Travels with "Senegal Expeditions" - Part Three

 Another early breakfast at 7 a.m., bags packed, so we could hit the road early. It's game day, and no one in this car wants to miss the match, especially our Senegalese guide and chauffeur! But the sunrise had gilded Saint Louis in gorgeous light that we just had to capture with our cameras.

A short distance from Saint Louis, our driver stopped again so that we could admire a group of golden monkeys gathered outside a community building. Some of them approached the car cautiously as they sometimes receive treats from passing vehicles. I didn't have anything appropriate for them to eat, but enjoyed snapping some photos. (Only my phone was handy, so they aren't as sharp as I'd like. In the second photo you can just see the arms of a baby held agains its mama's chest, holding tight.

We took a different route to head back to Dakar so that we could stop at Lac Rose (the Pink Lake), with the benefit of enjoying different landscapes. This area is the "garden of Senegal". We rolled past farms, lush and green in sharp contrast to the desert-like landscape, alongside trucks filled with produce, and through markets where vendors proudly displayed mounds of fresh fruits and vegetables - countless cabbages, carrots tied together in barrel-sized bundles, piles of tomatoes, and wagons filled with watermelons. Closer to Dakar we went through several mango groves, the trees heavy with glossy leaves and beginning to flower - mango season will come in May.

We were stopped by the police again, and this time the situation was more complicated. The officer shouted at the driver and demanded that he get out of the car, asking questions about who we were and why we were with them. He demanded to talk to my daughter, asking us whether we were paying them to take us around, whether we were married. Behind the officer, the driver tried to indicate that we should not answer the questions. At one point we heard the officer ask for money. The driver and guide went with the officer to the other side of the road for a private discussion, and eventually they returned. Our guide apologized, but my daughter reassured him that she had dealt with similar issues previously.

When we reached Lac Rose, Seydou had some fun experiences lined up for us. First, we met an artist who creates sand paintings, watching him work on a new piece. I purchased two of his pieces to bring home.

We watched the salt men loading prepared salt into bags for shipping, and heard about the salt making process. When the salt is first hauled from the lake in baskets it is black, it must be carefully washed and left for a couple days to drain and settle before being packed.

 

We examined the pirogues sitting at the lake's edge, seeing the baskets used to scoop the salt into the boat to be taken to shore and shovelled out for washing. The lake is so salty that it supports no life - not a fish or plant in sight. The men working here cover their skin with raw shea butter to protect it from the burning effects of the salt before poling their boats onto the water, basket tied to the boat so it doesn't fall to the bottom never to return.

As waves roll into shore, the leave deposits of salty, white foam on the sand that occasionally blew past on the wind like snow or dandelion and milkweek seeds. We had a little fun playing with it, scooping it and blowing it into the air.

Our next surprise was a ride in a pirogue, out across the pink waves. After watching the expert poling techniques of the boatman, our guide gave it a try and then it was my turn. I got in two good pushes, interspersed with two near misses where I had the pole too close to the boat and nearly lost it to the waves, bending and nearly falling as I refused to let go.

Safely back on shore, we visited one of the women selling beadwork to visiting tourists. But there was one more surprise in store. I was told to take off my hat, and they balanced a bowl of beaded jewellery on my hand to see if I could walk with it like the Senegalese women do. I think I surprised them a little - when I was a little girl, my grandmother had told me that walking with books on my head would give me good posture, so I had a little practice with the technique. After I was confident enough to walk along our guide called out to me to dance.... so I did, to the delight of the other vendors who began to sing to give me a beat, and Seydou joined in the joyful movement! 

Before leaving, I chose three bangles in the colours of the Senegalese flag to bring good luck during the match. And with that, our weekend of adventure with Senegal Expeditions was over, and we drove back into the city and said our farewells. We hope to see him again for another trip before I return to Canada.