What's Up Doc?

Before breakfast, I decided to reread the Lonely Planet section on malaria.  Actually, I might have some of these symptoms--cough, fever, malaise, muscle aches.  Hmm...  I can attribute the cough to the cold starting with the sore throat.  The malaise and muscle aches can certainly be explained by my hardcore backpacking in the hot sun with a very heavy laptop.  Then I went cold and felt faint.  I had to sit down.  Was I going to die?  After just the first country in west Africa?  I decided to check my "First Time Africa" book to see what they say about malaria.  Whew!  Much better.  Lonely Planet pretty much gives you the worst case scenario without really telling you that the prognosis isn't bad at all.  First Time Africa said that in fact less than 1 in 100 people who contract malaria die from it.  OK, I can deal with this.  My fear of death transformed back into a "this is very manageable" thing.

I took the ferry back from Île de Gorée and went to look for the Hotel Continental--the cheapest place in the Lonely Planet.  The sun was hot already and I was very tired.  The location that seems like it should be the hotel is now just a construction zone.  Hmmm.....  OK, plan B--the Hotel Provençial.  It sounds a bit scary in the Lonely Planet and it's right off the Place d'Independence which means it's where all the merchants hang out waiting for tourists to rip off.  I found it, dripping with sweat, and went in.  They had rooms.

So the hotel is certainly not the nicest hotel I've even been in, and would be an absolute no-go for Elena, it was OK for me.  And the price of 10000 CFA for a single and 12000 CFA for a room with shower can't be beat.  The staff is extremely friendly and welcoming.

Once safely in there, I headed out to find the Clinique Pasteur, recommended by Lonely Planet.  I found it after some doing, and went in.  25000 CFA for an appointment with a doctor, but there was no wait at all.  I soon found myself in a wonderfully air conditioned office with a Senegalese doctor.  I think my French was just a tad better than his English, so we did the appointment in French.  I told him I was afraid I had contracted malaria.  He asked some questions about my travel history up till now, took my temperature, blood pressure, and did all the other poking and proddings that doctors do.  I was running a little bit of a fever, but not bad.  My other vitals were all tip-top.  So the course of treatment?  Assume malaria and treat it.

He pulled out a pad of paper about 4 times the size of a US RX pad.  He then proceeded to prescribe a regimen of 4 drugs.

1) Artequin Adulte.  These come in a package of three sets of 2 tablets. I'm to take one set each day for the next 3 days.

2) Doiprane.  This is something I take 3 time per day with a half glass of water.

3) Aerus. I take these for my couch--one each day before going to bed.

4) Savarine. I take one per day when I'm done with the Artequin.  He said to take one each day until I return to the United States.

So if I do have malaria, this will take care of it.  If not, well, hopefully it will boost my resistance.  I'll hold off on my Gambia trip until I know how I feel.  Spending a few days in Dakar will actually allow me to get some more pages sewn into my passport, a Mauritanian, and a Malian visa perhaps.

August 3, 2008 14:00 Senegal local time

Massive Blog Dump

OK, I've been out of WiFi range since I moved from the Cap Ouest to the Via Via.  So I have a lot of writing that's sitting on my PC that--if you are reading this and you are not me--you can now read.

My apologies to anyone was worried, after my last blog post, that I might have been done in by a voodoo hex. ;-)  Or else contracted malaria.  Nope--just WiFi issues.  I'm using Windows Live Writer to type up my blogs posts now, so I don't have to copy and paste and move the text over to the USB drive and all that rigmarole.  Now all I have to do is type up my blog in Live Writer, and then when I find WiFi, upload the posts.  Very nice.  It's nice to travel with a laptop.  By the time I'm done, I should have the only blog that really does into detail about what it's like to take a trip like this.  I searched high and low.  There are a lot of travel blogs, but because the bloggers are using cafes to type up their blogs on keyboards with the A, Q, Z, W, M, period, and comma all in different places, nobody has the means or desire to really give a detailed blow by blow account of the problems and issues they have and how they are solving them.  Indeed, I think my blog will be the most detailed travel blog for West Africa in the English language.  I admit to being obsessed with these details that other people don't seem to worry about.  Like when people tell me they are visiting France for 6 months my first reaction, before I think of anything else, is how are they getting a visa for that with the Schengen treaty.  I want to write about how the buses work.  I want to try to recall as many of the details from the more interesting conversations with the more interesting characters I come across.  I want to detail prices.  I want to lay out exactly what my problems are and exactly how I solved them--if I solved them.  And I enjoy throwing in odd details that, for whatever reason, caught my attention.

