World Cruise--Dakar, Senegal

Dakar, Senegal. It would be our first visit and with some of the warnings for travelers that were out, we chose to do a ship excursion. We wanted to get out of the city so we picked an excursion that went to the Abbaye de Keur Mousa. All things considered, it was a good choice.

The morning began with a sunrise service way before the sun was to rise in order to get an Easter worship service in before all the day’s excursions would begin. A protestant service was held in one of the venues on the ship. Actually it had been quite a holy week leading up to Easter for us starting with attending the Seder dinner organized by the Jewish group onboard. Bob loves attending their Friday Sabbath service and learning more about the Jewish religion and heritage and he had been invited to attend. A pastor had come onboard and organized a Maundy Thursday service as well as Good Friday and two Easter services. He did a wonderful job.

As we sailed into the harbor and the sky lightened, we could see small fishing boats just on the other side of the break wall. They were casting their nets for an early morning catch.

 Our excursion was an hour late in getting started. There was some poor organization (a Dakar problem) going on down on the pier where buses were trying to get in and line up. When we were finally on our way, we boarded a bus that was clean enough on the inside. Earlier we had looked down upon lots of vehicles on the pier that were heavily covered in a fine reddish dust we would learn later came from the Sahara as well as the dry reddish soil of Dakar. The windows however were dirty for the most part.

Bob and I have learned that sitting in the back of the bus is not bad if the seats are raised a bit. You can not only see out your window but you can see over the heads of others and out the front window. We headed for the back and found, once we looked around, that our window was one of the few clean enough to see out of.

As we traveled through the city, we were amazed at the dichotomy. We saw some nice apartment buildings but they were often surrounded by others that were only half built. Rebar was poking out where the construction had stopped in walls that were half done but there were still people obviously living in the half finished dwellings. Laundry hung out to dry and tarps or boards closed the window spaces that had no window glass.

Senegal is 90% Muslim

There were some very modern office buildings when we got farther away from the city. With all of the poor areas we’d seen this was again quite a contrast. True to this part of the world, Europe and Africa, the soccer stadium was quite nice looking, at least from the outside.

It took nearly an hour to get to the Abbey. We were expecting that there would be a mass but we also expected that we would be able to see some of the instruments the monks were famous for making and using in their services.

The mass was already started by the time we got there and participants were under a temporary covering set up outside. Chairs were made available for us and we settled in to listen to the service. Of course the only thing we understood was alleluia and amen as the whole mass was in French, the official language of Senegal.

I could hear some instruments in some of the chanting songs but there was no way to see over all the heads and into the sanctuary to know exactly what they were playing—except for the drums. You could tell they were drums. So while the Catholic mass was perhaps familiar in many ways, the music had an African flair.

We participated in standing and sitting with those around us but in not understanding the rest of it, there was opportunity to take in the beauty of those surrounding us. The colors of African art were present in the Easter dress of the worshippers. My eyes drank in the deep blues, radiant purples, brilliant yellows and oranges. The patterns and designs of the fabric were bold and striking—except for the little girl in front of us.

The young girl in front of us had a pretty pink dress on that had a satin sash and a light pink organza overskirt with a fanciful design of sequins that glittered and reflected the deep blue of her mother’s lovely dress. It was the kind of Easter dress my mom would have dressed me in for Easter. Brought back memories.

Once the mass was over, we had a short span of time to step into the sanctuary where the monks were clearing all of the things involved in the service. We took some quick pictures and then were ushered out and the doors were closed. We looked for our guide thinking that now he would take us to see the instruments. When we found him, he pointed us to the gift shop.

The gift shop included all sorts of jams, bottled juices, fresh bread, packages of different candies, nuts and nougats and of course religious objects of faith. There were several drums for sale that we estimated cost around $100 USD. And way back in the corner, I found a stringed instrument that was displayed in a glass case. It would be the closest I would get to seeing one of their stringed instruments that they make.

Our excursion group began gathering back at the bus since there was nothing else that was going to happen. Many had bought some of the snacks available and a few shared some nougat and a piece of bread. The bread was a bit like a rye.

There would be another hour ride to return to the ship. Most of the ride was on a freeway that was surprisingly well maintained. Once off the highway however, there were many speed bumps that jostled us and kept us awake. We’d been up since 5:30 and it was beginning to show.

We scurried up to the buffet for a quick lunch when we returned and watched those who had set up “stalls” to sell their goods along the pier.

“Want to go back down and shop?” Bob asked.

It took me two seconds, “Ahhh, Nope!”

As we finished lunch, we checked Facebook and found that others on the Facebook page we belong to for the world cruise had some recent posts. One was that a woman was accosted when someone tried to snatch her purse as she got off the shuttle that was provided into the city square. Another report, unsubstantiated of course, that another woman was “mugged” and she was on one of the excursions.

On the other hand, there were a few posts of how wonderful a little restaurant was in a hotel and another who found a taxi driver who took them to a real local restaurant for authentic African  food. Many however, found too many aggressive beggars and uncomfortable situations where they didn’t feel safe.

Dakar will not be a place we look forward to returning to.