Bonjour-Mundo!

The past two days have been great! The night before last we attended a concert of Senegalese music and had a great time. The band had two vocalists, two acoustic guitars, one electric, bongos and a regular drumset. Although I enjoyed the music. the people who got up and danced where almost more entertaining for me…they included one guy, who emily aptly described as dancing like a rubberband, some other senegalese aomen, and perhaps most entertaining of all…the 60 or so year old french woman, man could she get her groove on! 😉

Yesterday was probably one of my most favorite days so far and what brought about the title of todays post. First we took a ferry to an island off the coast of dakar, an old slave post known as goree island. It was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. The water was a perfect blue and was even more set off by the colorful buildings. There are no cars or motorbikes on the island so everything is a bit more relaxed then dakar. We wandered through the streets, sat and enjoyed the sunshine and the birds flying overhead, took lots of pictures…hopefully I can get them on here soon!; had lunch; and I successfully bargained for a really nice ebony mask.

 After goree, we returned to emilys for a quick nap, then we took a taxi to this neighborhood called medina to meet emilys friend laye. Medina is a sight to see in itself, a very poor area of dakar. The smell in the air is not exactly roses, and the garbage overflows in parts. Children are playing everywhere and soccerballs are kicked up and down. Along the central street there are market stalls that seem to go on forever. The market is strangly juxtaposed however with a bright and shining rainbow foods like grocery about halfway down that we bought dinner in one night. It is the oddest sight.

In any case, last night after we finally found laye, he gathered up a bunch of supplies while we waited in his familys home. Then he took us down to where the locals buy their fish. Emily has talked about this market on the other blog and it truly is wonderful. Its right on the beach and happens as the fishermen bring in their catch in the early evening. First we walked through where all the boats are piled up. Huge dugout canoes; all painted in bright wonderful colors; just like the mini busses that drive around town. Then you pass into the fish part, and man are their fish. Tables and tables and bowls and plates and aisles of fish. All fresh caught and all sorts of sizes and colors. We worked our way down to the bottom and the fish are layed out on steel plates in the sand with the waves rolling in behind them. It was almost as if they had washed up from the sea just for us to eat. Laye picked us out a bunch and then we headed up to get small baggies of sauce and some onion and cucumber. After walking a little further down the beach, we found ourselves a spot and laye proceded to start a fire and set the fish upon our little grill. We cut up the vegetetables and he mixed them with the sauces. And then as soon as the fish were cooked we had ourselves a picnic listening to the waves crash and the pebbles roll back with the tide. It was delicious.

I am enjoying Senegal more and more each day. Things are going very well, and I am so lucky to have such an excellent tour guide! Thanks to Em!

Today was my first real experience with the market in downtown Dakar. It was for sure an interesting site.  Lots of people selling everything from oranges and tomatoes to irons and fake pumas (em got a really cute pink pair). I love seeing everything all laid out to buy, especially the foods. A guy even pulled up while emily was looking at shoes and unloaded an entire truck of particularly slimy looking huge fish, grouper I think they said. (Hopefully it wasn’t the same fish I ate yesterday at lunch!)

I absolutely love watching the crowds, the people and their way of life. The patterns of clothes are bright and colorful and everyone we met has been extremely friendly. We started off this afternoon going fabric shopping. Emily has found herself a few guys who act sort of as guides to bring us through the various stalls. Apparently this leads to less hasseling.

We found a shop…well a room of sorts, selling the type of fabric we were looking for, something called indigo. Its just what it sounds like, fabric patterned in a deep blue almost purple. Emily had bought some in burkina faso, and I thought it would make a great skirt. So, after some hard bargaining on emily’s part we got what we wanted and headed to the tailor shop. I was also fascinated with the tailors as it was another room filled with about 10 men, not women, all working old school sewing machines. There was crazy fabric all over. He took our measurements and I am excited to see how things turn out. We will get our clothes (emily had a bunch of stuff made as well) when we return next week from saint louis. 

Otherwise, life has been good here so far. The food is good, lots of rice and sauces. Today was a couscous with a yummy onion sauce. We drove along the coast today as well, the surf was impressive, wonderfully picturesque crashing into the rocks. Tonight we are attending a concert of senegalese music, hopefully it will be fun. Tomorrow I believe we will be off to one of the islands.  I hope you are all doing well!

 

After 26 or so VERY long hours, I have finally arrived in Senegal, Dakar to be specific. So far; so good. The trip here was not the most fun and I arrived grimy and exhausted; but I made it. The flight ... [Continue reading this entry]