Blogs from Cape Verde Peninsula, Senegal, Africa - page 4

Shocks: Here is a short glimpse into my very polarized presentation of "good" and "bad" development. Let it be known, my jaw was generally on the floor the first five days, and exasperations were often followed quickly by my barraging of locals, friends, hotelers, etc. into how certain developments happened and how they feel about them. even if it's not so polite to ask questions in Senegal...this toubab was the pesky interlocutor this time 'round. Favorite development stories: "good" 1) sidewalks! hoorah! a simple walk to the local patisserie used to mean several minutes of areligious hail Mary's while dodging swerving taxis, loose-cannon scooters, clacking metal heaps of bus, occasional kids and dogs underfoot, and hopping of rainy season mudholes. now, one plods along a cement sidewalk, complete with pedestrian dips for ease of crossing. almost ... read more

Monday April 25th, 2011 Dakar, Senegal Latitude 14 degrees 40 minutes’ north- Longitude 17 degrees 25 minutes' west Situated on the westernmost point of Africa, Dakar is a port with a strategic location. First settled by the Portuguese in the 1400s, it was the capital of French West Africa until granted freedom by France in the 1950s. Since then the economy has struggled, but this is the first place in West Africa that I have seen heavy construction equipment lined up on the dock. There is either a construction project going on somewhere or Caterpillar has a factory here. You can tell we are on the edge of the Sahara Desert; everything that has been sitting at the dock for awhile is covered with a layer of dust. The staff onboard covered all the walkways coming ... read more

Dear family and friends Ahhh the last couple of weeks in Senegal have been a hell of an experience. Alas this is the last blog of mine. It is rather anti-climatic in a way. So for those of you who have not heard that is pretty much robbed blind.. So here is the blow by blow of the theft goes like this: Tuesday, March 22nd, at 8:30pm I went to my favourite bar for dinner with friends, I thought about bringing my laptop with me but thought better of it. When I returned night I went to sleep, thought to charge my cell phone. Alas my cell phone charger was missing.... fuck... So I looked for my other possession. I than noticed that my clothes were EVERYWHERE and was missing all my valuable possessions including: 1 ... read more

Editor's note: I decided not to write this entry since it's not my first time experiencing the often overwhelming welcome to the continent. I have apparently forgotten that things that happen here are not normal. It all seems so familiar and ordinary to me (yes, I'm aware that this means that there is probably something very wrong with me). Instead, I offer up my mom's account of our first few days of Africa. If you want to read about my first week in Africa and see how far I've come since then, you can read it here. After finally arriving at the Dakar Airport, we had to maneuver our way though the throngs of other travels. We waited in an endless line to get our passports checked when a parade of mothers and babies cut in ... read more

Wow! I can’t believe the hospitality. I just had a bunch of bread and Nutella given to me by some Senegalese deckhands. I’m pretty sure it was their supper! So I got my Level 1 diving certification card today. My instructor Mamadou took me on two hour long dives, which placated my ire. Le Doyen is a lazy fuck. His sore leg seemed to have completely healed today, as soon as some girls wanted to go diving that is. Oh well, all’s well that… I sort of have a bed on board, which is good because I’m exhausted! ... read more