Cheers to one month in Senegal

So, this weekend marked a month of sunshine, Wolof, and call-to-prayer in Dakar.  What else is there to do but celebrate?  After class ended on Friday, about 5 of us took a nice walk downtown along the Corniche to eat dinner and see a Senegalese film at l'Institut Francais.

The Cafe de l'Institut Francais is super cute, super Toubab, and super tasty.  It's quite expensive in Dakar standards, but costs about what I would pay for a meal out at home.  It was completely worth the splurge.  Maybe it was the deviation from Senegalese cuisine, maybe it was the quality of the preparation, but I'm pretty sure this was one of the top five most delicious and memorable meals of my life.  There is a reason why the Cafe is the #4 thing to do in Dakar, ranked higher than the Institut itself.

Our toast to one month down, three to go:

My drink is the purple one.  It was bissap juice and rum.  Amazing.  To eat, I ordered a burger with bacon (the only place I've seen it in Senegal) with cheese, and it came with a salad.  Oh my goodness, I can't even begin to describe to amazing this meal was.  So basically, I won't.

We were running a little late and having lots of fun at the table, so around 8:30 we decided we should probably head over to our 8:30 movie screening.  It shouldn't have been a problem because the theatre is literally about 30 feet from the cafe entrance.  But when we got there, either it was all full or it was too late.  No problem, we go spend that three dollars on N'Ice Cream!

I'm not too sure if I've written about N'Ice Cream before on my blog.  If I haven't, I'm ashamed.  If I have, it proves how good it is.  This funky designed building looks like it belongs in an artsy, urban quarter of an American city.  The ice cream is the best in Dakar.  In case you were wondering about the name, it plays off Wolof phonetics.

Jess and I with our N'Ice Cream:

Since the rest of our program was meeting at Le Mermoz for live music and drinks, we decided we should probably head up there after our ice cream.  Since we had 5 people, most taxis would charge extra for illegally cramming people in.  After a little negotiating fun, we found a driver who would take us uptown to Mermoz for 2,000 CFA, about $4 US.  This was a pretty good deal considering our 5 passengers.  I later found out why, as I sat in the front seat.  The passenger door didn't close, so I had to ride several miles up the Corniche holding my door closed.  Had we may a quick turn, I would have flown out, considering there wasn't a seatbelt.

My smiling face, enjoying the taxi adventure:

 













Le Mermoz was crowded when we got there.  It was a typical Senegalese restaurant/bar.  Open room, plastic patio chairs and tables, no decorations, etc.  The traditional music and dancing was excellent, but unfortunately, we only caught the last five minutes of it.  I ordered Flag, the unofficial beer of Senegal.  It was pretty mediocre.  But for a country whose religion forbids alcohol, what can you say.

Here's our table at le Mermoz:

But all in all, I must admit, I had quite the successful one month anniversaire.  Dakar really is an adventure, and I have three months left ahead!