Djeredjef Dakar...

Today is September 11th, it is 9:25pm and I am laying down in my dorm bed in Saint Louis dead tired.

It has been such a long time since I wrote in my blog. Why? Well, I guess because I hadn't felt like writing. Not !much was happening, yet at the same time, so much was happening that by the time I went to bed I was to tired to spend 30 minutes recounting the day's events.

In retrospect, now I do wish I had spent that half hour each day. But it is what it is.

I am in this weird phase now, where I am close to the end of my adventure, well the nomadic part of it as life in itself is a big adventure. And so though I am dying to reach morocco, spend time at home and with my parents, then hang out with Sonja and the kids in Connecticut before the big leap...the move to Brazil and joining Angelina at last. Get at the same time, I do feel a bit of sadness inside as the world is so big and there are so many countries I want to explore. The weirdest part though is that I have this deep craving of going back to Asia. I miss Indonesia, India, Burma...much more than I thought I would.

Anyhow, yesterday afternoon I had to say goodbye to my dear friends in Dakar, Astou, Bye, Saly, X, Francois, Maryse, Marem, Safi, Mbayang, Alyoun, Djili...

After spending so much time in Dakar (it has been the city where I have spent the most time in all of my trip) thanks to the fantastic hospitality of Astou and the welcoming of her crew, it wasn't so easy to leave at all. I could have kept postponing my departure day on and on...but the longer I stayed in Dakar, the less close I felt to being back home and moving to Brazil. So I needed to get going and hit the road again.

Dakar however, has provided me with such great moments with great people. Dakar the land of teranga (hospitality) deserves its name without a doubt. Well, at least thanks to the great friendships I have made there. It definitely made all the difference, and my experience would have been a whole other adventure of I hadn't made such friends.

During the past couple of weeks, I spent a lot of time resting, sleeping, and reading. I read about 5 books (not much for Angelina's standards, lol). But most importantly I patiently heeled my intestinal problems. Whatever I ate or drank in Mali kept me sick for more than four weeks! I a still not 100% back to normal but I am feeling much better and have apparently regained a bit of weight. Since the very beginning of my trip I had apparently lost about 7kg!!! Hehe here is a tip for people seeking to lose weight, eat street food in developing countries...and if you want to lose even more weight, drink tap water. Lol

Astou and her cook/maid Mbayang took such good care of me during the whole time, preparing me delicious meals in large quantities. It was funny and cute to watch Mbayang's face each time she would come pick up the dishes after I had finished them all to the very last crumble/drop. It made her so happy and proud.

We went to a nightclub once, for the birthday of Astou's cousin's wife. It was good fun. Much more fun and less pretentious than the first time I went to a club in Dakar. Yet, I am not much of a clubber anymore. I enjoy way more house parties with friends. More convivial and entertaining.

We went to ride quads (my first time) by the famous Lac Rose (pink lake not pink any more) at sunset. It was magnificent. Riding the high sand dunes and then along the ocean beach while the sun is slowly making its way down.

Sunday morning, Astou's father organized a morning walk around the gigantic monument of the Renaissance Africaine. I hadn't woken up that early in a while. Lol but it was a very nice way to start our Sunday. About 200 people of all ages joined the walk. There was so specific cause or fundraising. Just getting people together to do some sort of exercise. All of it over viewed or rather supported by the army. Astou's father used to be the General of the army back then.  In the afternoon we went to the Sarpent Island. This is an old and deserted island off of the coast of Dakar. Beautiful setting of black and white rocks surrounding meadows of miniature baobab trees. The good thing with this island is that at least the water is totally clean, and there is no one around trying to sell you things or looking at you weird.

Dakar and its surroundings have such a huge diversity of places to explore and enjoy. Desert, mangroves, islands, beaches, forest, national parks, and much more. To be bored in Dakar one has to do it on purpose.

My last week in Dakar, I managed to find a social business project to help out on the beach of Yoff, 20km away from Dakar's city center. A beautiful neighborhood. If I were living in Dakar and had a car, this neighborhood would definitely be on my top 3 hang out places.

Anyway, the project is called Begue Coco. Begue means happiness in wollof. It was created by Emma, this going american girl who also graduated from AU, and Cheikh, a young Senegalese man. They are pretty much running a little beach bar they built themselves, out of recycled materials, and are selling all sorts of waters, cocktails and cosmetic products derived from the coconut. The only formal place in Dakar doing so. Is it really a competitive advantage? I am not so sure.

The other part of their project, which to me is the most important one with the most potential, is the work they plan to do on reforestation of the whole Senegalese coastline to stop the soil erosion, produce coconuts for their business, but also promote environmental sustainability. They haven't really started that part yet unfortunately as I would have so loved to get in on it. Cheikh is also working on a few ecovillages around the country which will be a beautiful add to their project.

So I joined them for a week to help out with the reviewing and improving of their business plan, as well as to build up a key hole permaculture garden right on the beach. My very first interaction with Permaculture. Yay!

The experience was great. Begue Coco has A LOT of work to do if they want to really get their business and its profitability going. But the potential is definitely their. For sure! One thing I learnt, aside from the  Permaculture gardening, is that running a beach bar is far from being exciting and even further from being all that profitable. A thorough competitive analysis is  much needed and I think Begue Coco might have gone through that a bit to quickly.

