Trip to Dakar

So here i am in Dakar, whop-d-do really. been here since tuesday morning when we got here on the overnight bus from Tamba. Nice trip could have been a lot worse considering it was Senegalese public transport. So I came up to Dakar with Kevin and his two brothers from the village. Kevin wanted to take them to Dakar as they have never been past Kédougou. So they were very keen to know every little village that we passed through on the way to Tamba. It was kinda funny really.
So we left Kédougou on the morning of the 13th and rolled into Tamba around 1ish. I was lugging about 55 kilo's of Jatropha seeds with me in the attempt to get them to Kaolack for the volunteers there. When we get to the garage in Tamba i realize it would be a big pain in the ass as well as expensive to transport them all the way there by 7-place and resolve to leave them at the regional house for the next peace corps car to take on its way back north. Luckily there is a car coming down to Tamba with bed nets sometime in the next two weeks. So that kinda ended my dealings with Jatropha seed. I still haven't heard if its gotten down there, but oh well.
We make arrangements to take the Nikolo transport up to Dakar that night, the bus leaves at 10 and gets into Dakar at 9ish the next morning. Kills a night and you're in Dakar! Worked out well, the 4 of us were the first four on the bus and got great seats. The bus ride was uneventful luckily and we got to Dakar after a awful trip through Rufisquie in the morning. Rufisique is a town on the outskirts of Dakar that is really awful to get through. It took much longer than it would take if we were in the states or anywhere else.
We arrived in Dakar and went to Kevins Hotel to drop off our stuff and allow his brothers to relax a bit before heading out to explore the town. The Hotel is nice and the guy who was at the desk spoke Pulaar as well as the usual french and Wolof which was nice as we were able to talk to him quite easily. We relaxed a bit then took off to check out the sites of the area we were in. We saw the Presidential Palace and the changing of the guards which was interesting. The government buildings and the place de independence were the other two land marks we checked out. The place de independence is a big square that is in the heart of town. Also a landmark for volunteers is the Casino supermarket that is next to the place de independence. European/American supermarket, super nice and great to just wander around in. The two boys loved it and i think enjoyed walking around the town.
After this i head back to the Peace Corps Office to meet with the Med Staff as i told them i would. Of course by the time i get there around 1:30ish, its lunch time and i have to wait for them to get back. Not a problem as i have my laptop with me and they have wireless there. After lunch and my meeting with med i get to stay in the 'Med Hut' which is basically a section of the office which is for PCV's who are sick and need to stay at the office. Its really nice with AC, power, running water, TV, DVD's, everything! I basically hang out here for the rest of the night. While playing around on the wireless i find out that kevin had gone to the french cultural center for lunch and said it was great. I think ill head over there for dinner tonight actually.
Anyway I meet the guy whos in charge of the net distribution and who was getting my Jatropha seeds to Kaolack in the Med Hut as he had bronchitis. Kicked it there for the night and had a nice chwarma for dinner and ended up speaking pulaar with the guy who made it as he was from Conakry. It was nice to be able to speak a little pulaar here as usually no one really does.
So i wasnt scheduled to meet with med till the 16th so that meant i had 15th to myself. Basically that meant i would hang out with Kevin and his brothers. We went to Gorée Island and had a great time there. Got a tour guide and walked about the Island. Had lunch and relaxed before catching the ferry back around 3ish. We ran into another volunteer from Kédougou on the boat on the way over there with two of her friends from the states. It was a good outing and I think the two boys really enjoyed it as well. It was the first time that these boys had seen the ocean and been on a boat. Its really crazy that they hadn't been outside of Kédougou, it must have been something else for them to deal with all the sites and sounds of Dakar.
