More Saint Louis

This morning I awoke and checked out the southern half of the fishing village between the Atlantic and the Senegal River.  It is only about 3 blocks wide on a spit of sand.  It has one main street and the traffic is 50% horse and buggy and 50% car.  I saw the boats all along the beach and tons of boats on the river.  There were people repairing and painting boats.  I saw a bunch of kids in a sort of outdoor classroom all reading aloud from their books.  There were some unpleasant smells--horse urine, perhaps?  I didn't smell fish.  At the south end is a truck depot where the trucks pick up the fish to take to market.  When I reached that end, I returned along the river and escaped this most depressing fishing village.

Then I crossed over to the other side of the island and crossed the bridge.  Again, I headed south, but the road on that side didn't really have much that was interesting.

By this time, it was getting pretty hot so I got a can of Orange Fanta (300 CFA) of which I drank half and gave the other half to the first person to ask for it.  Then I came home and slept.  I was hot and sticky--though this is my usual state now.  I slept a few hours and then got up to take a shower.  I felt so nice after that shower.

With the afternoon winding down, I decided to visit La Saigonnaise, a Vietnamese restaurant at the northern shore of the island. It was delicious.  I had 2 Flags, a cold spring roll with instructions from the Vietnamese owner on how to eat it, and spicy beef and vegetables.  The total came to 8800 CFA and I just rounded up to 10000 CFA.  Since it was sort of mid/late afternoon there weren't too many people there.  Two other families ate there while I was there.  I kept myself occupied by writing into my journal and by watching the Olympics opening ceremonies.  Since there were no customers and it was rather hot, the owner fell asleep while I wrote.  I eventually decided I had to wake her up, and she was bright and cheery as if she hadn't even been asleep.  I recommend La Saigonnaise for the food and the view.

I sent a postcard to Chase.

After that I came home and hung with Richard and Andreas.

My time in Saint Louis has been mostly suffering from the heat and recovering from the bus ride.  So I haven't done much.  Actually there isn't even much to do.  I had considered tacking on a day to avoid looking for a hotel on a Saturday, but I think I'll risk it and go back to Dakar to get a nice early jump on the trip to Banjul.

August 8, 2008 22:21 Senegal local time