Friday, December 14, 2007
Senegal/West Africa – Back to the Basics!
First of all, here's another picture of Canada we wanted to share with you. The Canadians really are great guys!
We didn't have a particularly good start into Dakar/Senegal. We arrived in the early morning hours, and once in the baggage claim area we had a hunch that the trip to the hotel might be a problem; after all, we'd seen more than one baggage claim in our lives ...
Before you board a taxi you need some cash money, best are small bills. So where's the next ATM? I walked out of the arrival hall in order to find one; hundreds of people approach you immediately. "Wanna change, man?! – Good change!" I found a machine and tried to draw some money but unfortunately my credit card seemed not to work. "Hey my friend, wanna change, huh?!" You really had to keep them at a distance. Damn, what was the problem with this ATM? It had swallowed my card and just showed a blank blue screen. "Change?! Good change, da best change for you my friend!" After an eternity the machine returned my card, nothing seemed to have happened. "I will give you special price, man – best price for you my friend!" Yah yah, fine, I will also give you special price, right after sending you to hospital, my friend!
With the help of some "security guy" I found out that choosing English as a language was the problem. Select French and the thing works! Okay, so I got some money; back to the arrival hall. "No change, man?!"
With 8 pieces of baggage, half of them on a trolley, we were on our way to the taxi booth. The "security guy" had come with us as recommended by airport officials. It was still dark outside and if you have as many bags as we do, then in countries like Senegal this is a huge problem. Dozens of people will jump on you and before you can even blink there's ten hands on your luggage. Most of them just want a dollar, some others will want several dollars, and then there's the guys who simply want the baggage and no dollars.
We reached the taxi together with a bunch of people. Saskia and I tried hard to stop them from stuffing our bags into the car. The first guy had the camera, the second guy had our hand luggage, the third was tearing at our backpack while numbers four to eight dropped the big heli box the second time. It's too big for the trunk but nobody cares; everybody wants to help. The "security guy" now tells you that for all of his efforts he would like to get his fair share – or a bit more since we are stupid Europeans and get our money for nothing. Everybody knows that, most of all the small kids.
Once you are in the taxi it is hard to tell whether or not all the baggage is on board. There's still many people behind the trunk and even more at the windows asking for tips; they all helped, didn't they?!
So the four of us went off in direction of our hotel. Uuupss – the four of us?! Just before the driver stepped on the gas another "security guy" hopped onto the passenger seat. So what now, stop the whole journey like in India and get out to the pack of wolves again?
We talked to the guy and he explained he had to help the driver with the location. So let them drive for a minute and see what happens; if they try any nonsense you can still kill them. ;-)
Things seemed to be fine and we were rumbling over half-finished roads when suddenly a second taxi showed up on our right-hand side. Our driver accelerated like wild, and so did the other car. The speed was insane for this kind of street and I shouted to the driver to stop racing the guy. He did not react and instead decided it was time to ram the other car. After the collision both cars slammed on the brakes. Our driver got out, so did the other driver. It was all shouting and pointing; the other guy's wing mirror was broken. Whether or not the cars had any additional dents was hard to tell; they looked like if their technical certificate had run out ten years ago anyway (pretty much all cars there do!).
We finally got to our hotel and paid the fare; we knew we're being screwed, but better not make a fuss about it. Just try to get all your baggage in one piece and into the hotel lobby. We were lucky because early check-in was possible; the time was about 8 AM by now. Next thing we did was to sleep for 10 hours.
In the evening I felt a little worn out. Saskia was still fighting her cold she'd caught in Canada. We strolled a bit through the streets trying to get some food. After all we had not really eaten in almost two days since we'd left Toronto and spent our time in transit in New York (we had to go from Newark to JFK airport) and on planes.
This morning I felt like hit by a bulldozer and was too weak to stand upright. I had no choice but to swallow a number of pills and to stay in bed. Meanwhile Saskia tried to figure out what might be the best landmark to visit with the heli given the current circumstances. We knew there was a former slave island with a big French fort not far away from the coast. There are not many other monuments that Senegal has to offer – virtually none in the Dakar area.
However, we learned about a mysterious red lake which is said to lie in Senegal. We don't know if it's true and if the water is really red. But if the lake does exist, we'll find it and fly there - that's for sure! We'll get back to you tomorrow, stay tuned!
Labels: Africa, Canada, Dakar, illness, Senegal, taxi out of control
# posted by hg/tuw @ 01:07 
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