Exploring: markets, shirts, views & pools !
Trip Start
Feb 02, 2008
1
10
16
Trip End
May 03, 2008
Dakar, Senegal
Saturday, February 16, 2008
went in the evening for a nice post-work farewell ceremony for a member of Oxfam America staff here. Had to make a little speech on behalf of us in French .... bit halting but fine !
sat 16/2
went into town again for some exploration: KERMEL market .... MUCH less bloody than SANDAGA last weekend. big veg & fish market. surrounded by LOADS of handicraft stalls - quite fun to browse, but very eager indeed salesmen !
did a lot more wandering and eventually found my self wandering from cloth shop to cloth shop, which i had been looking for , to try to find the best selection of cloth to buy to get some new shirts made up. I had taken into town with me one of my own short sleeved shirts which i wanted copied. Eventually found a good shop run by an ancient lebanese trader. bought 5x 3yards of lovely cloth (@ only £1 per yard !!). After a HUGE amount (and time !) of bargaining - managed to get the price for making-up by the tailor down to £3 per shirt ! I hope the shirts will end up being worth £6 each - I am sure they will !!
also did a long walk along what is called the East Corniche - it is winding walk which is NOT advisable at or after dusk, but in the HOT HOT sun of the midday - it was not only very hot (and safe - due to the fact that it was really too hot to do anything except lie on the wall ! see pic) but also gave lovely views of Goree Island (the historic old slaving island - see pic.
I also found a gorgeous hotel on the corniche, with a pool for caroline to visit when she is here whilst I WILL BE WORKING HARD IN THE DAYTIMES !! - fabulous location. see pic
then wandered back into town - and found the old "centre culturel francais" which has a lovely big garden and cafe in downtown dakar, and a super old colonial building, see pics, and a quirky life sized work of art which is one of the local minibus taxis with sculptured people and items inside and on top of it !
