I can see this is not going to be a “vacation” but rather a busy time in this country. I had breakfast this morning at the hotel, if “breakfast” is the right term, basic to say the least, a croissant, some bread, a glass of orange squash and that is about it. A bit later I was joined by Kate and we discussed about what we wanted to do today (no great PLANS for anything).

Before Ben joined us Kate and I went for a walk to the cathedral which we learned was just down the road from us. It is beside a small children's amusement park that has a carousel and a few other small rides. It was brightly lit up last night. The cathedral itself it not too bad, the white paint is peeling a bit but it is fairly large. We headed away from the cathedral and through the “diplomatic” area, passing by the American embassy and a number of others. The roads around here are pretty much all barricaded and there are a fair number of security guards about. Of course, the American embassy is the most impressive of the lot with very impressive looking security and a very nice building.

Eventually we headed north and found our way to Marché Sandaga. As we walked along the road we were approached by many people attempting to sell things – they are very persistent here. The market itself we could see is a large two-story building surrounded by a sprawl of small stalls much like what we would see in The Gambia. We passed a number of small tables set up on the pavement (sidewalk) near the market displaying various items including used clothing as well as new (very nice looking shirts…will have to pick up a few while I am here…). We were looking for a bank since I had not really brought a lot of money with me from the Gambia.

Actually, getting CFAs in the Gambia was not exactly the simplest thing I had ever done. I knew that this trip to Senegal would essentially be paid for by my savings in the UK so I knew I would have to either use my UK credit card (Visa) or a cheque drawn on my UK bank to transfer into CFAs. It turns out that not only were all the banks in Banjul out of CFAs (there seems to have been a “run” on CFAs recently due to some event people in the Gambia were going to in Senegal), they would not cash a cheque for me so I had to use the bank machines at the Standard Chartered Bank (the only ones with bank machines) to get money from my Visa then I had to go to the market and buy CFAs from someone off the street (a tad on the “black market” side). This turned out quite well and I ended up getting a better rate than I would have in the bank. Of course, I also ended up taking all the CFAs from about three or four money changers (they are interesting people with rather LARGE duffel bags full of currency that they carry around with them and carry around the ubiquitous calculator and shout “change, change!” to anyone that passes by).

Eventually, we asked someone who directed us to a Western Union/bank set-up where I was able to use my bank card to draw money (thankfully – the hotel does not accept plastic and I only had a limited amount from the changers in Banjul). While I was inside getting money Kate was attempting to get rid of the guy who had directed us to the bank who was trying to sell us a number of items – “come see my shop, just look around, no commitment!”. Oh dear. No (in any language) did not seem to have any effect. Very persistent.

We headed back to the hotel where Ben was sitting down having breakfast and we discussed the general strategy for the day. Eventually we headed out to see what looked to be one of the more impressive sites on the map – the presidential palace (“Palais Présidentiel”). This was down a very pleasant road lined with trees, wide pavements (sidewalks) and cafes. The palace itself is quite impressive with very good looking gardens all around it and a high iron fence surrounding the whole lot (you cannot go onto the grounds). We had a chat with the guard for a few minutes (very impressive uniform) before heading south, making our way around the palace grounds towards the water.

We figured that a nice walk along the ocean would be a good thing to see – a lot more interesting than simply walking through the city (which, I am sure, we will be doing a lot of anyway). There is a small road that winds along the top of what are essentially cliffs above the shoreline. There are a few beaches at their base and, of course, hotels at the top but we also passed by a few nice looking restaurants, night clubs and private fitness clubs as well. Obviously a very wealthy area of the city. We could make out the island of Gorée visible just off-shore past a small breakwater.

We followed along the road, pausing to admire the “glass paintings” that someone was selling beside the way. These are things that Kate had read about on the plane yesterday and are basically simple, almost, cartoon-like paintings on glass that seem to be sold just about everywhere here. Most of the time they are images of bush taxis and of famous cartoon characters though sometimes they are quite intricate. This gentleman was also selling some images that were made up of the wings of butterflies that were, despite being a bit macabre, quite well done. After getting his card we moved on and passed the affluent area and approached the port. It started to get very commercial as we eventually made it to where the Gorée ferry leaves. We are planning a trip to Gorée over the next few days so we checked the schedule before then wandering through a small market that had been set-up beside the “terminal”. They were selling all sorts of fresh seafood and fruit (the fresh shrimp caught my eye immediately). There seems to be a lot of this around in much better quality and higher quantity than in The Gambia. At the end of the market we were standing on the end of a pier and were surprised to see an oil rig not 100 meters away obviously being in port for repairs or refurbishment. It is a small rig but still impressive with much of it's struts, which are normally underwater, visible, encrusted with barnacles. People standing on the bottom rungs gave a good idea of how big the structure actually was – very impressive.

