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Published: September 22nd 2005
This weekend we went on a retreat to Toubab Diallo. We had to wake up at 5:30AM to leave, because Dakar is on a peninsula and the road leaving it turns into a bottleneck as people try to go to their native villages for the weekend. It’s particularly bad right now because of the rainy season. There’s pretty much no drainage season, so when it rains, it just sits on the roads (or in the houses, or in the power plants!) until it evaporates. So we left early and it only took about 2 hours to get there. (At least that’s what they told me, I slept the whole time.)
We arrived at this poor looking village covered in garbage. We were greeted by a heard of goats. They were curled up in the washed-out indentations in the vertical cliff. It was neat! I couldn’t figure out how they got in there. We walked through the village, hopping over the garbage filled gutters, to the hostel. It was incredibly cool. Sobo-Bade is an artist colony that receives guests. They have cheap dorm beds as well as some nicer rooms. They also offer classes on African dance, drumming, and batik.
The beach was awesome! You walk down steep stairs to the beach. It was really pretty, and nothing like PCB. The waves were big and a kinda scary, but I did some fun body surfing. I also discovered that my miniscule swimsuit is not appropriate for a powerful ocean…
Our program paid for us to take one class, and I chose to make a batik. Batiks are artistically dyed fabric; they sell a lot of them in the tourist shops and markets. First you draw a picture with a pencil on the fabric, then you cover all the parts you want to stay white with hot wax using a paintbrush. After that dries, the fabric goes into a bucket of dye. When that dries, you add another layer of wax anywhere you want to stay that color. Then the fabric goes into another (darker) dye. For the final step, the fabric goes into a pot of boiling water to dissolve the wax. The professional ones have a lot of colors, but we only got to use two. It was a lot of fun, and I’m going to try to take a batik class here in Dakar.
Sleeping was
The surrounding village
This is what you see when you leave the resort.probably the worst part. The rooms were ok, although a little mildewy smelling. After I used the shower, one of the girls asked me how it was. I told her, “It dribbles.” She didn’t take me seriously though. She got in and reappeared moments later, exclaiming, “You’ve got to be kidding!” Luke’s dog Rajah provides more water pressure when she drools. Also, the beds had bugs (my first experience where “don’t let the bedbugs bite” was a legitimate salutation). Lots of us came home with weird splotches. Mine aren’t too bad but lots of girls are pretty itchy. The food was really good at least. We got fruit salad and chocolate cake for dessert!
On the home front, Lauren and I just discovered that our 6 yr old cousin who lives downstairs is actually 4 yrs old. We were pretty relieved, because he is really small (for a 6 yr old). He doesn’t know his colors and can’t count very well (one… five… nine), which is still worrisome but less so. I don’t know why Maman told us he was 6… very confusing. Anyway, his mom corrected me last night when I was hanging out downstairs with her and
Batik making
This is Zodiac making her batik. the maids for the first time. It’s fun down there; I’m going to try to spend more time with them. I think I can learn a lot from them.
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Jerome
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I dig these buildings :p
Seriously they are really neat! Very colorful. By the way, is that an Evian bottle next to your hammock? It kind of looks like it but I'm confused by the sticker... Man this is important! Anyways good to see you're having fun! love you Jerome.