So when we get back to Dakar, I head back to the Med Hut to wash up and get ready for dinner. We decide to head to a restaurant that is known by volunteers that has really good food and is decently priced for the portions you get. We were told that you get huge portions so we decided that Chez Loutcha was our destination for the evening. So while I was washing up and getting ready, there was another guy in the Med Hut from the Gambia that was extending here in Dakar for his 3rd year of service. Spoke good Wolof hence he was allowed to extend there. Gambia speaks English so he doesn't know any french. Adam said he'd come with us for dinner. Nice guy and definitely knows Wolof well. As promised, Big portions and great food. Kay, her two American friends and two Dakar Volunteers were there as well, so it was definitely a winner for volunteers. It was a fun night and I think the boys again really enjoyed themselves.
So the 16th I meet with med and have a chat and agree to come back the next day again. After this I end up tagging along with Kevin as they were going over to Ngor island for a picnic and a afternoon on the beach. We take a pirogue over to the island which takes all of about 5 min. A pirogue is a traditional senegalese boat, only they tag on a Mitsubishi motor onto the end of it these days. Lots of kids were there as it is the summer holidays right now. It was fun and we got to swim and sit about on the beach for a couple hours. Very nice afternoon.
The boys decide that they want to go back to Chez Loutcha as they really enjoyed it. So we do that. This is their last night in Dakar as they head back to Kédougou via Kaolack the next day. Again good dinner, after they remembered my plate. We don't eat all the food again, but the boys while walking over to the restaurant see a homeless family and didn't understand what the deal was with that. Once Kevin explained the situation to them, they got a little quite. So as with the previous night, they took all the leftovers to this family. Very nice, very innocent they are.
So Kevin and the boys head off to Kaolack yesterday the 17th. While they are on the way back, I meet with a Mrs. Helen Manning for a chat. That goes OK and ill be back in Dakar at the end of August again for another chat, good times. After this I basically hang out for the rest of the day. There are a couple Kaolack volunteers hanging out in the Med Hut when I get back enjoying the AC and TV, and I end up hanging out with them and eating lunch with one of them who is a Ag/Fo down there. We go to the farthest point west in Africa for lunch. Sitting on the point eating ridiculously fresh seafood was great. Swapped hyena stories and generally had a good time. He had swam over to Ngor Island that morning and that left me really wanting to do that! There is a swim race sometime that is just that, that I think I will end up doing at some point while im here. But the rest of the day is just hanging out watching TV and dicking around online.
Towards the late afternoon, I get a call from the country director to see if ill be around as he was bringing some sick Gambian volunteers in. Yea ill be around thinking they were just in need of Dakar speciality or something. Well when they get her its a little more serious than that. So we kinda joke around in the PC about all the crazy shit you can get here during your service. One of the ones no one really thinks anyone will end up getting was this particular one. So these three volunteers have flesh eating bacteria in multiple spots on there bodies! Fucking crazy. They were being med evaced out to the states that night and were just hanging out till there flight left at 2 or something.
So I have company for the evening which was nice, as they were really nice folk. I walked with one of them who was actually just the wife of one of the two that had the bacteria to get pizza and had a nice chat about the Gambia and Senegal. Its a little ridiculous that the Gambia is there at all really, sandwiched in-between Senegal as it is. Ah well good old colonialism. Well they take off that night late to catch a flight back to DC to get the bacteria taken care of.
And that brings us up to today. I really haven't done a whole lot today. Sat around and watched the entire 4th season on the Office. Very funny. Went and sorted out why my American bank card didn't work. Having sorted that out went to the bigger Casino next to the office and literally wandered for about 20min wanting to get basically everything I saw! Ended up getting some stuff to make a good pizza back in Kédougou as well as razor blades for my mach3. Then back to the Med Hut to watch more TV and screw around online some more.
When I have finally worn myself out on TV I go for a walk to collect cactus pears I had spotted a few buildings down as a live fence. So needless to say my hands and arms are full of thorns while my hands are dyed red/orange from the juice. I should have a good amount of the seeds to take back to Kédougou. It'll be nice to finally be able to plant these guys as I had a batch of them from out in service training that I managed to lose. Either way ill get on that when I get back to Kédougou on Sunday/Monday. That brings us to now. I'm sitting around finishing this up and then debating about what to do for dinner. Not sure, I'm hungry though so I'm going to go figure that out.