As long as my laptop stays functional (knock on wood).

Impressions Of Senegal

Senegal is a fascinating place.  Very different from Morocco.  It is still Islamic, but Islam doesn't influence the way women dress.  Thank God!  It seems that in Morocco, as soon as a woman is married she has to turn off the sexy--provided she ever turned it on to begin with.  But in Senegal, women turn up the sexy.  Always.  It just makes for a nicer environment.  The men here are tall.  Very tall.  The only people I saw shorter than me are either mutants or victims of accidents that took off their legs.  And, yes, I've seen both of those.  Many are really skinny.  I mean really really skinny.  I'm surprised that such skinny people can even walk.

Mosquitos come out at dusk.  My hope was to prevent them from biting me, but I've gotten 3 bites so far that I know of.  Three too many.  One of these days, one of them will have malaria.  As I type this, I'm sitting under a mosquito net at Via Via.  There aren't too many mosquitos here, but there were a couple in the shower, so I figured I better deploy it tonight.  The bed is a sort of 4 post bed that the net attaches to.  So far there haven't been any anchor points at the other hotels I stayed in if I had brought my own net.  I've also seen a mouse or two and these neat little lizards.  The sea birds I saw here are black.  I expected sea gulls along the Atlantic, not black birds.  I wonder if the same evolutionary forces that result in differences in skin pigmentation in humans also effects birds.  I don't think they were black sea gulls, though.

The streets of Yoff are interesting.  They are basically sand.  The narrow ones are just less than a car width.  There are women out doing laundry in buckets, schools with cartoony depictions of teachers talking to students in French painted on the sides as murals, little stores, an amazing number of goats...  I find myself walking closer to traffic than I would in the US.  I hope I don't get clipped.  For the most part I'm ignored.  So far only a tiny handful of children have asked for money and all they do is hod their hand out.  The streets don't have stinky areas like in Morocco.  Unpleasant smells are much rarer in Senegal.  There are, however, piles of rubbish everywhere.  But it's not organic rotting stuff--just random stuff that has no place to go.  You do see lots of women walking around with buckets and trays and bowls in their heads.  It's cool to watch them.

There are tons of taxis.  You can always find a taxi.  Some of the drivers are pretty honest and give a reasonable quote. Of course there are no meters.  You just gotta set a price.

One interesting thing I saw at the airport was that the buses that take us to customs and immigration had a nameplate with the manufacturer and the manufacturer's email address.  The buses didn't look all that old--they were in excellent shape, in fact.  But the email address for this bus manufacturer was a compuserve.com address.  A mystery.  At least it wasn't one of those numbered compuserve addresses they had before they let you choose something left of the @.

Outside my place, all the locals were watching some sporting event on TV.  I went out to see what it was thinking it would be soccer.  Actually, it turned out to be a sort of Senegalese Sumo boxing thing.  The two players start out in the middle and sort of make motions as if they are swimming.  They sort of mirror each other and every once in a while, one guy grabs the other's hand then goes in for the kill by punching him.  Eventually one player will be forced out the circular sumo like ring.  That player is the winner.  It is sort of a slow motion sumo match.  But the pacing of the matches is similar to sumo.

As with Morocco, I'm trying to figure out what poverty is.  It's easy to look around and say there is poverty everywhere, but in fact, there seems to be a very large section of the population that lives under conditions unacceptable to an American but acceptable to them.  After all, everyone they know lives this way, they grew up this way.  When a way of life is acceptable to the general population, I can't say that such conditions are evidence of poverty.  Certainly, this people aren't rich and they can't afford luxuries, but they seem to be able to afford the basics needed for life.  And their community with their friends probably accounts for much of their quality of life.  I learned in Bluefields, Nicaragua that standard of living and quality of life are much less connected than they appear in America.  Americans tend to think that increasing our standard of living brings a corresponding increase in quality of life.  But it doesn't.  It is true up to some figure, but there is a level of income where it ceases to be true.  It is part of the reason I take time off.  I am willing to let my average income drop back to that line in exchange for what is far more valuable--time.

