Easter in Senegal!

The Easter holiday weekend was nothing like home but relaxing all the same. I went to a Catholic church here in Thies for Mass in French in Wolof. I can't say that I understood much that went on but it felt nice to have some structured time in a holy environment. The rest of the day friends and I ate good food and delicious beverages taking full advantage of our first free day in country.

The next day a group of us had our first experience at the Thies garage. The “garage” is indescribably chaotic. It is simply an open area crammed with cars heading different directions. There are a plethora of drivers, vendors, talibe (basically street kids that study the Quran under a marabou), and travelers. There doesn’t seem to any method to the madness, though I might understand it more in a few months. After plenty of drivers tried to take advantage of our group of toubabs we finally struck a deal and we were on our way to the beach in Saly!

The car ride was about an hour and a half and not bad besides the back seat being almost completely laid down. We were dropped off at a hotel call Blue Africa that had an amazing view of the beach. We bought drinks and were able to use their private beach for the day…what an arrangement! The weather was beautiful and the beach was clean. I couldn’t ask for much more. We spent the day basking in the sun, swimming, taking walks and trying to fend off vendors convinced that we needed what they were selling. It was refreshing and incredibly relaxing.

The hotels along the beach have guard dogs that chase off problematic people. The dogs are actually racist because European travelers spoil them while the Senegalese are not as kind to them. They dig holes near the surf and sit in them to stay cool and chase off anyone causing trouble while trying to snuggle up with visitors.
In the evening we headed back to Thies before dark. We spent another night eating good food and wrote reports for technical training the next day. Easter weekend was a success and unwinding with church and beach time was the perfect way to enjoy my time off!