I have been a tad under the weather from the Come Inn beef stroganoff/toxic waste, so I haven't written much. I spent all day yesterday recovering. I stayed in most of the day and went out only for water, some vanilla yogurt which was actually really tasty and just the thing my destructed stomach needed as I refueled to continue my trip. I tried to go out later to mail postcards to the nieces, but the Lonely Planet lied about the opening hours of the post office--yes Lonely Planet--the post office does close down Friday afternoon for Friday afternoon prayers.
So I returned and ate my yummy yogurt. Then I managed to string up my mosquito net enough to keep it above me, sort of.
That night, there were no mosquitos. At all. Not because of the net--whatever brought them into my room the night before didn't bring them into my room this night. My sleep was refreshing and mostly comfortable. I got up at 7:30 to listen to the iPod. Then at 8:00 to shower. Then I headed to the post office to mail the postcards since it opens at 8:30.
That done, I checked out and headed toward the July 22 Square (every African country has a main square named after the last coup, it seems). There were some mini-buses about where the Lonely Planet said there would be minibuses to Brikama and Serekunda. I wanted to go to Brikama which is supposedly the better place to get transportation to Ziguinchor. I asked the guys if this bus goes to Brikama. They told me they go to Serekunda and I take a minibus to Brikama from there. So I threw my backpack on the roof and waited while they fetched some rope to tie it down. In vain though because it started to rain, so the driver gave my backpack to me and I had to hold it in my lap. It was 10 am. The trip from Banjul to Serekunda was D12. As soon as we got there, the driver pointed to the minibus to Brikama which was just leaving. I managed to get on, though and off we headed. It was only 10:20 am. I was making good time. All the way to Brikama, the attendant shouted "Brikama Brikama" out the window every 5 seconds. It got a bit annoying, but he managed to get a few passengers that way. We arrived in Brikama at 11 am. Gambia is a small country. It doesn't take much time to get around. That ride was D20.
At Brikama, I paid D50 for a non-Peugot 504 sept-place. It didn't take too long to fill up. A guy demonded D10 for my bag when all I could produce was a D5 and a D50, he seemed more willing to drop to D5 than to make change. Was he really official? When the seven seats filled up, the driver got gas (why don't they do that first?) and we headed off. It was 11:30 am. This car seemed like it was on slippery wheels. We never seemed to be headed in the same direction that car was aimed in. The road was dirt and muddy in places. It was like riding on ice. We passed a couple of Gambian immigration posts. I hoped I didn't need an exit stamp at one of these posts. I was the only white guy in the car, so maybe they don't stop unless someone asks...?
Eventually we got to the border at Selety. I went to the Gambian immigration police and got my exit stamp. The man duly recorded all the details of my trip in his ledger. I could see that not many foreigners go through there--only about 5 per day. Two from Italy, some from Sierra Leone, a Dutch, a couple of Americans a couple of days ago. So having my exit stamp, it was time to get back into the sept-place and continue. We continued to the post in Senegal. I took my passport to a number of official looking people in official looking buildings. They looked at my passport and recorded my information. But they didn't give me a stamp. Apparently I'm supposed to get into a car that takes me to the police station where I get my stamp.
Well, the D50 sept-place ride was done. It was about noon. I got a ticket for another Senegalese sept-place. I had the option of paying D150 and 2500 CFA (US$5). Since my Gambian money is worthless to me now, I paid in Dalasi. I got in the sept-place for which the back bench seat is a bit higher than usual and hence, terribly uncomfortable. My luggage cost me an extra 500 CFA (US$1). At about 12:30 we were underway. I figured we'd be in Ziguinchor at 1:30ish, certainly by 2. Two of the passengers from the previous sept-place were in this one, too.
Off we were. The roads were mostly pretty good but there were places where standing water slowed the traffic down pretty badly. One o'clock rolled around. We were mostly being waved by police checkpoints. What I assume are mud termite mounds were everywhere--dozens of them--very cool. One thirty. We weren't near Ziguinchor yet. Then at about 1:45, a rock on the side of the road said "Ziguinchor 27". There was one every kilometer and they seemed to tick by pretty fast. It was raining and we eventually were driving a brick road on a sort of causeway through the mangrove swamp. We got closer and the rain came and went. Finally we crossed the bridge into Ziguinchor and got snagged by the police checkpoint. We were there for about 10 minute in the stifling humid heat. Finally, we got the go-ahead and went to the gare routier where I got out and got my luggage. The hotel I wanted to stay at wasn't far and I knew how to get there. Oddly enough, nobody offered to help. Refreshing, actually. It wasn't raining. I walked about 10 minutes to the hotel and checked in. During the check-in process, a hard hard rain started. Sometimes when it seems when the universe jams a red hot poker up my ass, it likes to show me that it could have been a white hot poker. I paid a bit more for the room than I wanted--the rates had gone up and they only had rooms with AC left. So it came to 45000 CFA for 2 nights--about US$90. But I'll get 5000 CFA back when I leave provided I don't have anything from the refrigerated minibar--which means I'll get 4200 CFA back. ;-) Then I took a shower and waited for the electricity to return so I could log on. After about a half hour, the electricity came on and voila. Up to date. :-)
I'll spend 2 days here with WiFi and AC. There are a lot of white people here. I am surprised by the number of white people in Ziguinchor. I expected to see not so many.
August 16, 2008 16:34 Senegalese local time
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