I met a British guy named Jonathan.  He has done quite a bit of traveling in Africa and this is his first trip to west Africa.  He said he thought traveling in east and south Africa was hard until he came to west Africa.  I guess I started out with the hard part.  Of course I knew that.  It was intentional.  He gave me a few bits of advice.  I've decided after talking to him, that I should northern Nigeria rather than southern Nigeria.  I still get to say I've been to Nigeria, but I don't have to put up with Lagos and the river delta where oil workers are constantly kidnapped.  I can then enter Cameroon from the north up near lake Chad and then come down to Yaoundé.  That is where I would end my west Africa part.  Jonathan is also amazed by the things people sell.  He was walking along and somebody offered to sell him a drill.

I had a guy offer me a voltage regulator.  He was selling phone cards and a voltage regulator--about 12" by 8" by 6".  There in his hand.  Why?  If it happened to be the case that I was in need of such a voltage regulator, would I buy from him?  Or a store that properly sells voltage regulators?

The phone card thing is interesting.  There are 2 big companies--Tigo and the French Orange.  You see them everywhere.  Every other store seems to have an Orange logo or a Tigo logo and many many corners are populated with young men selling Orange cards.

To get your attention, the Senegalese make a hissing sound with their teeth.  I'll be walking by and I'll hear a "ssss" and often it's for me.  Sort of interesting.  It sure wouldn't fly in the US.  I imagine when the visit the US, the first advice they get from their friends is to not hiss to get someone's attention.

Many men here walk around pinching their pants about where their joystick is.  I'm not sure what they are holding.

There is not a lot of begging, Senegal being a predominantly Muslim country.  But the small children do a little bit.  It is sort of interesting--they carry in their left arms coffee cans or bowls or whatever they can find as containers that are roughly round and 6 or 8 inches in diameter, I got a chance to look into a few of these to see if they have anything in there. One thing that seems to be common is sugar cubes.

On Friday morning, I noticed that many women were getting on the bus in the most incredible colorful traditional outfits.  The Senegalese do colorful clothes like nobody.  They are just amazing.  I was thinking about the efforts that celebrities go through on Oscar night to look interesting.  They should forget all that stupid haute couture crap.  They need to come to Senegal and pick a dress off the rack.  The first person to do that will be the best dressed.  It'll blow Joan Rivers's mind.

Sore Throat-->Fever-->Malaria?

A few nights ago, I got a small sore throat.  I guess my grueling day yesterday turned it into a big sore throat.

I spent the night worried.  I haven't been bitten by a mosquito in over a week--could these symptoms I'm having be "flu like symptoms" that might indicate malaria?  I'm always on the lookout for symptoms that might point to malaria.  I slept horribly because of the cold that I had and over worry that it could be malaria.  So now I am worried.  I was planning to head to The Gambia today, but I think I'll remain in Dakar and visit the Clinic Pasteur which is recommended by the Lonely Planet for malaria tests.  I guess I'll start whatever treatment I need until the test comes back negative.

August 3, 2008 7:57 Senegal local time

Île de Gorée

I checked out of the Via Via this morning.  I liked the Via Via.  I would recommend it to anyone coming to Dakar.  It's very close to the 8 Palais DDD bus line which is pretty user friendly and goes to the very tip of Dakar.  And it's far enough away from the chaos of Dakar.  They have a restaurant with 1000 CFA beers, 1000 CFA water, and pretty good entrees for 4000 CFA-ish, less for spaghetti and more for steak.  There is a SocGen (SGBS) by the highway a straight 2 or 3 minute walk from the Via Via, and if you cross the highway, there is fast food--Steers, Pizza Inn, and Galitos.  Across the street is an internet cafe that only charges 300CFA for an hour but there in no good WiFi connection in the neighborhood.  For those coming into Dakar by plane, it's close to the airport--in fact, were I to come here again, I would walk it.  It's sure not a short walk but it's within the maximum distance a British Columbia hiker would be willing to go.  First timers should take a cab.  They have a very nice little library with books quickly digested (Grisham) and books that take a little more time (Dreiser).  They operate on a credit system where all your meals are just kept track of and you pay the whole thing at the end which makes it easy to deal with not having the proper currency at the beginning of the trip.  The beds are passably comfortable, and more importantly, they are mosquito netted--though except for the first couple of nights where there was one living in the bathroom, I didn't even see mosquitos in the room.  A wall mounted fan kept the air circulating and that was enough to make the late July sleeps bearable.  French speakers will find other French speaking guests easily.  English speakers are a little less common but there.  The staff is really into Senegalese wrestling and the TV will be turned to it on the weekends.

