Day 6 - In Dakar

It looks like the hotel's internet is up and running again. That's a relief!

Last night I had a wonderful conversation with the waiter in Saint-Louis where I ate. It was a quiet night, the Dutch tourists left, and there was only one couple there. The waiter is one of those guys with a big engaging smile and who you can tell absolutely loves his job. He asked me what I thought of Sénégal, I told him it was marvelous and he just beamed. He has a brother who lives in Queens and asked me a lot of questions about New York.

Last night was also a toss and turn night. I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about today's trip. I had read about the stories about the chaos at the Gare Routiére and stories about bush taxis breaking down in the wilderness. My fears turned out to be unfounded. Yes, the Gare Routiére is crazy and as a White tourist you are the object of attention. But it isn't anything I hadn't encountered before.

I took a local taxi to the station and once we arrived I got my pack out and just started shouting "Dakar...Dakar...Dakar..." until someone shouted back. I got into the car with my daypack (which has all my valuables) and gave my backpack (which just has clothes) to the driver to load in the back. The bush taxis sell fares by the seat and I bought two seats for 5 000 francs each plus another 2 000 for my backpack. (Total cost $24) Then it was about a 20 minute wait for 5 other people to show up, fill the 7 seat taxi which meant we can leave. It was a long 20 minutes. In fact, it is hard to convey how intense the chaos was at this point. There were lots of street merchants shoving bottled water, candy bars and phone cards in my face. There were lots of teenage kids asking for money for "helping" me and, of course, there were the ubiquitous filthy beggar kids. So I am sitting there turned partially around to watch my pack in the back trunk so that no one walks off with it while these people are shoving goods, cans for change or their hands in my face and shouting at me. At one point the teenage kids tried to open my door to get at me. So then I had to use one hand to keep the door pulled shut while turned the other way to make sure my pack stayed in place. As I said, this was an intense moment!

Finally, 5 other people showed up. There were 3 men in the backseat in traditional clothing. Two in white robes and one in a beautiful purple-blue robe. There was the man next to my second seat, who was in modern clothes and chatted on his cellphone and then a younger man in a t-shirt and jeans in the front with the driver. The 3 men in the back were older and didn't speak French. It sounds like they weren't speaking Wolof either. The man next to me spoke French and a bit of English and wanted to try his English out on me. The two men in the front were silent the entire time.

It's a 5 hour drive, direct. We had to dodge the same groups of people, slower cars and livestock. This time I decided not to watch the driver drive and enjoy the scenery. The landscape is savanna with brown grass and scattered trees which got greener as we went south. We passed through the same villages I saw on the way up, but this time I paid more attention. From time to time you would see thatched huts in compounds. On the way up I assumed that everyone lived in concrete homes and these were for livestock. But it is apparent that people do still live in these thatched huts. We stopped every 100 klicks or so, sometimes at a lean-to at the side of the road and someone there would hand the driver a piece of paper with a number on it. (Perhaps to make sure he took the correct route? I dunno.)

We got into Dakar in mid afternoon and crawled through traffic for an hour. Ugh! An hour of the worst kind of truck fumes you ever smelled. It's a smell you don't smell in the developed world and left me with a headache. Finally the bush taxi pulled along the side of the road, I transferred my packs to a local taxi and we went to the hotel. The receptionist didn't have my reservation but checked me in. I was exhausted and sore but had to get a stash of bottled water. I found that at a local shop, came back and am going to take it easy tonight. I am wiped, feeling a little sick from the fumes and just need a night of quiet.

Tomorrow I am off to explore Gorée Island.