What it is like to celebrate your birthday in another continent with peers you just met and a family you’ve only known for two weeks? I can say first hand it will be unlike any other birthday you will ever have. For me personally it was a Friday and the course load here is designed to not have any classes on Fridays to allow students to go to their internships or school scheduled trips to occur. Now obviously this day isn’t going to be used 100% like it should be and for the first Friday after orientation week and it being my birthday I wasn’t going to use it like it should be, it’s my birthday after all. That Friday a group of friends and I went to the biggest market in Dakar, the Sandaga market in downtown. The trip to downtown was an experience in of itself, but also not my first trip to downtown.
We went to the bus stop where not only buses stop but also car rapides and Ndiaga ndiayes. These two modes of transportation are a few of many that exist in Dakar but how to navigate each type of transportation can be hard even if you know the rules that each one follows. The rules of the car rapides and Ndiaga ndiayes are very similar the main differences are the look, car rapides are brightly colored in yellow and blue while Ndiaga ndiayes are white and larger than the car rapides. The car rapides are anything but rapide and the Ndiaga ndiayes don’t leave till they are full. The both have an apprenti which is the guy hanging off the back and you go up to him and say where you’re going he’ll tell you yes or no if that’s where it’s going. Once you get on you wait to pay until the apprenti asks you to pay. The fare varies depending on where you’re going and how much you have on you, there’s no set prices so estimation is key, and you can pay anywhere from 50 to 200 CFA. To get off you must knock on the vehicle and the driver will stop you can use your hand or a coin to knock with or tell the apprenti mayma and the vehicle will stop, as well.
The Sandaga market is the defining line between the start of downtown and the rest of the city. Since the only forms of transportation that can go through downtown are the Dakar Dem Dikk buses and taxis our Ndiaga ndiaye stopped right at Sandaga. As we got off we felt accomplish since this was the first time we made the trek to downtown without a guide. As we headed through the market stalls right off the bat we got singled out as the group of Americans that probably have money to spend, which we were why would be come all the way to the market and not buy anything. Similar to my experience on Gorée island people would come up to you trying to sell you stuff but, in this context, it was ok I wasn’t trying to learn I was there to shop, but even then, it got annoy. Shopping there is more exhausting than going through a whole mall. At every corner you turn someone is trying to get you to look at their items and buy it overpriced. Not only do you have to be like no thank you and keep moving but when you do find something you like you have to barter with them to not get it overpriced. Our short hour shopping wore us down and was enough to warrant lunch. After we headed for home on a bus that was packed to the point that the doors couldn’t close, and two from our group couldn’t even get on the bus. Even with this complication we made it back safe, with time to rest before the night out.
Dakar is known for its vibrant nightlife and if there was any night I am going to go out in Dakar it would definitely have to be my 21st birthday. Which I did and can confirm the nightlight is one aspect on many why this city is amazing. I know for a fact that if I was in the states my birthday wouldn’t have be as fun because there aren’t exactly clubs in my small college town where I would have been for my birthday because the semester just started, things in the states would have been business as usual. The everyday life isn’t as exciting or spontaneous as the abroad life, maybe because while abroad everyone is trying to maximize the experience which in turn maximized my birthday.
The next day, Saturday involved some sadder realities of life here in Senegal at some point in the day the water stopped running. Which meant no showers, the toilet wouldn’t flush, and we were more or less in water purgatory as most of the city didn’t have water. It was kind of like before a snow storm everyone goes to the store and buys bread and milk to stock up before being snowed in for a few days but instead with water. The water didn’t come back until Sunday night at which I was trying to upload photos to my last blog post for two hours. Therefore, I didn’t shower until Monday and I tried to buy a 10-liter jug of drinking water, but they were out. Now that you’re alarmed I must warn that this isn’t a super common occurrence, but it happens.
After spending all of Saturday complaining about water I had to get out on Sunday which involved a trip to the African Renaissance monument. When you Google image search it one of two things happens you get good areal images of it while my personal pictures are low shots and the size alludes you it’s so much larger in person. To get to the top is a staircase with so many stairs that by the time you reach the top you’re winded. I thought if I took my time it would be fine, but it still wasn’t. I can’t say much about the monument other than you have to see it personally and that the project was started and completed under the third president of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade to show a new beginning for Africa but also for tourism not that this is going to be blatantly admitted. My time at the monument included an encounter with a group of boys who I thought wanted me to take their picture because they said photo. So normally based on my experiences if a group ask for a photo they want you to take a picture of them. Instead these boys wanted a picture with me because I was white. I was startled and taken aback when I understood what was going on and I was like oh no and walked away real fast.
After the monument we headed to a beach near by which might be the best beach I’ve gone to so far it is Mamelles beach hidden below the Mamelles lighthouse it was bustling on a Sunday afternoon, music was playing, and the sun was shining. It was perfect, and we stayed till the sun went down and I got some of my first sunset pictures in Dakar.
Destination Dakar 
Leave a comment