February 17 :: Saly-Portugal, Senegal
February 17 :: Saly-Portugal, Senegal :: 87km / 2971km total
I apologize for the recent lack of pics... internet in Senegal has either been slow or expensive... or both.
Dakar last night was pretty much a bust... I walked around to the 'hotspots' which were really nothing more than bars acting as pimps. All the patrons were Senegalese, which is not a bad thing, unless all of the women in the bar are working. Enter a toubab, peeking in the door... you get the picture. The streets also had my Spidey senses tingling, and I walked with a slowly swiveling head, keeping an eye on all action around me, staying in lit areas. The only other non-American city I've been to that I felt danger like this (out of SE Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa) was Athens, Greece. The only plus of the night was I hit upon a bank machine that accepted my bank card - a rarity in Africa. The bank machine had not one, not two, not three, but four security guards.
So early, up and out, pedalling hard to escape Dakar and get back to rural Senegal. The traffic out of the city was a bit lighter this Saturday morning than yesterday's ride in, so I only smoked about 15 packs of cigarettes rather than 30. Still enough to sting the eyes and have me coughing and spitting. 45km along I turned off the Dakar-Thies road and ahhhh, how pleasant, green and birds and quiet roads. My map of Senegal has proved to be poor and it led me onto a sandy track where it showed a paved major road. All good, I had plenty of time, so I walked a few kilometres, pushing the bike along, past tiny villages that very rarely see foreigners. Eventually I came to a river and had to hail a boatman to paddle me across... to where the paved road resumed.
Saly-Portugal is basically Hawaii or Thailand or any of those places, and you're going to hate me when I get the pics uploaded. I found a cheap room and wandered among the tourist resorts. The problem with these kind of places is that the beer is always ice-cold, cheap, and a welcome change from the limited drink choices on this trip. So 'wandered' in the above sentence should probably be replaced with 'staggered'. The beach itself is not great, though, but I found a great chicken curry, ya, could be a few days here. Again we'll see what the nightlife has to offer. The lure of Gambia down the road is that the locals speak English there, which probably will influence the nationalities visiting. Its not that I don't like non-English speakers, its just easier. Being in French West Africa has made me appreciate how easy it was to get around India last year, where English is broadly spoken.
I apologize for the recent lack of pics... internet in Senegal has either been slow or expensive... or both.
Dakar last night was pretty much a bust... I walked around to the 'hotspots' which were really nothing more than bars acting as pimps. All the patrons were Senegalese, which is not a bad thing, unless all of the women in the bar are working. Enter a toubab, peeking in the door... you get the picture. The streets also had my Spidey senses tingling, and I walked with a slowly swiveling head, keeping an eye on all action around me, staying in lit areas. The only other non-American city I've been to that I felt danger like this (out of SE Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa) was Athens, Greece. The only plus of the night was I hit upon a bank machine that accepted my bank card - a rarity in Africa. The bank machine had not one, not two, not three, but four security guards.
So early, up and out, pedalling hard to escape Dakar and get back to rural Senegal. The traffic out of the city was a bit lighter this Saturday morning than yesterday's ride in, so I only smoked about 15 packs of cigarettes rather than 30. Still enough to sting the eyes and have me coughing and spitting. 45km along I turned off the Dakar-Thies road and ahhhh, how pleasant, green and birds and quiet roads. My map of Senegal has proved to be poor and it led me onto a sandy track where it showed a paved major road. All good, I had plenty of time, so I walked a few kilometres, pushing the bike along, past tiny villages that very rarely see foreigners. Eventually I came to a river and had to hail a boatman to paddle me across... to where the paved road resumed.
Saly-Portugal is basically Hawaii or Thailand or any of those places, and you're going to hate me when I get the pics uploaded. I found a cheap room and wandered among the tourist resorts. The problem with these kind of places is that the beer is always ice-cold, cheap, and a welcome change from the limited drink choices on this trip. So 'wandered' in the above sentence should probably be replaced with 'staggered'. The beach itself is not great, though, but I found a great chicken curry, ya, could be a few days here. Again we'll see what the nightlife has to offer. The lure of Gambia down the road is that the locals speak English there, which probably will influence the nationalities visiting. Its not that I don't like non-English speakers, its just easier. Being in French West Africa has made me appreciate how easy it was to get around India last year, where English is broadly spoken.
posted by Graham Durrant at 1:01 PM
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