Scenes from Dakar

Unfortunately, I spent most of my trip to Dakar working in the hotel, but I did manage to sneak out and take a taxi downtown for an informal tour. Let's just say it wasn't Basel! I've only traveled a little bit in the developing world, so it was a bit jarring but not as overwhelming as I thought it might be. I'm a little bit upset with myself because I let myself get too intimidated (especially for health reasons) to really get into it--lesson learned for next time. Anyway, driving into the city was such visual overload...goats and chickens wandering around, scrawny horses pulling carts loaded with goods, anything you could possibly want (or not) for sale, children playing and/or begging, cars swerving every which way and honking, a truck with sides of meat hanging from the roof in the 35-degree heat, and perhaps worst of all, a massive traffic jam with no air conditioning and lots of exhaust fumes. I wish I'd taken time to walk around and explore, but I still managed to see some interesting sights from the taxi, like:

A mosque right on the beach--this has to rank as one of the nicer settings in which to worship that I've seen...



...lots of vibrant and colorful clothing worn by both women and men...



...brightly painted minibuses known as Alhamdoulilahi ("Thanks to God"), usually so packed with people that guys were hanging off the back--unfortunately the only one I could get a good picture of was empty...



...and finally, the fish market in Soumbedioune, where the boats were coming in and women were taking the fish directly to be sold right there on the beach...