Arrival and Heat
THURSDAY - 7 Sept - "Arrival"
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HEAT
We landed at about daybreak in Dakkar, with not quite enough light to see much of anything. It was a bit of an expedition to get us and our bags out, as 2/3 of the passengers were staying on to fly to Johannesburg (sp?), South Africa, and so unusually, we didn't have to wait for everyone - but it made getting out a little more cramped, since most people and their bags stayed. To add to that, there was a rollup stairway, and most of the kids couldn't carry their bags down. So I shuttled back and forth a few times, and we made it down the stairs.
There was a very sick man on his knees at the top of the stairs, with some attendants in white uniforms and a flight attendent there to try and keep people from running into him. I suspect he had AIDS, or something - but he was very thin and clearly very weak.
My first impression upon encountering the air was as it has been in the past in the Middle East; hot, and a certain smell that my wife attributes to burning trash, but I simply associate it with the richness of smells in the air. What was different from my memories of morocco, egypt and saudi, was that it felt thick and wet - presumably because we're in the tail end of the rainy season. More on that the next day.
We boarded one of those big wide low airport busses to take us to the terminal, and went up some tiled steps into the customs area- which was just a big square room with a couple counters. Everyone else seems to have done this many times, and then immediately filled out their forms and made their way out, while Elizabeth sat down and patiently went thru all 7 of ours, noting where we were staying, where we came from, and so on. I go nuts trying to do that kind of stuff, and look forward to when each kid can do it themselves. I took the chance to wander back and forth...
IMPRESSIONS
As in Morocco, there is a mix of old and new. The windows and glass were aluminum, with the typical smooth tile to cover any portion of the concrete structure. There was a uniformed guard who'd opened the outer doors leading to the tarmack, and he locked the doors. Overall the uniforms were shabby - shirt in various states of press and tucking, and I think the one holster I saw on one man's belt was actually empty. Unlike Egypt, they didn't seem to be putting on airs though - "it is what it is" came to mind.
SECURITY
We went past the counter - the guy was missing and showed up a minute later. It occurred to me we could just walk on by. There were no ropes, or particular "channels" to go thru. He took a minute, stamped our passports, kept the sheets, and sent us on our way.
Like JFK, the carts were free - but unlike JFK, many of these carts had wheel issues - which we of course discovered after loading them with 4 big bags. We had to do some shifting, and eventually got all our bags counted and on carts and headed for the exits. There they had a big conveyor belt that went thru a huge x-ray machine - the belt was about 4 feet across. We loaded the stuff up on one end, and some Senegalese agents in military uniforms appeared to be keeping a rough eye on things- but it's not clear that they really were paying attention. I suppose they'd have seen guns in the bags- but not much else. However, this meant lifting and lowering 28 bags- many of them 51 lbs or so - so pretty soon I was sweating again, and bags were everywhere on carts, off carts, in the way, out of the way. We could see Sheikh Harun waiting outside the outer glass, and were waiting for someone to ask for passports or documents or asking for passports- nobody did.
TAXIS
We walked out the door, Sheikh welcomed us, and took us down the sidewalk towards the cabs. Things got chaotic as a number of young men and boys tried to help, and the cabbies vied for permission to take us, and in some cases tried to just grab the bags and load up- we gave up trying to keep track of bags, and just hoped for the best, keeping the important bags close at hand. We loaded up, distributed ourselves, our bags, and our entourage between 4 cabs, and hit the road.
MORE IMPRESSIONS
Overall, I was surprised how much it all reminded me of Egypt and Morocco. Had I more experience on the continent, I imagine it would be the same across the whole of Africa. There are roads and dirt, often crossing over in way's you'd not expect. There are people everywhere, and every kind of conveyance - from donkeys to horses to cars to massive trucks. The traffic is crazy, but here it seems to be slow enough to prevent any catastrophic accidents- and much of a drive is punctuated by slowing down to avoid potholes, or long grooves where the road was cut to trench for a pipe or cable or something like it. The smell is pungent - burning trash, dust, diesel, cooking food (my oldest daughter whispers "fish" several times over my shoulder as I write this). I rode with a man named Shamsuddin, who works at the school and is the Sheikh's cousin. We worked on some basic words, and I found it very difficult to remember any of them... but at least it got the juices flowing.
