Holiday Escape Part 2: Dakar

The real vacation begins. No more travel and no more Guinea. Just great food, cold beers and good liquor. Dakar has all of those and is pretty much the opposite of Wonkifong is those respects. 

For making a choice based on a Lonely Planet guide from 2005, we got pretty lucky and the hotel we stayed at ended up being nice and affordable. Although, coming from Guinea, our standards of "nice" meant running water and consistent electricity. The hotel was a simple little place that's sort of hidden off of the busy roads. It half reminded me of a hotel my family stayed at in Rome once but solely based on the layout of the hotel. There was a little restaurant and bar connected where we were able to sit and use endless internet. This was a really great amenity because I got to Skype with my family multiple times and see some friends' faces for a change. Even with the temptation of the internet we managed to get out of the hotel to check out Dakar the first afternoon. 

Sajel and I eating ice cream at N'ice Cream, delicious!

Despite our low standards, on any scale Dakar is an amazing city. It's truly impressive to see a city that resembles large European cities in West Africa. Our hotel was conveniently placed near the center of downtown Dakar thus we spent the first night wandering the mildly busy streets with big eyes and repeating the phrase "that's awesome!" We sat down in the lobby of a huge nice hotel and got some drinks before heading out in search of food. Our first choice was a Thai place but it was closed. We checked a couple of other places without success until we sat down in a cheesy looking place called "Ciao Italia!" I can't describe how good it felt to eat spaghetti bolognese, eggplant parmesan, and a filet of beef covered in a four cheese sauce. I think my memory  of the dinner is enough evidence to show how it left its mark on my life. With encouragement from my family, my friends had taken it upon themselves to make sure I ate as much as I could this whole trip in an attempt to replace some of the weight I've been losing at site. This first dinner was a great first step. I left stuffed and satisfied. 

That night we met up with the group of Senegal volunteers that we drove in with and they showed us some bars near downtown. We ended the night at a dance club called "Texas" where I felt it was a safe enough environment to let out all of the hip-hop dance I have been suppressing for the last few months. I'm confident that I scared some Senegalese people and probably the volunteers too, but my vacation goggles told me to keep going. In retrospect, I'm really happy I went all-out that night because the rest of the vacation has been much calmer for it. 

Tree. Stockings. Lights. It's Christmas!

The next day my Christmas gift arrived in the form of Sajel! She made it to our hotel around 12 and it was honestly so amazing to see her. My friend's here are great people and I couldn't see myself spending this African Christmas with anyone else but having Sajel there as well just made it that much closer to being with family this holiday season.  It was especially great to be able to Skype mine and her family as a team. 

So now our little group is 5 and thus we do what most African adventurers would do in a new city: we went to the mall. There is a huge mall in Dakar that is next to a bowling alley and has a massive spa inside it so there's was something so everybody. Wandering around the mall, gawking at the stores and pretty much everything else was so much fun. That night, Sajel and I attended a type of Christmas mass at a church she had been to before during here time here for study abroad. There was some singing and even a little play but really it was nice to be in a church for Christmas Eve since I knew I wouldn't be attending the traditional midnight mass with the family. After the brief sermon, Sajel and I found a little restaurant near the hotel and spent the whole meal catching up. Again, Sajel was recruited to the "get Dante to a normal weight" team so I ate a ton. 

Christmas day was a sadly a bit reserved for me. I had the unfortunate timing of being sick all Christmas day with a stomach flu. So instead of going out to see the Isle de Goree with the others, I sat in and re-watched the entire 7th season of How I Met You Mother, and if you know me then you know that it was still a Merry Christmas!  

Family Christmas Photo

The day after Christmas was spa day for two of the girls, so Sajel took Shadassa and me to meet her old host family. We ate the most amazing rice and sauce I've had in Africa and that has nothing to do with the fact I was starving from not eating much the day before. After lunch, we went over to see the monument of the African Renaissance which  frankly sends some mixed messages but I'll leave the artistic interpretation up to you. It was a beautiful day and we got to watch the sunset on the coast before grabbing a burger and heading back to the hotel. 

Dakar was a really nice place and it really should be on your list of places I should see for any mildly adventurous traveler. It's a nice, but manageable, break from European cities and you can mark one more off on "Continent Bingo". Next stop: M'Bour and the prettiest (also the first) B&B I've ever seen!