Africa: Day 1

Monday, December 22

1am: Arrive at airport in Dakar. Our plane continued on to Washington, so only 10 people got off for Senegal. At immigration, they asked Diego for his international immunization card, which he had... in Buenos Aires! The officer told him to go get back on the plane because he couldn't come in to Senegal. What actually happened is he paid $15 and got another yellow fever vaccine and card. We went to go get our baggage. Of the six bags we checked, three arrived! Only Diego's personal things came, mine and Sylla's were not to be found. So I sat with the things and attempted to converse with the security guard in French while the boys filed a missing bag report.

2am: We got a taxi to go to a hotel near the airport, but the area had changed so much that Sylla asked if we just wanted to go to Sady (a neighborhood) and stay there (we were going to go there the next day). It was 45 minutes away. So we got a night tour of the Dakar - Sady route. There was a lot of grass involved. We got to the hotel around 3 I guess, where Sylla proceeded to get into a discussion with the cab driver because he wanted more money than what they had agreed on. We checked into our hotel which costs around $20 a night. Our room has a fully equiped kitchen, living area, dining table, and separate room with a bathroom. NICE!

7am: Sylla is telling us hurry up and get up, we have to go to the embassy, to the airport, let's go. I could hardly open my eyes. I hadn't slept on either of the flights (that's approx 2 days without sleep). I grumbled but got out of bed and we ate some fruit and left the hotel. We got about half a block down the dirt street and we hear "Papis!!" Some of Sylla's friends were out and couldn't believe that he was there. This scenario repeated itself throughout the day. So we got to meet some of his friends, all of whom are artists, all of whom are incredibly nice people. Some of which speak English! But mostly they speak French. I'm working on it.

The neighborhood the hotel is in is really great, it's very peaceful. It has dirt roads, goats, cars, houses, stores, and is very close (20 mins) to some major tourist hotels. You can walk around at any time, day or night, with complete peace of mind. Our hotel doesn't even keep the gate locked. So far no one has had their door locked on their house either. Whenever you meet someone, they say Ca va to you about a thousand times, then welcome you to their country, say something to you in English, shake your hand, or give you a hug. Diego had on a Maradona (Diego Maradona, famous Argentine soccer player) jersey, and everyone kept yelling "Diego!" to him, which is funny because they don't know that's his name. And when he introduces himself as Diego, everyone automatically says "Diego Maradona." It's hilarious.

8am: We went to the traffic circle to get a cab to the embassy. The city center is near the airport, so around 30 to 40 minutes in a cab. Sylla asked the prices, of course they were double or triple what they should be since he had 2 white people with him. He got really angry " " and we walked over to where the buses pass by. Eventually the taxi driver came over and said his price was ok, let's go. This situation also repeated itself throughout the day. The traffic was unbelieveable, and we stopped to get gas, where we took advantage of the opportunity and bought some bread, cheese, and water for the trip and I used the bathroom. We also stopped on the side of the road for fresh coconut water out of the coconut (remember that mom?). From what I can gather, when you hire a taxi, you have an agreed price and then they're basically your driver, meaning you can get them to stop wherever you want if you have something to do there.

9:30: I'm completely making these times up, by the way. We got to the embassy, where Sylla knew the consulate. She gave us some forms, we went to get ID pics and passport copies done, came back, paid, Sylla slipped her 5000 CFA for fast processing, and we were on our way. We got to the airport, our bags still weren't there. Supposedly they were coming Tuesday morning. We asked about airfare for Guinea, $600 round trip! We were planning on spending around $200.

..to be continued, we have to go pick up our passports, visas, and hopefully baggage.