Skip to Dakar

It appears I have gotten behind in my blogging!Since memory fails me, I'll skip to the highlights. I think I already wrote about Halloween – I'll post it later. And Cap Skirring too? I'll need to check this once I get back to Zig.

Last week was a very short work week since I left for Dakar on Thursday. Wednesday night, we went out to a discotheque for the first time since our arrival! Our evening started off with a bottle of wine in a bar near the hospital, meeting up with friends and eating a fataya for supper. Around midnight, we headed off to the Bombalong Night Club – the most popular night club in Zig. I thoroughly enjoyed myself: dancing to the West African music with people who actually know how to dance! It was grand. When the party was over, instead of going out for poutine, we stopped by a bakery and ate a baguette fresh out of the oven. Delicious! I slept at Marie-Claude's house since in anticipation that coming back home in the middle of the night in my family might be complicated.

(Image right: chez Marie-Claude's - Astou)

In the morning, before taking the boat, we slept in and then made chocolate crepes for breakfast. Going to work wasn't worth it since we had to be at the docks at noon. The boat ride was a BLAST! I enjoyed every second of it – especially the parts when the dolphins were swimming beside us.

A little explanation about the ferry: It is a modern ferry, named Aline Sitoe Diatta, which goes between Dakar and Ziguinchor twice per week. The reason it is so modern is because it has replaced the Djola which in 2002, sank. The Djola was a tragedy and the emotional wounds are still healing for many Senegalais to this day. As with all modes of transportation here, the Joola was jam packed with people and luggage.1863 people died and there were less than 10 survivors. The max capacity for the boat was about 1000 people. Many people died because the rescue mission was so slow – it took authorities over 13 hours to get to the sight and provide help.

So the ferry ride was extremely pleasant and filled with safety features. It was 15 hours long so we slept in couchettes which were very comfortable. We got to Dakar around seven and dropped off our luggage at the Centre L'Abri, where our collegues from Canada live. Next, we headed to the Ministere de l'Interieur to get our visas extended. It was very anti-climactic seeing as how this was purpose for going to Dakar... We were flately greeted by administrative arses who took our documents, stamped a couple papers, gave us a 3cm X 6 cm slip of paper with a processing number on it and told us to return in 15 days. We explained that we could not come back in 15 days since we live in Zig. They basically told us tough luck and yelled at us because we were taken up room in their office.What morons. The story for now is that they will supposedly send us the minister's response as to our request to prolong our visas. Meanwhile, we have this tiny slip to prove that we have made the effort to extend our expired visas. So far, nobody has asked to show our visas and I hope nobody does for the rest of my trip...

The same day, we met up with Anne-Marie (the Dakar OT) and Marie-Helene (the Dakar kine) to go to Joual-Fadouth, coastal twin towns about 150km (3 hours because of trafffic) out of Dakar. Visiting another part of the country was very exciting, especially seeing as how the tourism industry is much more developped here. It feels 5-10 years ahead of Casamance. We arrived in Joual at the end of the afternoon and settled in for a nice evening meal and a bottle of wine. The five of us shared a hotel room to decrease costs.

(Image right: Cemetery island in Fadouth; pirogue on the right, boabab trees in the distance, mounds of shells)

One of the main highlights of my week in Dakar has been the food. I've eaten almost everything I've been craving for the past two months.

(Image left: our nice girlie dinner in Joal, at our campement - two kinds of fish, Senegalais couscous and potatoe gratin - a first!)

Dairy products here are readily available and fresh! There are grocery stores and lots of variety. I truely feel like a villager in a big city! I know I always talk about food in my blog and I will refrain for the rest of this entry. But it pleases me so much to have eaten: milkshakes, filtered coffee, a loaf of bread, muslix, yogurt, pears, cheese, gratined potatoes, brocoli, mushrooms, etc. AND to have cooked in a normal kitchen where I can stand up! I know you get the picture, but let it be said that gastronomy made my week!

So on our Saturday, we visited Fadouth, a Christian village made out of shells. We walked from Joal to Fadouth (about 15 minutes) and were greeted by a guide who gave us a tour of their community.

(Image right: a hut for smurfs... just kidding. This is actually a mini hut on a surface of land that gets flooded during high tide. Each family of ancestors had one hut like this one in which they stored food. Pretty neat, huh? I'm too lazy to upload another photo which shows dozens of them placed haphazardly in close proximity)

Fadouth is actually a man made island surrounded by a network of rivers with many mangroves. Since shellfish grow on mangroves, the ancestors and townfolk to this day, cultivate the shellfish for food and dump the shells on the island to make it grow.Its a wacky idea but its true. The town was constructed in this isolated (island) fashion by Christians who wanted to keep their faith in an ever-growing Muselman world. Joal Fadouth is reknowned for its the Christion-Muselman cohabitation and cooperation. All villagers to this day help each other build their houses. Muselmans helped build the church, conversely, Christians helped build the Mosque. There was also an extension to the village which is the cemetary - apparently the only one in the ?world? that is for Muselmans and Christians.

(Image left: A baobab tree in the shell cemetery)