed to be working. The program coordinator is American and had gone back to the states for the holiday, and consequently the office was working at an even more relaxed pace than normal. John and I got used to the idea that Christmas was not going to be the same as at home, and decided to celebrate by splurging on some special meals. Don't get any ideas about how fancy we got...but the meals were special for us, since it was going to be pasta with tomato sauce. We had tons of fruit for breakfast, french onion soup for lunch and a cheese basket for dinner. We were going to make crepes for dessert, but couldn't find the room, and saved them for Boxing Day. I had wanted to buy the After Eights for our treat, but they were $20 and we just couldn't justify that. We did find a Toblerone bar for $2.50 and were really happy with that!

We had planned to walk around Cap Manuel again on Christmas Day, but ended up spending the day in the Telecenter talking to our families, and then on the internet sending Christmas messages. It was a perfect way to spend the day. I headed to work on monday morning, ready to start finishing up our final report, only to find out the office was closed for the holiday. I've been at the office every day this week, and just finished up the report on friday. John's been bored stiff at home, counting down the days until he has something to do again. He's been going to the gym and reading a lot. We've been walking down the Corniche every day, which is a nice walkway along the ocean right near our house. Our plan for the rest of our time in Dakar is pretty low key. We want to go back to Cap Manuel, and John wants to go to the big market downtown to see if he can find a Senegal jersey. We're also taking a day to pack again, and really go through our clothes so we only take to South Africa the things we really need. We've been checking the weather reports and it seems like we're really going to freeze in Milan and Amsterdam!! It will be good to get us ready for the Canadian winter. We're so excited to be getting on with our trip, and are really pumped for our flight, even though it's at 2:00am! We're even looking forward to the plane food, because we figure they can't serve us pasta for breakfast!

We just found out some BIG NEWS!! Sarah and Jamie are engaged!!! He proposed in Jamaica. We're so happy for them! I'm absolutely beside myself that I'm missing this for BOTH of best girls! John's really starting to sweat....

December 31, 2005

So, we were prepared to spend our New Years Eve like an old couple, hoping that there may be something on TV that we could actually understand and found relatively interesting. We had thought about going downtown to the Place d’Independence to watch fireworks, but one of the interns at Africare told me that we shouldn’t go, because it’s too crazy. There are always tons of people, shoved into the place and people just light fireworks off everywhere and people always get hurt. So, we decided to stay in and just see what was going on near our apartment. At about 8, we decided to see if we could go up to the roof of our seven storey apartment building, to get a better view of some of the fireworks that we could hear. In true Senegalese style, you could walk right up to the roof, and didn’t even have to go through a door or anything to get onto the roof. When we got up there we were pleasantly surprised. The view was amazing of Dakar and the ocean, and we really wished that Marian and Alex could have had the chance to see it before they left. There were lots of fireworks, but it was still awhile until midnight, so we decided to come back up closer to twelve. We watched a really ridiculous French circus show, which actually had some cool stuff, so it killed the time nicely. We started getting tired and even considered going to bed and just forgetting the whole New Years thing, but couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. We trucked up to the roof twenty minutes before midnight, and we absolutely amazed at what we saw. There were more fireworks going off in Dakar than anywhere I’ve ever seen. There were fireworks in almost a 360 degree view of us, some pretty close, and others so far off in the distance, we could barely see them. It looked like every household in Dakar was setting off fireworks, and if you looked across the horizon, there were hundred of lights shooting into the sky. We couldn’t believe it. John thinks that it was bigger than Disney World’s fireworks show, if they had all been put together. There were people driving along the road in front of us, shooting fireworks out of their car window while they drove. We watched the show for about forty five minutes, until one of the terrified pigeons flying around the city mistook us for a perch and tried to land on us. John tried to whistle at him but was so scared that he just ended up blowing and spitting at me. We decided to watch the last few fireworks from the balcony…

Happy New Year to Everyone! We miss you and wish we could have spent the holidays with you!

We've really loved our time in Senegal. It has been a great experience that we wouldn't trade for anything. We've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of really nice people, and had the chance to experience the true Senegal in Tambacounda. Even though we're happy to be starting the next portion of our trip, there are a lot of things that we'll miss about Senegal. We feel really lucky to have had the chance to come here. Our next blog will be from Milan, where we’ll be freezing our buns off!

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Photos

The Living Room
The living room in our apartment

Christmas Feast
Laura making Christmas Dinner

The Corniche
The walkway along the ocean near our house