Last Day in Dakar

So, I am coming to the end of one chapter of this trip. It is certainly a bittersweet moment. I am slowly saying good-bye to everyone in Dakar though I know that I will be back in December before I fly to the States. It is still sad to leave Dakar which has become quite close to my heart.

This week has been pretty relaxed. Tuesday I packed up all my stuff and separated out two bags of clothes and stuff to leave in Dakar. I need to learn how to travel light so I have thought very carefully about what I really need with me. Mike showed up bright and early Wednesday morning and we moved into an apartment in the Baobab neighborhood.

The rest of our time has been spent planning out the next few steps of the trip and seeing Dakar. We spent a day wandering around the neighborhood and we walked to the Corniche (the coastal highway). We applied for visas at the Ghanaian Embassy, which is one of the few countries where we need to get visas ahead of time. Most places we can get a visa at the border which makes things a lot simpler. We explored the north shore beaches of Ngor and Virage where the waves are the best for surfing. We also went downtown for a day and did a big walk through the major sights. We saw the Independence Plaza, the Presidential Palace, and the Malian Market at the train station. We also walked around the southern tip of Dakar where there is a big lighthouse and the old Supreme Court building.

We have spent a lot of time hanging out with people in Dakar and Mike has gotten a pretty good sense of the people and the culture in his short time here. We wandered through markets in Grand Dakar and Biscuiterie. I even cooked the national dish: ceebujen! This required buying all the right ingredients which included fish. I subsequently removed the scales, fins, head and all the fun inner bits of said fish. It was quite the experience and it turned out pretty tasty.

So, tomorrow we head out to Touba which is one of the Muslim holy cities in Senegal. Touba is home to one of the biggest mosques in Africa. We are going to spend a day there before we head to Mali via bus. After this, we are pretty flexible and I will try and keep you updated about where we are. We are planning on spending a couple days in Bamako, Djenne, Segou and Mopti and maybe doing a hike around the Dogon country. After Mali we head through Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana. We fly to South Africa on June 18th and we are attending the first match of the round of 16 for the 2010 World Cup. We’re not sure who will be playing yet, but we will see the winner of Group A play the runner up of Group B. After South Africa we plan to tackle Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya, all before September 1st. It is a pretty ambitious trip so we will keep you updated.

I hope everyone has a great week! Thanks so much for reading. Until next time.
Peace.