Anyway, I'll miss the Via Via.  I left and took the #8 to the stadium on a mercifully uncrowded bus.  Just past the stadium is Avenue Faidherbe which goes almost straight to the ferry to Île de Gorée--about a 1km walk.  I had my entire pack on my back and my laptop in my hands.  It was a grueling walk at 11:30.  At one point you go through a market and are surrounded by people which is a bit unsettling since a loaded person can't react easily to defend himself from pickpockets.

I found the ferries and paid 5000 CFA (US$10) for a roundtrip ticket.  My intention is to spend the night on the island.  I bought and chugged an Orange Fanta for a tad steep 500 CFA entered the waiting room where we were corralled like cattle.  A 50 minute wait!  It was pretty full.  About 10% of the people were white.  I didn't expect there to be so many people.  I hoped there would be a hotel.  A woman named Kenza struck up a conversation with me with the hopes of attracting me to her store on the top of the island.  (Is there anyone who speaks English for reasons other than to get tourist dollars?)  Finally the boat came and the crowd started moving to the door.  I lugged by stuff out. I was positively dripping with sweat.  Once outside, I heaved my pack up onto my back and got into one line for the boat.  But I noticed that there was no gangway--just a hop.  The other line had a gangway.  But the gangway line statyed long and the non-gangway line cleared up.  So I risked it and hopped--backpack on back, laptop in hand--onto the deck.  I almost fell backwards, but the crewman caught me.  So I was on board and I got a nice spot near the portside bow where I could watch the island come into view.

We passed by the port. As I always do, I looked for COSCO containers, but there weren't any.  It's a 20 minute trip out the island.  When the boat got there, it lined up against the jetty and again I had to hop out.  This time neither line had a gangway.  I headed up to the beach and saw the first of only 2 hotels on the island--the Hostellerie de Chevalier de Boufflers.  It's visible from the beach.  I went up and in.  It looked more like a restaurant but I went in and asked "ou se trouve la reception?" It was the reception and the guy figured out pretty quickly that his English was better than my French. I asked for a room--he consulted his book and said they are all filled up.  I had the feeling that they wouldn't have been all booked up if I wanted 2 nights, but I just wanted one night.

So I went to the other one--the Auberge Keur Beer.  I was a bit nervous now.  What would I do if there was nothing?  The guy asked if I had a reservation.  I said I didn't.  He seemed shocked that people show "comme ça" without reservations.  He got out the phone and made some phone call and I didn't get what he was doing.  Finally, he said they had a room for 18000 CFA (plus 1500 CFA for an optional breakfast).  He sent me up to look at it.  The toilet and shower are unattached.  The room itself is nice.  It has a ceiling fan, mini-fridge, writing desk, and 2 beds.  The view sort of sucks, but that's OK.  Once there, the guy seemed to take a liking to me.  He told me where their restaurant was and recommended it.  The funny thing was that I paid, but still hadn't filled out the usual form.  Oh well.  No problem.

I went out and found myself at the Ann Sabran.  I ordered a Flag and a 1.5 liter of water.  They were out of the small bottles of beer so he asked me if a big bottle would do.  I smiled and said "oui oui".  The museums close from noon to 14:30, so I had some time to kill.  Merchants selling statues, masks, jewelry, paintings, rattles, sunglasses, hats, and shirts went by.  I turned them all away since I'm already fully loaded and can do shopping without finding something to throw away--especially after acquiring such things at the mosquito net and coils.  A white family was eating and eventually left.  A set of locals came by--the girls looking sexy in their swimwear.

Two thirty rolled around (ít's nice to have a watch again) and I paid my bill 3000 CFA (US$6) and headed for the museums.  One was sort of a little Senegalese history museum in a small little round fortress.  It was interesting but unimpressive.  Then I went across to the main museum of the island--the main draw--La Maison des Esclaves or the House of Slaves.  It is a restored building that may be representative of those used to house slaves awaiting the ships coming to Africa to take them across to the Americas.  A guy tried to latch onto me to give me a tour, but I resisted.  I just wanted to look myself.  He wasn't happy that I brushed him off, but he soon latched onto another set of tourists.  I have read Hugh Thomas's huge history of the slave trade, so I'm pretty far ahead of the usual tourist coming to the island.  Besides, I knew it would end with him wanting money.  So I looked myself.

After that, I returned to my room where the desk girl asked for name on a piece of paper.  Then a few minutes later she knocked at my door and gave me the usual sheet to fill out.  I'm wondering if she is in training and the guy training her waits until she is all done and then asks her what she did wrong.  It seems that way.

