Day 18: Journey and eventually, Toubab Dialo

This morning was quite an early one. The sun rises here abruptly around 7, so at 645, when we woke up, it was still dark. We quickly showered, got out the door, and met up with everyone at Cresp. We signed a release form (that wasn’t really a release form, just a form stating that we would make sure to stick together, etc), and departed. Before I go further, let me say that this trip had been planned by Rich and Katie, the two group organizers. It seemed like a good idea to everyone, so we all decided to go.

Being the pessimist that I am, I assumed that traveling in this country would be neither fun nor easy. In fact, I anticipated long waits, accidents, and possible disasters. However, I decided to go anyway, figuring I’m only young once, (not to mention in Senegal once.)

Off we went, searching for a cab that would take us to Gare Pompiere, or for you English-speakers, the bus station. We found cabs pretty quickly, and drove off. When the cab driver pulled over on the side of the rode, stopped, and let us out, I was frantically looking for a bus station. However, I could see no bus station (or rather any area that matched my previous notions of a bus stations,) but the driver insisted that this was it. We looked across the highway, and low and behold was…well it wasn’t really a bus station. Just imagine a giant parking lot with sand instead of pavement, and about 250 buses parked and surrounded by thousands of people. Imagine this, and you’re not even seeing half of it. Anyway, we made our way across (the highway), and into the fray of people and buses. Immediately, numerous people began approaching us, asking us for money, asking us where we going etc. Note: a group of eight white people (six of them attractive girls) tends to attract major crowds pretty much wherever we go. Clearly, this would prove to be no exception. By asking a bunch of people, we managed to find the bus leaving for our destination. Getting on this bus would get us through the second and longest leg of our trip. After being pretty much hustled by a very animated bus driver, we all agreed to pay 1000CFA (about $2) and got on the bus. After waiting for the bus to fill up, we finally go moving. This bus was in really good shape (certainly compared to ones we would take later), and for the most part we were all comfortable. There was some traffic, like the place where there’s literally a lake covering the highway (going both directions) but for the most part it was okay. The trip ended up taking about an hour, and we ended up in another parking lot with less people, but certainly more than we would have wished.

When you travel in a foreign country where the first language (and totally dominant) is one that you don’t understand any of, the level of stress is greatly increased. Another contributing factor would be the amount that we stand out, with out American clothes, backpacks and other obvious things. The heat and total disorientation with the environment and all the fore mentioned factors make traveling here stressful and in general, something you want to avoid (when possible.)

With that said, we managed to find a taxi that would take us to the town Toubab Dialo for 300CFA each. It wasn’t a bad ride; in fact we saw monkeys and parrots in some of the very African-looking trees, (the first real wildlife we’ve seen here) but just got a glimpse as we were driving by. After about a 15 minute ride, we arrived at our destination. We asked the cab driver to bring us to our hotel, but he said that would cost more, so we just got out, got lost, but eventually found our little hotel.

They showed us to our rooms, one of which had two large windows directly over looking the ocean. Although we had made reservations for four people to stay in each room, they had only provided three beds in each. Problem to be solved later. We dropped our stuff off, feeling pretty tired. It was about 1030, the trip had taken a total of three hours (for a distance that’s really an hour away.) We explored the area a little bit, then went in the ocean, and just kind of hung around. It was pretty relaxing, although the ocean water was kind of gross.

After napping, reading, etc. I went for a walk on the beach with Lindsay. We walked down the shoreline to see the cliffs (see pics) and stuff. About taking pictures: Here, I believe that the most striking photos to be taken are those with people in them. However, it’s really difficult to get those kind of pictures, because frankly, it’s rude, touristy, and you could get yourself into trouble. I mean, how would you feel if someone came to your country, your town, and started taking pictures of you while you were at your job, or in front of your house? It would be totally offensive, intrusive, etc. So if any of you were wondering why almost all of my pics are of landscapes, scenery, sunsets, etc, that’s why. Hopefully, over the next few months, I’ll be able to get a few shots that show the Senegalese doing their everyday activities.

So, Lindsay and I walked back, went up to the balcony kind of thing, and watched a disappointing sunset. After that, we just sat there for a while, before going to dinner at around 2130, and then back to the room. Luckily, I was able to get a spot sleeping in the room on the top floor, which had more windows, and a really nice sea breeze. Nevertheless, I had difficulty sleeping. I ended up watching the full moon set and the sunrise. See pics.