The past week has seen the wrap-up of classes here at Ecole Normale, therefore not much happened this past week other than lots of homework and presentations. Therefore, I had in my mind the idea to do a blog about the "trials and errors of senegal thus far" since my week had been pretty uneventful but I still needed to let people know I was still alive. But then the weekend came and oh what adventures we have on the weekends! At the end of this I will post a few pictures that are past due, from the trip to Gaya and Saint-Louis.
Saturday was going to be just a pretty lazy day. The program was officially over and everyone was pretty exhausted from the past week. Plus it was raining and; let me tell you, the rainy season has definitely started in Dakar. The past two weeks have seen HUGE downpours of rain, I felt like I should be in Oregon during the month of November. However, normally the rain stops after about an hour or so but lately when it rains it rains for half the day. But anyways I am getting off topic. So there I was just doing some work on the computer and my friend Brian invited me to go with him and our program coordinator out to the artisan market. I figured that I did not have anything else to do so why not? The market was actually really cool and I think I am kind of getting this whole bargaining thing down...maybe. But then after the market we went and got drinks (which turned into dinner) at the Point des Almadies, which is the western most point in Africa. So basically we sat at an open-air restaurant and drank wine and watched one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. And life was good.
Sunday, three other girls and myself decided to go to the Pink Lake, which us about a 45 minute drive outside of Dakar. We had been told that we should not attempt to take public transportation and so we just hired a taxi. It was a good thing that we hired a taxi too because this place was in the middle of nowhere Senegal. We drove through three random shanty towns and then ocne we got through the last one it was still about a 15 minute drive into the middle of nowhere. However the place is beautiful and it is a real shame that it is so difficutl to get to. If the sun is just right Pink Lake is suppose to look pink, however this almost never happens but it is still worthwhile to visit it. The town in basically just a very small resort community, with a couple restaurants, pools, hotels, and marketplaces. If you get bored of the lake, the Atlantic ocean is also about a 15 minute walk away.
The first thing we did when we got to Pink Lake was to rent camels for 30 minutes. Oh yes, I have now officially road a camel!!! And I would like to say that I am not allergic to camels the same way I am allergic to horses, so we should have more camel-riding in the states. It was the weirdest thing ever! They didn't spit on us but they did groan a lot and at times were not the most docile creatures but no one was thrown off their camel, thankfully. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake, swimming in the lake, and buying small crafts at the market before heading home. The lake is known also for its salt content and swimming in it was the weirdest feeling. First of all the water was hot, not warm but hot, like a hot springs except it was a HUGE lake and not some dinky pool of water. The amount of salt in the lake also made it so that you were incredibly buoyant and could't really swim because it was like your legs were kicking air. Pink Lake was definitelt an experience though and I look forward to being able to explore Dakar and the surrounding area a little but more now that I have more free time.
A heads up though, I no longer have internet access in my house and have to use the public computers they provide for us at the university. So it might take me a couple days to respond to e-mails and the like but I will do my best.
This was us meeting the chief and his council in Gaya. We are treated as honorary guests wherever we go thus we had to make a formal stop to see the chief.
This is pretty much all we did in Gaya, sat around and ate. However, those cushions we are laying on were SO nice!
This is really the most I saw of Saint-Louis due to illness, it's a nice hotel though right?
This is when my housemate Jonathan made the mistake of allowing me to shave his head...it actually turned out really good! Jason you are next!
This was us meeting the chief and his council in Gaya. We are treated as honorary guests wherever we go thus we had to make a formal stop to see the chief.
This is pretty much all we did in Gaya, sat around and ate. However, those cushions we are laying on were SO nice!
This is really the most I saw of Saint-Louis due to illness, it's a nice hotel though right?
This is when my housemate Jonathan made the mistake of allowing me to shave his head...it actually turned out really good! Jason you are next!
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