Day three

Today was pretty low-key. The goal for the day was basically to relax in preparation for the walkathon that will occur tomorrow at Ile de Gorée, we most sat around and ate.

Breakfast at the hotel has been fairly standard. (I refuse to use the term "continental breakfast" in deference to my hatred for both the term itself and the quality of the food-like substances that occur in hotels of the caliber that unfortunately fits my normally humble budget when traveling. My usual plan of attack when faced with one of these abominable excuses for a meal is either a) go nearly anywhere else that's open, b) go to the nearest coffee disbursement center and drink so much that I'll forget I'm hungry until I'm in the next town with better food, or c) go hungry. I really mean it when I say I hate crappy continental breakfasts. This is coming from a guy who will eat nearly anything you put in front of him regardless of beast of origin or organ thereof. I truly despise continental breakfasts.) There is fresh fruit, crepes, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, yogurt, milk, coffee (Nescafé of course!), tea, and each person gets a little basket of baguette, pain au chocolat, croissant, et du jam and butter. Wonderful.

Aside from the basket of bread and spreadable goodness, the rest is on a buffet. It is generally bad news for fellow customers when there is a buffet but the waitstaff do a good job of keeping the buffet stocked.

So we had a good breakfast, got ready to go out for the day, and essentially went to find a café to sit in until lunch time. This is one of my favorite ways to relax, whether at home or on the road: wake up, eat, shower, go somewhere else to sit around, have a coffee, and watch the people go by until it's time to eat again.

But wait. This is Africa.

The electricity had been going off and on all morning. No matter, there are plenty of windows in the hotel and the sun was shining. The coffee was still hot, so no harm done, right?

Wrong. Unfortunately, whatever heat source is used for the coffee is not also used for the water source of the showers in the hotel. This type of scenario yields two possible courses of action: 1) completing the minimum required shower activities while coming into contact with as little of the icy water as possible, or 2) taking a deep breath and embracing the frigidness, spending the entire shower lost in your imagination, in a much warmer place. I chose option 2.

So a cold shower is not the way I normally prepare for a long morning of coffee drinking and people watching. No problem. The café brings hope. On to the café! Waitress, trois cafés, s'il vous plait!

Quoi?

Pas de café?

No electricity at the café either, so no coffee machine. C'est dommage. They did manage to make me a delicious mushroom and cheese omelette, though. Not sure how that works.

We were joined at lunch by a colleague of Jennifer. After lunch the four of us went back to the hotel to try again to get coffee (success!). Mom and I left them to walk to the US Embassy, former familial stomping grounds. We chatted with one of the guards and poked around a little. The neighborhood the embassies are in is so different than the neighborhood our hotel and the markets are in. It was nice and quiet with no real vendors to speak of. I almost got hit by a taxi but that's par for the course.

One vendor I did manage to find was a coconut dude (Robinson family term of art). Coconut dudes are guys with big wheelbarrows full of coconuts who wheel around town and camp out on the sidewalk. When you ask for a coconut they chop one of the ends off so you can drink the juice. When you're done, they chop the whole thing open so that you can scoop out the fruit inside. I did this frequently as a kid so I was excited to relive a small part of my youth. There's no coconut like a freshly chopped coconut, let me tell you.

Mom and I walked back to the hotel and found Jennifer and friend. Friend departed and the three of us decided it was time for aperitifs and to start thinking about dinner. We settled on a Korean place across the street. Yes, I know: Korean food in Dakar? When we got there we were the only non-Asians present, which we took as a good sign. The food was fine but not amazing.

And here I am writing at 2:35am. Sleep has not come easy, likely because of jet lag and the fact that I am not taking seriously the task of beating it. We are hiking all around Gorée tomorrow though so I will try to get rest. (If you're interested in understanding my forthcoming post on Gorée, read about it on Wikipedia.) I put some pictures from today on Twitter, and I've been putting stuff on Flickr in small bits and pieces. See the links on the right to get to those things. Tomorrow many photos will be taken, I am sure.

A demain.