Senegal

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country number 6! (if you count the united states). this entry dates to April 7, 2009, and is pretty much right out of my journal.

i woke up at 6 am, ate breakfast, had coffee, finished packing, and cleaned my room (i do that now!). by 6:30, which Mr. Jobe told me he was going to pick me up, i was ready to go. mr jobe arrived an hour late, so i read The DaVinci Code until he got there. he arrived and we took a cab to banjul. i payed D200 for both of us. i planned on paying for him for the way there and the way back. that's D1740 (D25 to the dollar). what i didn't plan for was paying for a vacation for 2. we got out of the taxi, walked through a small market, and paid for the ferry. easy enough. in my plan. D20. Then we signed a paper with name, nationality, and address and sat down on a bench in a crowded room. vendors were selling dolls, watches, sunglasses, bras, ugly mesh shirts, and boxer briefs. because i guess some people buy their underwear off the street. super sanitary! i realized that i was paying a vacation for two when mr jobe said "give me D50 for my phone credit." hoo-rah. things that i pay for that don't affect me at all! awesome. i was mildly pissed off.

finally people got up and we pushed and shoved our way onto a ferry. standing room only. people were everywhere. sitting on benches, cars, standing on top decks, bottom decks, stairs. not to mention the vendors (i think they're called hawkers) walking around selling all types of goodies. we stood on the top deck facing the other side of the Gambia River. by 8:15 we were moving. it took about 45 minutes to cross. i watched the water, the land, and the toubabs who were speaking a different language. german i think. i leaned against what i assume was a flotation device, but after 45 minutes my feet were killing me. finally the ferry docks on the other side without incident (unless you count the truck that was swaying on the deck below us-a little disconcerting). i watched fishing boats and much scarier forms of river transportation (small overcrowed boats that reminded me too much of the unbalanced boats of Bahia and the Amazon). we pushed and shoved our way off the boat and walked through another smaller market to the taxis. we found one for D100 and drove for about 45 minutes. we were on the other side of the river, and everything had changed as far as the landscape goes. thatch-roof houses. i have never seen those in my life until now. we also passed some really cool mangroves. the car stopped at the border.

we walked a little bit passed the skinniest horse i have ever seen. then we got to the border, which was kind of pathetic as far as security goes. there was a small office, and no border patrol. i got my stamp and we simply walked across the border (which was not clearly marked) into another taxi (if you can call it that). it was the crappiest, most beat-up car i've ever seen. i thought "that's gonna take us to Dakar?" i paid D50 and got in. the beggar kids who had been surrounding me outside were now sticking their hands in the windows. one of them poked my ear to get my attention, but then the driver got in, and we drove away. we didn't go very far. we drove to another bus stop sort of thing. i had been shocked that our car could even run, and very relieved to get out. we found another car to take us to Dakar. one guy who had been with us since we got off the boat bought us sodas. he was really nice. then i paid D50 for mr. jobe's breakfast which was some sketchy ball of meat. finally 8 (including the driver) and a half people (there was a baby sitting on his mother's lap) piled into a car the size of my subaru. and i got the middle seat. FOR 5 HOURS. not to mention the seat was lopsided so i was sitting on the crack between two seats with half my butt slightly elevated. not comfortable. the car shuddered to a start, and we were off!

the drive to Dakar was super cool. more thatched-roof houses made of hay and mud. i felt like i was in, well, Africa. we drove through grasslands the whole way. the first part was a nature reserve, and i kept hoping to see a giraffe or zebra. but there wre just cows, horses, donkeys, sheep, and pigs. i did see two monkeys in the road! they were so cute. we drove through salt mines which was literally a barren brown wasteland speckled with piles of pure white salt. we also saw a huge mountain of salt, which made me want to go snowboarding. a Red Bull truck almost hit us (go figure). and i saw the coolest trees ever. i took pictures. i found out that they're baobab trees, which is my favorite kind of juice here. and i saw what looked like the rafiki tree. and then there were the ant hills. image mounds of dirt. now imagine mounds of dirt like those in lion king 2 that are about 7 feet tall. yup. ant hills. really cool, but i was glad to be observing them from a car.

i realized that there are no traffic laws in senegal. people don't really drive on the roads because the roads are so bad. they drive in the dirt on the sides, or on the other side of the road. we made a few stops on the way-one for gas, and one so that the same nice guy could buy us all drinks. strawberry yogurt. mmm. and one stop to drop someone off. we also got really tasty clementines.

we finally arrived in Dakar and i was so happy to be standing. i bought mr jobe CFA1000 for phone credit, and we got a CFA1500 taxi to his sister-in-law's house. ($1=CFA500...about). we ate fish and rice for lunch. then i went to the bathroom, which was a hole in the ground. oh, the Amazon. then we walked to another house and watched the news in French, and Beverly Hills 90210 in french. then we went to another friend's house with all of our stuff. turns out i had to share, not only a room, but a bed with mr jobe! it was creepy on so many different levels. we went out to dinner and i got a burger and fries. then we went back to the house and i went to sleep...sort of.

i didn't get much sleep in senegal. i spent the entire night on the edge of the bed trying to stay as far away from mr jobe as possible. so i was so grateful when morning arrived.

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Comments

[Joan]

The other side of the world
Wow, what an adventure. You will so appreciate driving with your own seat to sit in and not piled in with others when you get back home! Spring has finally come here. The temperature today is in the 50's and daffodils and tulips have started to come out The kids here at Bancroft are planning for their prom, buying their prom dresses, and planning the evening events. College acceptances are in and now students are going for visits to decide what school they want to attend. Hope you are taking a lot of pictures. You need to have phot albums to go along with these journal entries. This Mr. Jobe character seems a bit "sketchy". Take care of yourself. See you when you return. Sincerely, Mrs. Carlson

[ndeye]

Be careful
I wonder how you got in contact with mr Jobe but i don't trust him. I am form Dakar born and raised and I can tel one one thing, this is not how descent man act. if u're still over there i'll advice you to find an other host.