THE SCHOOL and THE BAGS
We arrived at the school, a nice two story (with finished walled patio roof) and a group of people emerged to help bring the bags into the building while the Sheikh settled up with the cabs. There is a typical heavy metal door, with a short walkway into the front hallway, which on the left opens into a big split level classroom and on the right to a single room that became ours for the visit.
CHAOS
So bags, people, kids and stuff were everywhere. Eventually we brought our bags down to the bedroom for Elizabeth and me, and began to dissassemble the packing to find things we needed immediately. Our room had no storage space - so I used thin rope to create loops from which I could hang most of my things. We have our own bathroom- which interestingly enough, like the others in the building, has a toilet that's missing it's seat. Go figure - i guess it makes sure you don't get too comfortable. The flushing/fill mechanism on the two near the kids room doesn't work, and the doors don't shut properly. All this in a building that is quite nice, with shiny painted white walls, tile floors, and nice touches like crown moulding, plaster patterns around the lights, and nice wood bannisters. It's a bit of a paradox actually.
ICE CREAM & CREATIVE STORAGE
After we'd rested a bit, the Sheikh's son Hassan took me and all the kids (ours and the other 10 or so from the school) a half mile down the road and picked up some ice cream. As is always the case, you have inexpensive local goods mixed with expensive packaged goods and even more expensive imported goods - so the ice cream I picked cost about a dollar - which is a lot for senegal. On the way, we had to keep moving to the side of the road so cars could pass- there's really no clear delineation between pedestrian areas and driving areas- just a lot more dirt the farther from the center of the road you go. Cars are parked fairly randomly, and so many buildings seem to be under construction that piles of dirt, gravel and bricks intrude on the space that might have been a sidewalk- if they had sidwalks, which they don't.
We situated the mosquito nets, got everyone ready for bed, soaked our shirts to keep cool and hit the sack - or something like it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEAT
We landed at about daybreak in Dakkar, with not quite enough light to see much of anything. It was a bit of an expedition to get us and our bags out, as 2/3 of the passengers were staying on to fly to Johannesburg (sp?), South Africa, and so unusually, we didn't have to wait for everyone - but it made getting out a little more cramped, since most people and their bags stayed. To add to that, there was a rollup stairway, and most of the kids couldn't carry their bags down. So I shuttled back and forth a few times, and we made it down the stairs.
There was a very sick man on his knees at the top of the stairs, with some attendants in white uniforms and a flight attendent there to try and keep people from running into him. I suspect he had AIDS, or something - but he was very thin and clearly very weak.
My first impression upon encountering the air was as it has been in the past in the Middle East; hot, and a certain smell that my wife attributes to burning trash, but I simply associate it with the richness of smells in the air. What was different from my memories of morocco, egypt and saudi, was that it felt thick and wet - presumably because we're in the tail end of the rainy season. More on that the next day.
We boarded one of those big wide low airport busses to take us to the terminal, and went up some tiled steps into the customs area- which was just a big square room with a couple counters. Everyone else seems to have done this many times, and then immediately filled out their forms and made their way out, while Elizabeth sat down and patiently went thru all 7 of ours, noting where we were staying, where we came from, and so on. I go nuts trying to do that kind of stuff, and look forward to when each kid can do it themselves. I took the chance to wander back and forth...
IMPRESSIONS
As in Morocco, there is a mix of old and new. The windows and glass were aluminum, with the typical smooth tile to cover any portion of the concrete structure. There was a uniformed guard who'd opened the outer doors leading to the tarmack, and he locked the doors. Overall the uniforms were shabby - shirt in various states of press and tucking, and I think the one holster I saw on one man's belt was actually empty. Unlike Egypt, they didn't seem to be putting on airs though - "it is what it is" came to mind.
SECURITY
We went past the counter - the guy was missing and showed up a minute later. It occurred to me we could just walk on by. There were no ropes, or particular "channels" to go thru. He took a minute, stamped our passports, kept the sheets, and sent us on our way.
