A Question

What's inside my pants just behind my zipper and now is twice as big as before?  If you guessed my passport, you're right.  If you guessed anything else, you don't know about money belts!

I went to the American embassy today and gave them a photocopy of my passport page, after which I was let in.  I got my number and went to the American citizen consular services room.  There was no lineup outside the embassy today but there was a longer wait in the American citizen's area.  There were some people I recognized from yesterday, one super cute girl with a hot pink dress and gorgeous braids, and one other white person who is married to a Senegalese man getting a SS# for her kid.  It was interesting watching the people and trying to figure out from the French what their situation was.  Most of them had a US passport but were also Senegalese so spoke French.

Finally, my number was called and I got my passport.  I was surprised at how it works.  I expected there to be a set of pages numbered 25-48 sewed in the back.  But in fact, the pages are lettered from A-X and are found in the middle between pages 12 and 13.  Page B is already gone since it is the page they use to explain the modification of the passport.  So now I am ready to tackle as many countries as I can before my money, time, or patience run out.

I headed back and stopped in at La Galette.  It is a patisserie in downtown Dakar that has really nice baked goods.  Actually I ate a curry chicken panini for lunch there yesterday as well.  Their system is a bit hard to figure out.  You tell them what you want, then pay, then give them the receipt so they can fill the order.  I guess it makes sure that they don't get ripped off, but it's a bit annoying.  I had 2 sugar donuts.  The Bon Ton bakery in my hometown makes them better though.

After that I got an Orange Fanta and drank half of it and headed out to find the place where the busses leave from.  I have figured out that you wander around with a half full bottle of something, someone will eventually ask for it, so I just gave the bottle to the first guy who asked--some guy on crutches who probably needed the tasty cold goodness that is Orange Fanta.

I found the Gare Routier Pompiers and Holy Cow, what a chaotic place!  It's like the bus terminal from hell.  It is unpaved, muddy, and the mud isn't just water mud--it's got icky black oil in it, too.  There are occasional signs.  The minibus section was what I saw first.  I saw one packed up with people.  Then after some walking, I came upon a bunch of Peugot 504's which are the sept-places.  They sort of look like old style Subaru Legacies.  I'm going to go there tomorrow and figure out where to go?  Yikes!

August 5, 2008 12:00 Senegal local time