Dakar, Senegal, December 4, 2018

Coffee anyone?  Mobile stands are on many street corners with instant coffee for sale-

Walking to the ferry to go to Gorée Island, we passed the onion shops.  There were many with stacks and stacks of bags-

Approaching Gorée Island-

La Statue de la Liberation de l'Esclavage was erected in 2002 and was a gift from Guadeloupe.  It stands along the street to the Slave House-

The Slave House-

was run by Anne Pepin who was one of the best known signares.  Signares are mixed race women who ran large households and engaged in trade, including the selling of human beings for shipment to the Americas.  They were also known for their beautiful clothing and distinguished by their distinctive peaked headdresses-

It is estimated that 33,000 slaves were transported to the Americas through the slave houses.  The one we visited wasn't the only one on the island.  In this particular one, 100 - 200 people were held captive at one time.  The family lived on the top floor and the slaves in small cachots on the main floor.

The Door of No Return-

dropped out into the ocean-

The first public sale of African slaves was in 1444 in Lagos Portugal, the first direct ship to the Americas was in 1518 and the last country to abolish slavery was Brazil in 1888.  Slaves were taken to the Americas and sold, tobacco, sugar and cotton were purchased and taken back to Europe-

Slave routes to Central and South America-

  Handcuffs used on the slaves-

A neck cuff-

And cuffs for the ankles-

Whipping was permitted and regulated by the Code Noir which said a slave could only be whipped 29 times.  Anyone could be whipped, including pregnant women.  Holes were dug in the sand to accommodate their bellies.

In 2017, it was estimated by the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery that today, there are over 40 million people still enslaved world wide for  forced labour, human trafficking and sexual exploitation.  71% are women and young girls.

After my visit to the Slave House, I wandered around the island.  There are no cars so it is very peaceful-

 inspite of all the hawkers.  Monkey fruit hangs waiting to be picked-

This bush has thick, glossy leaves-

On my way to the lookout, I walked up a hill which was lined with beautiful paintings.  I was tempted but didn't-

There are huge cannons up on top-

Looking down on Gorée-

Looking back to Dakar-

We took the 2 pm ferry back to Dakar, walked to the hotel and waited while Richard went to the Sierra Leone Embassy to pick up our passports.  It was a short 1h10 minute taxi ride back to the campsite.  We were lucky because it took a group 4 hours to go in this morning.  

Lac Rose is so named because it's supposed to be pink.  It's also the end of the Paris to Dakar Rally-

If you look hard you can see some pink!

This lovely woman tried her best to sell me something-

The lake is surrounded by piles of salt-

Looking forward to Palmarin to a beach campsite!

P.S.

Dakar, Senegal, December 3, 2018

We hopped on a chartered local transport bus-

and headed to Dakar to the Sierra Leone embassy with the hope of obtaining our visas.  Our driver, like so many people in Africa, wanted to please and so rather than admit he didn't know where the embassy might be, or that he could or couldn't speak French or English, he bluffed.  So, even after showing him maps.me numerous times, we were miles from where we should have been.  What should have been an hour and a few minutes trip took over two hours and by this time it was smoking hot.  A funny thing did happen though - the window fell right our of our bus and landed on the street!  It was much cooler inside after that.  

More cool buses-

The huge speaker on the dash of our bus played loud music and the driver's shotgun friend clapped to the beat and tried to get us going too-

It was a bit of a process to get our visas.  First, most people needed 60,000 CFA or $138 while people travelling with a UK passport needed twice that!  So we had to visit nearby banks to get the money, then fill out a form and include a photocopy of our passport and 2 photos.  Once Neinke had collected all the money, she had to go to the nearby bank to deposit it and return with a receipt.  Well, the banks are very busy and you must take a number when you enter to get a place in line.  When she got there, they were on around number 60 and she pulled 120.  It took a few hours before she returned.  I wanted to visit L'Ile de Gorée which was a slave port and I did not want to have a 2+ hour ride back in tomorrow, so Lauretta and I stayed in at a hotel.  After reading this sign posted at our hotel reception-

we asked for a room away from the street so we wouldn't be awakened so early tomorrow morning!  I went exploring and had my toe nails shellacked for $11.51.  That's all it should cost at home too! 

I thought of Nioo when I read this t-shirt-

Richard and Rhona also stayed in but at a different hotel with a roof top bar-

 We went out for supper later.  Finally I tried mafé which has a tomatoe and peanut based sauce-

served with rice, chicken and roasted vegetables.  There was enough for two people but unfortunately I didn't really like it because the sauce didn't have enough flavour for me.   Complimentary bottles of whiskey, rum and crème de menthe of all things were brought to our table after we had finished-

Looking forward to visiting Gorée Island tomorrow!

Saint Louis to Lac Rose, Senegal, December 2, 2018

We left the camp site at 9 and it took forever to go only a couple hundred kilometers.  Along the way-

The baobabs have lost their leaves for the dry season-

The further south we went, the more trees there were-

Cows looking for something to eat-

A water truck was in a village and the women were filling their jugs.  They weren't very happy with us taking pictures-

I like to present my fellow travellers so I'll start with April.  She lives in Queens and retired six years ago from IT software development.  Since retiring, she has been travelling 8-10 months/year going to places like Croatia, the desert in Namibia and South East Asia.  She travels because she likes to see people in different places, learn about the culture and the history because it changes her perspective in life, to realize how blessed and grateful she is in her own life.  Travelling has also made her more flexible and more giving.  When she's not travelling, she's planning her next trip!  She likes opera, Broadway shows, museums and movies.  She was born in China but grew up in Taiwan.  She came to the States when she was 22 to get her MBA.  She has a daughter and a grandson who also live in Queens.  

We are going into Dakar tomorrow to try and get our visa for Sierra Leone.  I'm looking forward to seeing the sights!

Saint Louis, Senegal, December 1, 2018

The carnet arrived this morning shortly after breakfast but we still stayed here, so I decided to go back into town for the day rather than stay at the campsite.  I had a different cab driver who didn't speak and he had a very comfortable car.  It was a much more pleasant experience!  I decided to walk around the town and my first stop was at the Catholic Church which is being restored-

My first purchase was a metal bus that I'd been dealing on for the past 3 days-

I ended up in the same hotel as yesterday for wifi but my blog wouldn't post and then poof, it was gone so I had to re-do it.  It was very slow uploading so I went to a different hotel where it uploaded very quickly.

Lunch was yassa poulet and it was awesome.  It's fried onion with Dijon mustard, vinegar, lemon and salt and pepper, mixed with rice and eaten with chicken, wow!

Shopping in the streets-

I bought the painting on the left-

This lawn chair, made of bottle caps was pretty cool and it was even comfortable-

I would have liked to buy the mask on the right but .....

I stopped in a shop to talk about my phone and heard a crunch-

Luckily, the bike rider who was in bare feet only had a few scrapes.

I had a great day in town and back at the campsite, I saw a petit Callao à bec rouge digging in the sand-

We are off to Lac Rose in the morning.  Looking forward to being back in the orange bubble!