Well, an extremely busy and eventful day. But, we have made it and are now in St. Louis – ostensibly the whole purpose of this trip.

An early morning as we had to get up to catch the 8:00 ferry to Dakar. We wanted to give ourselves as much time for the trip to St. Louis as we could – a 350 km trip. Breakfast at 7:00 was made more interesting as I had to fight to use my Visa to pay for the room (they are not really used to dealing with credit cards – Visa is the only one they accept.

Ben & Kate are accumulating a large number of souvenirs – big ones - - that we managed to lug to the ferry. We were lucky that the hotel owner happened to have a friend with a taxi that we were able to arrange to meet when we arrived from the ferry in Dakar so that he could take us to St. Louis (or, rather, get us a driver and car to do it). It was a bit melancholy leaving the island but eventually we arrived in Dakar and sure enough the friend was there and managed to meet us amongst the people that were on the ferry.

He took us over to a local shop where we wandered around browsing while he arranged to get a vehicle for us and we explained (well, Ben, since his French is very good) what we wanted for the day. It was made a bit complicated by the fact that we wanted a round-trip price including a stop at Lac Rose on the way up to St. Louis (and to return later in the week). Eventually we agreed on a price that we could all live with (though NOT cheap). The shop was also not too bad, a bit more expensive than a stall on the street but the quality was much better. They sold fabrics, clothing, and various art pieces as well. Kate also managed to try on a few skirts that were very nice though we never did actually buy anything.

The taxi that was to take us to Dakar eventually showed up and we loaded our luggage into the back. It is what is known as a “504” since it is a Peugeot of that name which has four rows of seats (including the driver and passenger in the first) in a car the size of what might be known as a “station wagon” in the US. It looked sturdy enough. We had a bit of a complication in that we wanted to visit a) a bank machine (to get money to finance the next part of the week) and b) the hotel so that Ben & Kate could drop off their purchases so they did not have to go to St. Louis (which they were lucky enough to negotiate). For this part of the trip, since it was in the city (Dakar) we had to use a local-style yellow taxi – there seems to be a regulation against using the 504s in the city. We also managed to stop at the theatre in the Place de L'Independance that was showing Star Wars II to see about tickets for when we return (we were told no advance ticket sales but took down the phone number of the theatre to try again later).

We returned to the ferry terminal clambering into the 504 then headed out of the city…only to stop just outside to transfer to yet another 504 (and another driver) for what reason we were never sure…though the explanation of “it is my brother, no problem” did not seem to be completely reasurring. Stopping for no apparent reason and the driver vanishing was also a bit unnerving.

We headed off along a wonderful dual-carrigeway which we left for a not-so-good paved road through a number of small villages as we made our way to Lac Rose. Lac Rose is an interesting place. The water is a light shade of pink due to the high concentration of minerals it being an inland lake of salt water. Local people harvest the salt in the small, shallow lake by chipping off salt from the bottom of the lake and scooping it with their hands into small boats. These boats are then unloaded on the shore into large piles of salt all along the shore marked with various signs indicating ownership. This is also, I am told, the finishing point of the Paris to Dakar rally held every year.

Eventually we came across the lake and the driver drove along, not knowing exactly where we wanted to go we eventually got out a bit of a ways along and wandered around talking to people for a few minutes (and taking, of course, photographs). We walked amongst the piles of salt though there were still people trying to sell us various things including “sand paints” (pictures made by glueing sand of various colours onto a wood board). It was interesting to talk to some of the people in French and wolof about what life was actually like here – it seems, not very good though they seem to be quite healthy and relatively happy. The water itself is, of course, VERY salty to the taste and almost oily to the touch.

Eventually we met up with our bemused driver who then took us a short distance to a small tourist camp for lunch. Evidently this is where the drivers take tourists when they come here. We paid for his lunch, which we felt was quite reasonable considering the amount of trouble we were giving him (stop here, wait there, etc.). Chicken Yassa, a typical dish that is served to more intrepid tourists in this area (and not too bad at all). We also made good use of the…facilities while we were there. It was getting quite warm so Chris and I headed off to the hammocks for a few minutes. Very nice, very quiet. Ben & Kate also went down to the lake from the camp and passed through another tourist market.

Returning to the car parked under the shade of the trees (very sensible) we once again headed off, passing along the shore of the lake for a few minutes along the dirt road before taking an even worse road for about half an hour returning to the main tarmac road to St. Louis. A number of times we wondered where we were on these back roads (with the driver asking for directions) but once on the main road we got into the flow of things.

