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Published: September 9th 2007
Life just keeps moving right along here in Dakar. It's still very hot and humid and dirty, but that feels pretty normal to me now. Losing power several times a day also feels pretty normal...is that weird? haha. It's the little things that make life here great...like how we found a fruit stand in Mermoz today that sells oranges! They'll probably cost an arm and a leg, but it's nearly impossible to get oranges here this season. Also, we have found a few restaurants that sell Western(ish) food. We had mushroom pizza with Coke the other day, and you have no idea how exciting that was!!
This afternoon was a very important football match here in Senegal. Les Lions de la Teranga (literally translates to the Lions of Hospitality, haha) played Burkina Faso. The outcome determined their placement in the African Cup in 2008 and also counts towards eligibility for the World Cup (I think). I thought European football fans were crazy...but I think African fans might give them a run for their money! Nearly everyone in the stadium was decked out in the national colors of red, green, and yellow. There were people with grubby stuffed lions, wearing lion
masks, waving flags. The coolest part though, was that all around the stadium were groups of men playing djembe (drums). They played throughout the entire match, and people joined in with shakers and it was basically a three hour jam session. People were on their foot screaming and cheering, and it was absolutely INSANE when a goal was scored. Luckily we won, or else I think we would have found out why they had literally hundreds of armed soldiers and police officers all over the stadium! The score ended up being 5-1 Senegal, and it was just such a great time being there in the middle of it.
The weird part about stadiums here in Dakar is the food. First of all, it's really cheap for tickets (we only paid about four dollars a ticket for really good seats in the covered section). Half a liter of soda (about 16oz) cost only a dollar. The coolest part, though, is that there is no concession stand. Women and girls bring in coolers of pop and water and climb over and through the crowd (which sitting on top of each other to begin with). They balance big bowls of ice and
bottles on their heads and clink 500 cfa coins as they roam the crowd. There are men selling peanuts, whistles, and something called tikki tikki (I still don't know what it is). Outside where you'd normally find concession stands back home, you can buy sandwiches that women make right in front of you (as in, they pick the chicken off the bone with their bare hands and stick it on some bread with your choice of super spicy toppings) and then wrap it in newspaper. It really is a bizarre eating experience!
The game was definitely a huge "I love Dakar" moment. We really felt like a part of things here when we cheered on Diouf (the Senegalese version of Beckham) for a corner kick, or when we leapt out of our seats after a goal and high-fived the Senegalese sitting around us. Trying to get home from the stadium, however, and almost getting hit by a bus was a little less "hooray for Dakar." But we made it home in the end, so all's well that ends well.
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mackj
Jens Appel
western food??
Where in the bush are they keeping you if you cant find westernfood in Dakar :) All the restaurants serve is western food I have tried once to find a nice senegalese restaurant to offer my guests but its impossible everything is "ála carte". And you can almost never be disapointed with the food you get and specially with the price...