After A Week In Dakar (by Thom)

We arrived in Dakar, Senegal this past Monday night and despite having great internet access, we’ve been too busy or sick to tell you about it.
Apparently, there was a bout of the flu going around before we arrived and it caught me Wednesday night. That pretty much eliminated anything productive for Thursday, but we’ve been having very full days otherwise. Our first day, Amanda and I went out exploring on foot. We walked a couple of kilometers down the main road near our guest-house. Some of the first things we noticed: There are a lot more cars and less bicycles/mopeds here than Bamako, we don’t get as many strange stares here, Dakar has a very distinct odor, and there are a lot of conveniences here that are not in Bamako. About the odors – Dakar has open sewers. Enough said. About the conveniences – in our walk we came across a shopping mall! Such a thing doesn’t exist in Bamako. It had a fast-food restaurant, a sporting goods store, a shoe store, a grocery store, and a couple of other small shops. We ate lunch there, savoring the atmosphere. Later in the day, we took a taxi ride and saw a little more of the town. Wednesday, we went and visited Dakar Academy. This is the boarding school where many of our missionary kids go. We got there in time for the second half of their soccer game. I realized I, like most Americans, don’t understand this game at all.
Thursday, as I mentioned, was a lost day, but we had planned to go to Gorée Island. Gorée is just off the coast of Dakar, and was once a center of the thriving slave trading industry. Today is stands as a city-wide museum. Fortunately, I was feeling better after a day and we were able to shuffle around our schedule and go Saturday. Before that, on Friday, we went back to Dakar Academy for a fundraising carnival they held. After that, we had the wonderful opportunity to get together with a couple of friends who we met in language school in France.
We’ve been busy, but having fun. It’s been a great vacation, illnesses aside, and I’m ready for our bookkeeping conference next week. Hopefully, photos will be coming soon, too.
Update: We've added a number of photos from our time in Senegal. Click here to see them.