So now I'm in my room.  I smell meat grilling outside.  It's 5:30 and I'm just starting to get hungry. :-)

------

I went out to the place recommended by the Auberge guy.  Chez TomTom.  It took a while to get service, and I was first "served" by a guy who turned out to be an antique mask dealer.  He wanted to sell me an antique mask.  However, everything in his stock was relatively large and not well suited at all to storage in a back pack for one with already full pack who is just at the beginning of his west Africa trip.

I ordered a salade de crudités thinking crudités was croutons, a curry chicken, and a large Flag.  The total would be 6500 CFA.  The problem with this place at this particular hour was that there so many flies.  At least 2 varieties--the normal housefly though in assorted sizes, and these bigger really ugly greenish iridescent flies with huge red eyes.  They were swarming so think and sometimes they fly right into your face.  I managed to keep them at bay while I ate my salad which had not croutons but a pile of shredded white stuff I still can't place.  I eventually finished it and put the plate onto the other corner of the table and that kept the flies away while they lapped up the contents of that plate.  Then the curry chicken came.  It was a bit smaller than I'd hoped but when I bit into it, it was divine!  This place does curry well.  While I was eating a guy came by and told me he wanted to sell me some stuff but he'd wait until after I ate.

So I finished and he came over.  The only thing I'm willing to buy at this stage would be a bracelet.  First he tried to sell me these rattle things.  They are actually very cool, but I don't want them.  Then he pulled out 3 bracelets--leather with wooden chips with something carved into the wood, and 2 necklaces.  He wanted to unload the necklaces--for my wife or mother.  I didn't really like either one.  He said "look look" and lit his lighter and put the necklace into the flame.  I didn't know what he was trying to demonstrate.  Maybe that they're not plastic?  I don't know.  Anyway, he want 25000 CFA (US$50) for one necklace.  I told him I didn't want a necklace.  OK 25000 for a necklace and a bracelet.  No, I don't want a necklace.  OK, 25000 for the necklace and 2 bracelets.  I don't want a necklace.  OK how much would you give me for the necklace?  I don't want the necklace.  Look, look (lights his lighter) real wood--20000 for the necklace--normalement (his English was peppered with French--BTW "cuir" means leather) and 2 bracelets...

It went on like this.  He tried swapping in the other necklace and I kept telling him I might be interested in one bracelet and nothing more.  OK 20000 for 2 bracelets.  No, I don't want two, I want one.  OK, 20000 for 3 bracelets.  No, I don't want three, I want one.  OK, 25000 for a necklace and 3 bracelets...

We went around in circles like this for about 5 minutes in which time I got my bill and paid my bill.  So I had 3500 CFA as change.  Finally he asked, OK how much you give for 2 bracelets?  I said I'd give 3000 CFA for one bracelet.  That's no price, he said, this is cuir--souvenir from island--10000 for 2 bracelets.  I told him 3000 was my final offer.  He said that's $6, €5--I can't take that price--6000 for one bracelet.  He was looking unhappy--merchant's trick.  OK, I said, I can do 3500.  This is cuir--souvenir from island--10000 for necklace and bracelet.  Sorry, I can't buy the necklace.  But it's good for your wife.  Bracelet for 3500, deal or no deal?  OK, 5000 for one bracelet--its cuir--souvenir of island.  OK, I agreed, 4000 for one bracelet.  How about a rattle--it's professional--make music--good for your kid.  I don't want one--4000 for the bracelet.  Give me 4500 for the bracelet.  OK.

So I got a neat bracelet for 4500.  That's about US$9.  I'm sure I got robbed, but I could see paying $9 for such a bracelet in the US.

August 2, 2008 22:00 Senegal local time

Another New Father

As I was walking to N'Gor, I was near the Festival de Glaces when a man came running across the street.  The usual Bonjour--Ça va?--English?--Where are you from?--Oh, I lived in Alabama for 5 months!--Is it your first time to Senegal?--Welcome to Senegal!--How long have you been here?--How long will you stay?

Then he asked if I was getting out of Dakar?  He said Mali is better than Senegal. I told him I'm going to Mali.  He said Dakar looks like the United States--just buildings and the only things worth seeing were Île d Gorée and Pikine.  I told him I was going to Îe de Gorée on Saturday.

