Blog du Wren

Three Short Stories From Senegal

Story #1: What Are Borders Anyway?
On the topic of travel, people often ask "What countries have you been to?" Besides relishing the question as a lowkey way to brag, I also love to tell the story of the time I snuck under a barb-wire fence to get my picture in Russia! Well, I did it again...I think. Cap Skirring, Senegal is in the far Southwestern corner of the country. In dinking around with google maps, I realized I was less than 1 mile from the border of Guinea-Bissau. Why not? So I struck off down the beach (coming up on sunset a little sooner than I had bargained for). All in all, it was even more anti-climactic than the Russia barbed-wire thing. There wasn't a fence or anything. I just walked until my phone said I was then turned around and headed home (so as not be be stuck in the dark.) Do I feel like I've been to Guinea-Bissau? No. But will it be a fun asterisk when the topic comes up? Heck yeah!

Story #2: Little Successes of Public Transportation

One of the things I really like to do when traveling to a new place is to get to know how the locals get around. Sure I could take a taxi everywhere (assuming I can somehow communication where I want to go), but that feels like cheating, like going to a foreign land and staying in the resort the whole time. Here in Senegal, the way people get around the sept place, these beater old cars (all the same model of Pugeot) that take 7 passengers crammed together down the potholed roads. They don't have any schedule, just leave once they are full. But despite the absolute chaos of the sept place station, there is a method to the madness, or so it seems, as I have ended up where I wanted to go all three times I've tried! Successfully getting around the way the locals do feels like a little success, but an important one, one that I can feel proud of. (But that pride doesn't keep my butt from falling asleep when crammed in the way way back of that little Subaru-sized thing.)

Story #3: A Bad Day Turned Around
As you may have gleaned from my last post about communication, Senegal has not been the happy-go-lucky recovery adventure I was naively hoping for. I keep hoping that each day will be the start of a that adventure, just after I learn how to do this, say that, or understand the other thing. Today, I prepared for that new start and came up with a plan. I sought

out the one English speaker I had found in Cap Skirring, a great Rasta guy that ran a little cafe. I asked him advice on where to go, what to do, how to get there, and more. He was so helpful! He talked me out of one place I was going to go and into another one that he said was much nicer, cheaper, etc. He even hooked me up with his friend, supposedly English speaking, so when I arrived, he could help me find a good hotel and navigate the town. Well, after a fiasco of an entourage of moto-taxis, nearly spilling on the streets made of sand, and further communication gaps, I find myself stuck having to stay at possibly the worst hotel I've stayed in (which is really saying something) for a rate that could have gotten me at least a beach hovel in the previous town. I was so frustrated with the whole situation that I swore a blue streak (after everyone had left).

The one savior of where I ended up was that one of the few Senegalese geocaches was a mere hour walk away. In hopes of cheering myself up, I set off. Alas, like the other two caches I tried in Dakar and almost everything else in this country, I was thwarted. But

as is the point of geocaching, it took me to a spectacular location. And after a bit of letting the funk of the day wash away, I started to appreciate it: a beautiful secluded beach with wonderful thatched hut, an incredible hotel/bar property full of giant baobob trees, lagoons, and more (which I, coincidently, booked myself at for tomorrow night), the sunset, the walk back along the beach to a lively beach fish market scene. By the time I arrived back at my cell of a hotel room, I had found my peace, at least for the day. Did this turned around day balance out the contentious relationship I've had so far with Senegal? No. But I'm hoping it might be a start.

Monday December 13 2021

File under: travel, Senegal

comment?

<<A Gambian Meal

Lost In Translation In Senegal>>

Name:
URL: (optional)
Comment:
speak yer peace