Goree Island

The main tourist spot in Dakar is Goree Island. This island was the main port for exporting slaves in the 1800's. Slaves were brought here and held until they could be loaded onto ships headed for England, the U.S. and other countries. The slaves were kept in very crowded conditions, and family members were separated from each other according to age and sex.
Today the island is beautiful, clean, and well-kept. There are pretty flowers and plants. It is a place that the native Senegalese like to come on weekends or holidays.

Following are photos of the port of Dakar and the ferry that took us to the island.

The following two photos are the views as we approached Goree Island.

Next is a photo of one of the very friendly women on the ferry. She welcomed us to Senegal and to Goree Island, and she wanted to make sure that she knew our names and that we knew her name. Later we found out why so many of the women were friendly to us----they wanted us to spend money at their shops on Goree! They would call out to us as we passed their shops and say, "Remember me! Come and shop!" Later one of the locals told us that no Senegalese person is friendly without an ulterior motive!

Following are some of the pretty scenes on the island.

The next photo is a row of baobab trees. These must be younger trees than the ones in earlier photos, as they have much smaller trunks.

Jane, Ron, Tidiane, Sharron

This woman is washing clothes. (There are about 1000 people who live on the island.)

This little girl liked having her photo made.

We ate lunch at the following outdoor restaurant. It was a very popular spot.

This man cooked the meat outside on a grill. We had fish that was really good.



These are pictures of the slave house.

This is the entrance to the room for the infants.

There is a narrow hallway with a door from which the slaves left on the ships. It is called "the door of no return".

While we were at Goree we passed by a Catholic wedding. We had to step to the door to get a photo!

These two Muslim girls were waiting outside. They could not go into the Catholic ceremony. We understood that they had been hired for the reception. They have on interesting hats!

The following is a video of the singing at the wedding.

Pink Lake

We went by taxi for about an hour and a half to visit Pink Lake, sometimes called Salt Lake. According to a local man, the water that forms this lake seeps underground from the ocean, and thus the water is salty even though the ocean does not flow directly into it. For some reason the lake has a pink cast to it, and that pink color is more defined at sunset. We were not there that late, but we could see a little of the pink color.
Much salt is harvested from the lake. Each day men go out in little boats and dig up salt deposits from the bottom of the lake. They carry that salt to shore, set it out to dry, put it in bags, and then load the bags onto big trucks. This is very hard work and extremely low paying work.
The boats have to be replaced often because of the salt damage to them.

Some of the men really wanted to take us out for a boat ride, but we did not go. The boats did not look like they were in good condition, and there were no life jackets. However, the men said that the water is not deep and that no one would drown because of the heavy salt content of the water. The heavy concentration makes a person float---at least that is what they said!

When the salt is brought to shore to dry, it is put into piles. The signs are put on the piles to designate which pile belongs to which family. The women work along side the men to pile the salt and to bag it.

These bags are ready to be loaded onto the trucks.

Some of the women quickly spot visitors, and they come quickly with their items for sale!

This is the village beside the lake. There are souvenirs for sale, as well as food and drinks. We only bought orange Fanta to drink.

Following is a link to more pictures of Pink Lake.

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/senegal_pink_lake.htm

Buses

The cheapest public transportation in Senegal is this yellow and blue bus. These buses are very common in the city. They are in very poor condition. There is no glass in any of the window holes except for the windshield. Because the buses are hot and crowded, usually the back doors are left open for circulation, and many times people hang off of the back. It looks very dangerous, but it only costs about ten cents for a ride!

The next photo shows a building with a bus painted on the side of the building. It looks very real! The sign on the wall below the building says "Camp Penal, Liberte 6". Camp Penal is the State Prison that is located just a few blocks from our apartment. We use this name to direct the taxi drivers toward our apartment. Can you imagine how bad prison life must be when you consider the normal living conditions in Senegal!

The next photos show small white buses. The cost to ride on one is not quite as cheap as the cost to ride on a blue and yellow bus. The white ones are mostly seen traveling the roads from village to village or village to city.

Next is the nice city bus--the blue one. It costs more to ride, but it is comfortable and not so crowded. We rode this one the day we went to the center of the city. Tidiane went with us or we would have not known how to take the bus! Bus routes are not on signs anywhere, and bus drivers speak no English.

Vehicle Repair

Vehicle breakdowns are a common occurrence due to the vehicles' poor conditions. The roads and bad driving habits also cause vehicles to prematurely age. Pushing is not uncommon, nor does anyone seem concerned that it is in the middle of very heavy traffic.

Non-running cars can be seen parked everywhere, even in the medians of busy streets.



It is not easy to tell which ones are being repaired and which ones are being used for parts!

Sometimes when a vehicle breaks down, it is repaired in the middle of the street. That is what is happening to the truck in the next photo! The rear dual wheel assembly had come out from under the trailer. A man on a motorcycle has come to help with the repair. Traffic continues while the repairs are being made.

More of Tidiane's Relatives

Tidiane really wanted us to meet all of his relatives! We did not have the time to eat at his second sister's house, but we went by to meet her one day.
The first pictures show his sister and her children.

This is Tidiane, his sister and her children. She would not come in to the room where we were until she had put on her scarf.

This is Tidiane's sister's house. It is the blue one on the right.


Tidiane also wanted us to go to meet his aunt. First is a photo of her, her granddaughter, and Tidiane.


This is inside her house.

The house was built as a single family dwelling. This is rare in the city of Dakar. It is a completely round house with a single ceiling ventilation hole. This hole stays open all the time. There was only one window and one door in this half of the house. We did not see the bedroom areas.

Visiting with Tidiane's Oldest Sister

Our reader Tidiane invited us to have a meal at his sister's house. His sister is a medical doctor at the local hospital. She does clinical studies of Aids patients and helps determine treatment for them. She has four children. Her husband's job takes him to the U.S. for several months each year, and he was in the U.S. at the time of our visit.
We did not get a very good picture of her.

The next photo shows the hospital.

The doorway to Tidiane's sister's house is on the right in the following picture. She has a garage that opens onto this street.

The following are photos inside her house. As you can tell, even doctors do not live really well in Senegal! The furniture was good quality and looked nice. The building was not up to American codes. There was hot water, but the heater had to be turned on in advance of needing the hot water. The toilet facilities were clean and serviceable; they were very spartan.

This is the kitchen. It is very small with little cabinet space. There is no dishwasher or garbage disposal. These two ladies work for Tidiane's sister. They are cooking the meal for us.

The next pictures are Tidiane's sister's children.

The little boy in the light colored, stripped shirt had a blue ink pen and was drawing pictures in a book for us to see. When we were not watching, he drew on the white leather couch with that pen! As you can tell from this, and from the photo below, kids are the same everywhere.

They do have a television. This is the show that was on, but as you can see, the reception is not very good.

It was Saturday, but the two younger boys still had to go to the Muslim school. Here they are dressed for the school in their traditional clothes. You can tell by their faces that they were not really happy about leaving to go to school!

This is the dish of food that was prepared for us. It is fish, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, and rice. This plate was put in the center of the coffee table, and 8 of us ate out of it. We each had our own spoon, and we had bottled water to drink. It was delicious food.