Like JFK, the carts were free - but unlike JFK, many of these carts had wheel issues - which we of course discovered after loading them with 4 big bags. We had to do some shifting, and eventually got all our bags counted and on carts and headed for the exits. There they had a big conveyor belt that went thru a huge x-ray machine - the belt was about 4 feet across. We loaded the stuff up on one end, and some Senegalese agents in military uniforms appeared to be keeping a rough eye on things- but it's not clear that they really were paying attention. I suppose they'd have seen guns in the bags- but not much else. However, this meant lifting and lowering 28 bags- many of them 51 lbs or so - so pretty soon I was sweating again, and bags were everywhere on carts, off carts, in the way, out of the way. We could see Sheikh Harun waiting outside the outer glass, and were waiting for someone to ask for passports or documents or asking for passports- nobody did.
TAXIS
We walked out the door, Sheikh welcomed us, and took us down the sidewalk towards the cabs. Things got chaotic as a number of young men and boys tried to help, and the cabbies vied for permission to take us, and in some cases tried to just grab the bags and load up- we gave up trying to keep track of bags, and just hoped for the best, keeping the important bags close at hand. We loaded up, distributed ourselves, our bags, and our entourage between 4 cabs, and hit the road.
MORE IMPRESSIONS
Overall, I was surprised how much it all reminded me of Egypt and Morocco. Had I more experience on the continent, I imagine it would be the same across the whole of Africa. There are roads and dirt, often crossing over in way's you'd not expect. There are people everywhere, and every kind of conveyance - from donkeys to horses to cars to massive trucks. The traffic is crazy, but here it seems to be slow enough to prevent any catastrophic accidents- and much of a drive is punctuated by slowing down to avoid potholes, or long grooves where the road was cut to trench for a pipe or cable or something like it. The smell is pungent - burning trash, dust, diesel, cooking food (my oldest daughter whispers "fish" several times over my shoulder as I write this). I rode with a man named Shamsuddin, who works at the school and is the Sheikh's cousin. We worked on some basic words, and I found it very difficult to remember any of them... but at least it got the juices flowing.
THE SCHOOL and THE BAGS
We arrived at the school, a nice two story (with finished walled patio roof) and a group of people emerged to help bring the bags into the building while the Sheikh settled up with the cabs. There is a typical heavy metal door, with a short walkway into the front hallway, which on the left opens into a big split level classroom and on the right to a single room that became ours for the visit.
CHAOS
So bags, people, kids and stuff were everywhere. Eventually we brought our bags down to the bedroom for Elizabeth and me, and began to dissassemble the packing to find things we needed immediately. Our room had no storage space - so I used thin rope to create loops from which I could hang most of my things. We have our own bathroom- which interestingly enough, like the others in the building, has a toilet that's missing it's seat. Go figure - i guess it makes sure you don't get too comfortable. The flushing/fill mechanism on the two near the kids room doesn't work, and the doors don't shut properly. All this in a building that is quite nice, with shiny painted white walls, tile floors, and nice touches like crown moulding, plaster patterns around the lights, and nice wood bannisters. It's a bit of a paradox actually.
ICE CREAM & CREATIVE STORAGE
After we'd rested a bit, the Sheikh's son Hassan took me and all the kids (ours and the other 10 or so from the school) a half mile down the road and picked up some ice cream. As is always the case, you have inexpensive local goods mixed with expensive packaged goods and even more expensive imported goods - so the ice cream I picked cost about a dollar - which is a lot for senegal. On the way, we had to keep moving to the side of the road so cars could pass- there's really no clear delineation between pedestrian areas and driving areas- just a lot more dirt the farther from the center of the road you go. Cars are parked fairly randomly, and so many buildings seem to be under construction that piles of dirt, gravel and bricks intrude on the space that might have been a sidewalk- if they had sidwalks, which they don't.
We situated the mosquito nets, got everyone ready for bed, soaked our shirts to keep cool and hit the sack - or something like it.
Put a BUNCH of photos on to flickr....
posted by divb at
02:56
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