TIA Day 1

The title of this post comes from the movie “Blood Diamond.” It stands for “This is Africa.” Common usage for CIEE students is illustrated by the following examples. “We were at the beach, and when the farmer started washing one of the rams in the ocean, the other started mating with a ewe ten feet away from where we were sitting. TIA.” More universally: “I woke up to find out that my house had no power, no water, and my digestive system was in rebellion. TIA.” While I experienced plenty of this TIA on the trip, I also discovered a gentler side.

Molly, Liana, Colette and I left on Saturday morning at 5:30 am from school. We reached the gare routierre at 6:00 and were on the way to Kaolack by 6:30. Trying to bargain with persistent drivers in your non-native language that early in the morning can become very interesting. It doesn’t help when your main travel, and thus, pricing resource is a three year old guidebook. Despite being quite cramped, we made it to Kaolack by 11:30 am. Our lodging, L’Auberge de Carrefour (Inn of the Crossroads), was substantially better than we had expected: the chambres ventilees had giant ceiling fans instead of dinky ones stuck in the corner. Moreover, we had spacious bathrooms and locking room doors. Faucet and interior handles were not as well maintained but livable. After a quick lunch at the Bluebird Inn, we headed off to Kaolack’s famous market, supposedly the second largest after Marakesh. For those not acquainted with Dakar, the main downtown shopping district is Marché Sandaga, where persistent street vendors will hassle you, pickpockets will steal, and you will come away exhausted and embittered at humanity. But when all of the vendors at a market know that there will be plenty of customers, they are far more apt to be pleasant. We were greeted in Wolof and/or French at each stall we passed and everyone came away with some amazing deals. Of course, when everyone was tired from traveling and shopping, the power went out and we were stuck trying to resposer in stagnant heat. A lovely French restaurant recommended by the guidebook proved to be the perfect escape – when they lost power, they simply switched to a candlelit ambiance. Colette, Liana and I headed back to the Bluebird later for drinks and conversation while Molly passed out from the heat and exhaustion. As my roommate and I were chatting before bed, the fan came on and all was well.