The road was very good with many places having three lanes – one lane in each direction and a middle lane for passing. There were no potholes and it was very flat. We clipped along quite quickly (80 km/hr) passing through a number of villages as well as a few big towns (one with a series of roundabouts and another dual-carriageway!). The train tracks followed us all the way though we saw no trains (only a small maintenance engine) on the tracks. We remembered to lift our legs each time we went over the tracks (evidently, according to Kate, we are supposed to make a wish when we lift our legs and it will be granted…ooookkkkk….). A number of places we passed a vast number of people selling piles of mangos on the side of the road. Quite incredible both the size and numbers of both mangos and people selling them.

As we approached St. Louis the temperature all of a sudden climbed dramatically. We all immediately noticed it and likened it to having a hair dryer blowing in your face all the time. The surroundings were a lot more arid with only a few baobab trees and a lot of sand. Evidently this is the sub-sahara or Sahel area. I can't imagine what the Sahara area itself is like. This part of the trip was relatively uneventful (except for the complaints about the heat, obviously) except for the time a bird tried to fly through the window and ended up in the back seat with Ben (feathers everywhere, broken neck poor thing – had to get the driver to stop so Ben could put it outside).

The temperature once again dropped as we approached the coast where St. Louis is. Thankfully. It was starting to get dark as we entered St. Louis about three hours after Lac Rose. We crossed over the Pont Faidherbe bridge that leads into the city proper – a long iron bridge that evidently used to cross the Danube (though how they got it here I will never know!). Entering the main square near the tourist information booth, we took a side street passing by the two-story buildings reminiscent of pictures I have seen of New Orleans and Spain that are falling apart everywhere. We made our way to the hotel where Steve, Chris and I are staying in the north part of the main island.

St. Louis basically occupies part of the mainland, a small island in the middle of the River Senegal and a small ocean peninsula on the other side of the island. There is only the one bridge connecting the island to the mainland and another two connecting the island to the peninsula.

We are staying in the Auberge de Jeunesse (Youth Hostel) which is not too bad with a series of rooms around a rectangular courtyard having a large banquet-style table on the main floor. The upper floor is where our rooms are located have a number of beds in them. We had reserved two rooms – one with two beds and the other with three beds – anticipating that there would be more volunteers coming from The Gambia that would need the room. Ben & Kate are staying with a number of other volunteers at a house owned by someone's friend here in St. Louis. I was told later that they were in a series of rooms with matresses on the floor (we have beds in the hostel).

After having a drink (“Fanta Citreon” - our favourite here in Senegal, not sweet but actually a lemon drink) we headed out to see what was happening in the main square where the main stage has been set up. It seemed to be in the process of setting up but we managed to pick up tickets for the evening performance on the main stage and learned that the the “Out” events listed on the program were actually on a small, free, stage on the south-eastern shore of the island.

We managed to find a good restaurant and ordered pizza – “Le Laser” or something like that. Very good personal pizzas on an upper floor with a view out of the window of the sand road running beside the eastern shore of the island.

Eventually we headed off to the concert which was supposed to begin at 9:15 (but actually began at nearer to 10). This was taking place in the middle of the main square. We had to go through a police check at the entrance to the square then the stage area itself was a curtained- off area to the right butting up to a long older building which had an small art exhibit and “bar” set-up on the main floor.

We had picked up the cheaper ticket of the two different ticket prices and were told we had to sit at the back of the theatre. So, we grabbed some seats (and put our feet up since there was NO one there) and waited for the show to begin though eventually Steve and Chris headed over to the bar for drinks. Eventually the show began (Saint Louis Jazz Orchestra) which was not too bad though got better…During the interval I headed off to the bar to join the rest of the friends that had made it up for the festival.

The second concert of the evening was Youssou Ndour who is a VERY popular Senegalese rock singer. That concert was very well attended and really got very good near the end as the crowd was on it's feet clapping as he went into some of his more famous songs. Evidently Ben & Kate had front row seats for both concerts and thought that Ndour was very good.

After the concert which ended very late, we all headed out to a small, local, jazz bar – Marcos Jazz – that Usha told us about (she has been here a day already) that was just down from where we had dinner. It is a small bar about 10 feet across and only about 50 feet long all painted inside in black with spray painted greetings in white on the walls from various jazz musicians. Eventually a few of the people from the Jazz Orchestra showed up and played a few numbers which was quite good (if not a bit loud in the small room). We sat around in the few sofas that are up against the walls as well as leaning against the walls (when the sofas filled up). It was great fun.

Eventually I gave up at 3:30 am (though everyone else was still going – not drinking means there is not much of an incentive to stick around as everyone is drinking more and more) and returned to the hostel, feeling guilty as I woke the custodian at 4:00 to let me in.

⇒ Continue to Thursday, May 16th, 2002 - St. Louis, Senegal