Retour en Afrique

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(Sorry for the pictures. The first day that I could go out and take them, it was hazy).

It's been five years that I left Africa.......so when we landed at 430am, I was not sure what to expect: excited on the one hand but nervous on the other. I have to admit that I was also mentally prepared to go to battle, given all those years I spent fighting my way past corrupt officers, police, and officials asking for cadeaux and threatening you. But to my surprise, everyone was calm and friendly.

So we snaked along the Cape from the airport in the city center on the corniche road......it was very dry and sandy, the desert meeting the sea. All along the road were posh restaurants, casinos, and patesseries packed with party-goers at 5am. The houses--mansions--were even a bit modern in most cases.

It seems like the whole city is quite middle class, with all the streets paved, not too much trash, and lights working in all the buildings. The Senegalese have a style about them--either a very modern, French look with tailored, fine looking clothes or traditional West African outfits with colors everywhere.
Today, I went to explore the city and it was so mellow. Nobody stared and just a few people on the street came up to me, but no one ever hassled me. Dakar in a way is more like a real city, rather than a village with big NGO 4X4s rumbling through it. You get a sense that it has its own destiny in its hands.

I think that I'm picking up on the style here.......so I'm going to see about some kind of article or photo essay on Dakar style......

A voir!


So there's the best gym, with a mostly Lebanese clientele :-), right on the water......you look out onto Goree Island and the ocean from the workout room. We are going almost daily, which makes such a difference when you're hunched over a computer all day.

Last night, we went out to the Casino to have a glass(es) of wine. Some guy came up to us and asked where we were from and then started to tell us that he's working here for three weeks and that his brother just died.........He just looked so lonely and desperate for friends. These glimpses into my possible future is so frightening. Then, we just spent the rest of the night looking at these 40-50-60 guys with 20 year old girls in tight, flashy outfits......

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Photos

Mosque
Islam meets 1970s African architecture