A day on the Town!

Life in Dakar is not complete without the experience of riding in a Car Rapide. On the outside, these vehicles resemble small brightly-colored vans overwhelmed with painted decorations and indecipherable Wolof phrases. The inside, however, is another story completely. Just like my arrival in the city, the inside of this car completely takes over your senses and makes it very hard to concentrate on anything but the array of distractions around you. From the outside, you would not believe the number of people they can pack inside until you see the crowd at the bus stop disappear into what can only be described as another one of Mary Poppins' magical bottomless purses.

Once you have found a seat (or just something to hold on to) and finally have a chance to look at your surroundings, you may be surprised to see decorative lace curtains around the perimeter of the car’s ceiling, and pictures of different Senegalese leaders around the windshield- an anomaly that you quickly dismiss once the car jerks away from its stop…They don’t call it a “Car Rapide” for nothing!

There seems to be some sort of rhythmic language that I still do not understand. Coins hit against the metal ceiling, the driver slapping the dashboard, and passengers yelling Wolof phrases at the man collecting money, all contribute to the overall chaos of the situation.

Once we had finally reached our stop at a local market, I was thankful to be free from the confines of the car, only to find that exploring a street market is no less of an adventure. After one marriage proposal, several calls of “toubab” (their word for foreigner), and passing a never-ending supply of green tomatoes and fish surrounded by flies, it was time to catch the next Car Rapide and do it all again!

While I am thankful that the majority of my time will be spent walking from place to place rather than having to rely on the public transportation, it takes these kinds of experiences to really be able to understand what makes Dakar so special and…unique. ;)