In any case, it was a great experience. I got to help with my business experience and acumen, I got to hang out by the beach and swim a lot, I got to learn some very basics about Permaculture, and I even got to try to surf for a morning. The waves sucked, but I tried. Good workout anyway. Lol

When I think of my time in Senegal, it was probably the worst time to be in the country: hottest time of the year, rainy season, Ramadan, summer holidays, Ebola outbreak all around.  But I still managed to have a spectacular time. Djeredief to my friends!!!

Because between Senegal and Mali I didn't feel that I been all that adventurous, instead of cutting through Mauritania in in three days to make it to Morocco, I have decided to actually travel around Mauritania for a bit to see some of that very little traveled desert country...hoping that the Islamist conflict present in the region, between northern Mali, Algeria, and eastern Mauritania, doesn't create to much of a challenge or danger in the places where I will go. It would be a bummer to get kidnapped or worse, so close to the end of my trip.

And so, to make the Dakar - Nouakchott leg smooth, I decided to make a few days stop in Saint Louis...the very first city where the French colonizers set camp in west Africa.

After a sad farewell to Astou and the gang yesterday after lunch, I shared a five hour taxi with bunch of other people to get to the island of Saint Louis, almost 300km north of Dakar and 100km south of the Mauritania border.

The taxi took much longer than expected, and so I arrived last night at 10pm...tiiiiiired!

I found a hostel, by the river side, on the island, and close enough to the center, yet far enough to not hear all the noise and traffic.

The cheapest option was a dorm bed. So that's what I chose. There was only one other person in the dorm, this girl from Madrid. Uffff...I was so happy to find someone I could speak Spanish with. Her name is also Emma. She had been in Senegal for almost three weeks and did more or less the same circuit as me expect that she also made it to Casamance. Agrrrr!!! I wish I had gone there. Next time for sure.

So Emma and I hung out, chit chatting about our Asia and Senegal experience until she left this afternoon. It was a cool transition between busy Dakar, and now alone Saint Louis...and soon alone Mauritania.

This morning, after I found my usual kg of bananas and my baguette of bread, we found a bench in an area with absolutely no shade (it seems it is very hard to find a shaded area here), where I could finally have my breakfast. The moment was priceless. We very quickly got surrounded by a dozen kids. All asking for money, food, gifts...the usual. And behind us, yet sneaking through our bench, a huge sheep who was trying to eat whatever he would reach, and at the same time, head bumping Emma to make his way to my food. It was hilarious. The kids were so funny. We spent a good hour there, just enjoying the moment. Emma was trying to communicate with her Spanish on her side of the bench, and me I was jus playing around with the kids.

Saint Louis, just like in Dakar, is filled with these beautiful big sheeps people are getting ready for the big Tabaski, the Muslim religious holiday 40 days after the end of Ramadan. Those sheep's are gorgeous. They make ours in morocco look like ugly fur balls. But the city is covered with them. I had never seen so many before. And though Senegal is a poorer country than morocco, their sheep's which are much better looking, sell for much more money.

It is such an interesting phenomenon when you think of it. Sheeps are easily sellable items here, and thus highly liquid assets for their owners. And so seeing these thousands of sheeps roaming the streets of the city is as if people were walking around with their wallets wide open displaying how much cash they have...thus far I have surprisingly not seen any conflict being created because of this.

This afternoon I had a very relaxing yet entertaining time chatting with this retired teach and this plant nursery manager about not only Senegalese culture but also about religion. Ufff it is always such an interesting topic to touch on with such devout religious people. The nursery guy got a bit uncomfortable and upset when I told him I didn't believe in God and in religion. And his reaction made the teacher laugh the whole time. After a while, I left the place recommending him to sell and promote citronella as a mosquitoes repelling plant and am easy way to make cash for him.

The cutest part of the day though, was when I sat Dow on the side of the road to eat a simple sandwich. This tiny little girl comes to me and says "Ana madame?" Which translates into "where is your wife?". It was so cute how she assumed that white people are always traveling as couples.

I walked so much today, probably close to 15km...which doesn't seem like a lot, but with this suffocating humid, sticky salty and dusty heat...it is a hell of a lot.

But Saint Louis is such an incredible and vibrating place. A lot of it reminds me of Havana, Banda Aceh,  Viejo San Juan, and even Mopti. The city is a total dump it is so filed with litter, but somehow it makes it beautiful. The ancient colonial houses filling up the little alleys, the kids playing in the streets, the fishermen drying and fixing their gigantic colorful nets in the alleys where the women are also drying their fresh ultra colorful laundry of the day. People sitting at their balconies. The river bank filled with these hand painted and made long fishing boats. Sheep's all over the place. All sorts of smells floating around. A lot of people in the streets, yet only a meager portion of them actually doing something while the rest are just waiting for time to pass.

Saint Louis is magnetic. I started walking and was unable to stop because of how each little street I saw made me want to see the next one. This place is a photographers paradise...if only I had a real camera.

It is now 11:08pm...I am tired.

Silly backpackers observation from Saint Louis: a can of soda is way cheaper here than in Dakar, and a kg of banana is more expensive here than in Dakar. Bread and water are about the same price.

Last though of the day: I miss Mbayang's food. Can't wait to be in Morocco. Nothing better than home cooked food. Here, not much street food (Mali's was much better), and restaurants are to expensive. One. One more day here and Saturday morning I am out.

Angelina just texted me. I miss her. Less than 85 days! :-)

Boa noite!