We walked along--I was about to tell him that I just wanted to continue into town by myself, when he reached out to shake my hand appearing to start to let me go.  But something happened that was interesting.  When he shook my hand, there was something in it.  A piece of leather with a cowry.  He said he was a new father!  His hand holding my hand--he pointed with his left hand at our two hands pointing out that one was black and one was white.

A ha!  I heard that one already.  And I was not in the mood.  I didn't even pretend to congratulate him.  I just gave him the cowry back and told him I had to go.  He looked sad but instead of talking of cursing his baby if I gave it back like I expected him to, he asked when I was going to come to his store.  I told him I was done shopping and didn't need anything.  He told me to come to his store on the way back.  I agreed just to get rid of him.

On the way back, I went as fast as I could.  He was there across the street but didn't come over.

This guy wasn't anywhere near as smooth as the knife-threat guy.  He didn't have the charm.  He did play the race card to evoke the guilt of white treatment of Africans and their descendants.

In fact, the other guy was so good at it, that I was second guessing myself for days--maybe he really was a new father and now he thinks I cursed his baby.  Maybe I had been just too jaded by the negative encounters the day before.  So I was happy, though annoyed, to have had this new encounter to show me that my original judgement was correct.

August 2, 2008 8:10 Senegal local time.

Friday--My Last Visa Day

I went to bed very early and got up fairly early.  I felt a bit of sore throat--the kind I feel when it's a tad cold out and I've been sleeping shirtless and exposed.  And indeed, when I thought about it, it was rather cool.  I got up for breakfast and when I went out, the temperature was something refreshing.  Whew!  It was nice.

The usual pattern followed--I took the #8 Palais till I saw the Melissa Restaurant and got out and headed to the Guinean embassy.  I knew I was early, so I decided to check out the internet cafe by the Olympic swimming pool.  It was open this time and I bought an "hour" though I received a half hour login.  It was almost 10am but I decided to check me email--people must be worried. So doing all my usual tricks to foil any keyloggers, I logged in.  And sure enough--worried emails from my parents and Elena.  I wrote my parents.  I also wrote a long email to Elena, but since I got only a half hour, the screen went blank and I ended up losing my Firefox screens.  So I just wrote Elena a short email after that.  I also checked up a bit on the news: a beheading on a bus in Canada, a corrupt Alaskan getting his come-up-ance, corrupt justice tamperers in contempt of Congress.

Then it was onto the Guinean embassy.  I went in and went to the room.  Of course they recognized me immediately and pulled out my passport.  He told me that the usual visa was for one month, but he had given me 2 months because of my delay in making it to the border.  I was happy and thanked him and smiled.  He seemed happy that he was able to do this for me and happy that I was appreciative.  I thanked him again and left.  When I looked back one more time, he smiled and gave me a thumbs-up sign.  I wonder about some of the reactions I get.  I think, as a solo American traveler, arranging all the visa stuff myself instead of hiring some runner to do it for me, I am a bit of a rarity--a person who wants to wants to see what these countries have to offer.  My total willingness to speak French--a language I have obviously just learned for this trip--probably impresses them, too.  I suspect most Americans, knowing that English is the current lingua-franca, decided to embark on such trips knowing that it is up to their interlocutor to make all the effort to understand what it being said.  Anyway, I left the Guinea embassy in a state of happiness.

Since I have to leave Dakar tomorrow morning, I decided to make one more trip to SportCity to buy a watch, and a stop at Casino.  I walked into SportCity and I was in absolute heaven!  The AC was on full blast!  It was like a refrigerator! So so so sweet.  I got a watch for 45000 CFA.  It's a women's Timex triathlon watch.  For some reason the women's watches were all about 2/3 the price of the mens'.  So pride aside, I went girly. ;-)  Besides, it's a bit more discrete and smaller and makes a smaller tan line and has less sweat trapping surface area.  Then I went to Casino where I got a 4500 CFA extra large poison mosquito net (their only size), 10 anti-mosquito coils that I can burn when I'm somewhere without electricity for my electrical mosquito poison dispenser, and 15 medium zip lock bags.  The bagman wouldn't give me my bag until I tipped him.  How much?  I gave him 100CFA and he seemed satisfied enough.  All he bagged was 3 items.  Sheesh!

Then I took the bus home and had a nice beer.

So as I said, it's my last night in Dakar.  I plan to go to the Île de Gorée Saturday morning.  It's a small island but has an old slave holding area and a few other things.  I'll try to spend the night.

August 1, 2008 14:15 Senegal local time