#7place

[02akhk02-blog]

今日乗った車。 渋いっす。 カラーリングといい塗装の剥がれ具合といい。 たまらん。 #africa #senegal #kebemer #7place #instadaily #instagood #ato #21082016 (à Kébémèr, Louga, Senegal)

[pocketfairy-blog]

Fall Break. Part 1. The Journey

Hey kids! Guess what! I'm making fall break posts HOORAY!

This might take a while though, because SO MANY things happened. 

Commencons Metinant! 

Alrighty. So, there is only one good way to get anywhere outside of Dakar in Senegal. That is by taking a sept-place. 

In case you are unfamiliar with  the concept of a sept-place (which you probably are if you have never traveled inside West Africa) Let me explain this for you. A sept place is a station wagon with seven seats (hince the name "sept place" or "Seven Places"). People pay for spaces in a sept place that is going wherever you want to go. Seats tend to be very tight, so sometimes people buy out extra seats in-between them to have more room. You have to go to a Gare to catch one of these sept-places. Gare's are crazy- especially the one in Dakar. When you drive up people are literally bunching around the taxi trying to get your business. There are sept-place drivers, Bus drivers, and vendors all nagging you like you are their last hope of survival. When you finally find a vehicle, you have to wait until it fills up, or buy out the extra seats to get going on your journey faster. 

Here is a picture of the Gare in Dakar that I found on Google. (there were far too many opportunities for theft for me to be ok taking out my camera when I was there) . Most of the vehicles in this picture are sept-places- all except the obvious yellow taxi and the white vans in the back. I will get to those later. 

So, the plan was to get to the gare, meet up with the half of our group that lives in Oakum (My half of the group all took a taxi from our homes in Sacre Coeur 3), grab a 7place, and GOOOOO!

too bad nothing ever goes according to plan in Senegal (this is the truth)

Dylan, Kevin, and I show up at the Gare right at the appointed time of 9 in the morning. and, as previously stated, we were immediately overwhelmed with mobs of people. Remember all that stuff I just told you about 7places? forget it. We did not take a 7place. We ended up being shuttled to a big white van (like the ones in the back of that picture above) where we were told that there were no 7places going to tambacounda and we would have to settle for a van. The boys and I were very much ok with this option because we would save 3000CFA a piece- the vans were less roomey, but far less expensive as well! So we went ahead and got our tickets. When the other girls showed up they were very upset. They wanted a sept place and did NOT want a van by any means, despite the savings. Eventually we worked it out and stayed in the van. Each row in the van was supposed to have 4 people in it, but that would have been really tight so we ended up buying out 2 extra seats to be able to sit comfortably. Even with the extra expense, we all saved a good chunk of change.

So then the driving commenced. 

It was a loooooooong drive. 8 hours. one stop 6 hours in. 

I repeat- it was a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong, cramped, drive. We were hot. We were cramped, we were hungry, we could not stop to pee, and  you just ended up getting gross and dirty because the smog from outside seemed to settle its self into your skin. It was one of those experiences I  was glad to have- but I never would like to have it again. 

But we eventually made it to Tambacounda in one piece and got ourselves into a hotel. 

This hotel was easily one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my entire life. I mean, we are not talking the Ritz here. To be completely honest, the hotel was about as nice as your typical  Holiday Inn Express. 

But let me tell you- after a month of not having things we are used to, that hot shower, air conditioning at night, a swim somewhere that you didn't have to worry about being tossed by a wave,  food available whenever you wanted to go to the restaurant, and a complementary breakfast that offered milk (yes! real milk! that didn't come from powder!) made this place seem like heaven.

  So after our brief visit in paradise, we were back on the road! this time to Kedougou, where we would be staying for the next few days. The hotel there was much like ours in Tambacounda (in fact it was run by the same company!) and we were very happy there as well. We even ran into a large group of Toubabs!