We then wandered back through the small gate leading to the terminal area (when we entered, the terminal is straight ahead, the market is to the right and to the left is a long building with a series of VERY expensive looking shops along with a rather large car park full of taxis) and headed off to the right over a BIG roundabout that Christine and I had crossed yesterday. We eventually arrived at the train terminal as Kate and Ben wanted to check out the times for trains going to Mali. I was also interested in the train to St. Louis since I thought this might be an interesting way to get there (rather than by road). We wandered into the impressive looking building to find that there was no one selling tickets (no ticket windows) and a number of sectioned off areas where there were piles of boxes and people obviously waiting for certain trains to arrive. Oddly, there was a rather nice juice bar there as well…Anyway, eventually we found an official looking gentleman sitting on a chair near the actual train platforms who turned out to be a conductor. Through our broken french and wolof we were able to figure out that the schedules were on small, dirty pieces of papers taped to the walls at the back of each of the sectioned off areas in the main hall (where all the boxes and people were). Eventually we found the schedule for Mali which also included prices. The trip takes about a day and a half and leaves about two times a week. Of course, this is all mere speculation since we had our doubts about the timeliness of the departures. I also found the schedule for St. Louis but we had read (and been told) that this service only operated during “special periods” so did not really take the rather hard to read schedule seriously. It looks like I will be taking the road to St. Louis.

We left the impressive large open space of the train station atrium and turned right to take a quick look at another market that seemed to consist of stalls all along the streets for a number of blocks. The ones closest to the station were selling a large number of beads and necklaces (beads are sold, I am told, strung on a temporary string of grass, and necklaces are on a more permanent fish-line type string). They were quite impressive and we wandered around for a few minutes before finally heading back the way that Christine and I had done yesterday – back towards Place de L'Indépendance.

By now we were looking for somewhere to eat as we had walked a pretty good distance so we finally settled on a small bar or the north side of the square. It was a typical cafe and we ordered individual pizzas and some mineral water (we don't want to chance the local water – we are used to the water in The Gambia, but not here). I visited the toilets while we were here to be incredibly disappointed that the men's consisted essentially of a fixture recessed into the floor – a bit disgusting and dirty for me.

We eventually left the cafe and wandered through the park in search of a bank for Ben. He had a Citibank card but it turns out that the Citibank that is on the Place de L'Indépendance does not have a bank machine (nor, even when they are open, do they accept their own bank cards). Ben and Kate consoled themselves by buying a few post cards from a local newsstand (they exist here – and even have a few English language magazines including National Geographic!). We headed back along Avenue Pompidou and then turned along Rue Mohammed V as Ben had read about the many small craft shops along there and he wanted to visit. Alas, as it was 2 o'clock it was afternoon prayers and only a few shops were open selling rather nice looking clothing, statues, masks and rugs.

Returning to the hotel we met up with a few other friends and we were told about a modern art festival (Dakart) that just happens to be starting today. So, we made our plans then returned to our rooms for a mid-afternoon siesta – ahhh, air-conditioning!

A while later we met at the Hôtel Al Afifa which is just down the road from our hotel where a number of us met in the bar to discuss things a bit more. The free olives and peanuts quickly vanished as we ordered our drinks and chatted.

Heading out, we walked over to the cathedral where, it turns out, there was a Dakart venue in the basement. Helping ourselves to the free drinks on offer (yes, alcoholic if you wanted them!) we descended into the crypt. It truly is modern art with a number of multimedia pieces as well as a side room containing some more traditional canvas paintings. It was quite interesting (the one video of a log hanging from a rope and simply twisting was quite engrossing!).

Ben, Kate and I wandered for a few minutes through the cathedral which turned out to be very modern inside with modern stained glass windows and quite a small interior (for a cathedral).

Returning to the hotel, Kate and I decided to go for a bit more of a walk and wandered through a dress shop (nice fabrics) and then into a corner store that was just closing where we picked up a copy of the National Geographic and “The Economist” – both in English. We also wandered through another Dakart exhibit that we found just down from our hotel where they even had wine on offer! This one was considerably more crowded and basically had a number of paintings with only a few sculptures in a series of four rooms. We also took a few minutes, before returning to the hotel to drop into a few of the local restaurants to see what they had on their menus (and their prices). There are a large number of very nice restaurants in the immediate area of our hotel – which is good news indeed!

Meeting back at the hotel, a number of us returned to the cathedral to climb in the car of another volunteer (this time with the “APSO” organization, who is based in Dakar) who whisked us off to Casino de Port - a trendy-looking bar, restaurant and casino quite near the ferry terminal. The big screen television above the bar (I mean BIG screen, as in 6 foot across) was showing football as we perched on the tall, small stools and ordered (yet more) drinks. Eventually we were joined by more people and finally made our way into the restaurant. The food was quite good. I had a shrimp (crevettes) casserole for a starter followed by a “fruits de mer” (seafood) pasta. Quite nice (if a bit expensive) with the menu appearing on our paper place mats. A bit of French did come in handy to be able to figure out generally what everything was.

Dinner was followed by a brief foray into the casino where I watched a number of my colleagues feed their money into machines to see the lights whirl around for a few minutes (not, obviously, under any illusion they would actually get any money BACK).

Climbing back into the car we returned to quite near the hotel where the rest of the party headed out for a late night of drinking and dancing while I, a non-drinker, headed back to the hotel for an early night.

⇒ Continue to Sunday, May 12th, 2002 - Dakar, Senegal