Hit the road, Chuck MCA!

Day: 01
Location: Dakar, Senegal
Weather: comfortable
Health: Perfect
Accomodation: Hotel du Marche
Price, room: 13K CFA
Price, water: 270 CFA
CFA/$: ~500
Morale: 7
Shower: no

AW: Evidently, renting a 4x4 to 2 youngsters with no chauffeur, minimal security deposit, without surrendering passport originals, and no kilometrage would be insane at any price. We are still working on it but are considering defaulting to a normal car.

The Hotel du Marche is in fact a bordel but also a pretty decent place with a lock and a cockroach problem. We are staying 2 nights, as it is fine and half the cost of the nearest alternative.

Starting in Yoff, we inquired after the major international car agencies, discussed some local alternatives, determined the appropriate local price for cabs and minibuses, and tackled the massive problem of breaking ATM bills into assez petite monnaie. The surf shop does rent for $12 / half day, and we have recommendations for a nice sand beach east of Yoff.

We took the minibus (150 CFA) to Dakar, and met some local footballers onboard. Then, a Shawarma lunch, a reasonable quote on a 4x4, and we checked into the hotel.

It's looking like 50K CFA per day with 100 Km per day included, and 250 CFA per km over. The 1000 Km loop to Casamance and back would come to something like $750, or $250 a person while Rob is here. We didn't discuss the deposit or passports, which could be a dealbreaker.

At night we called this rasta named Max, and went out for local beer in the North of the city. The club filled around 2am. 1000 CFA for a 750ml Gazelle. Business was booming when we got back to the Hotel du Marche. And went to sleep with the cockroaches.


GB: Established that the Senegalese do seem to have a very loose view of relationships: "tu vois une femme qui te plait, tu lui dis que tu veux lui faire l'amour, et vous y allez".They do however seem to be conscious, of associated risks: "la protection, c tres important". Happy to see knowledge is spreading.

The bar where we went was also a chance to witness some of the best dancing moves ever. Felt like Krumping for those who know that style, except at a level of skill I had never witnessed before.

The amazing thing is that people dance when they want to, undisturbed by who or how many people are on the dance floor... As a result the ratio of men/women can reach levels that would trigger a pacemaker failure for any given NYC or Paris club owner... Dress code is also not an issue apparently, given the most adept dancer we saw was a dude the size of Dustin Hoffman wearing a suit obviously stolen BAM! (sorry just smashed a mosquito, the rest of the Cybercafe is now looking anxiously at us) from Arnold Schwarzenegger... (he definitely gave all he had). New York is far....