An escape to the countryside

I have spent a welcomed break from the craziness of Dakar this weekend in Toubab Dialao, a fishing village about 50km south of Dakar. I went with a french girl from the hospital and her 3 french friends. "Alors, je parlais français tout le weekend!"

We stayed in a dormitory at the beautiful l'auberge de Sobo-Bade which is a classic back-packers hang-out. The french girls have a friend from university, Matilde, who lives there- she's going out with one of the lads in the local dance group. So we were immediately welcomed by all her local friends - mostly Rastas, reminding me of Ghana! We went for a long walk down the beach, absorbing the rhythm of daily life. The pirogues going out to fish, a man washing a goat in the sea, energetic games of football on the beach and kids jumping in the waves. We ordered lunch in this little sea-side cafe, the meal took over 2 hours to arrive, such is the pace of life!

Two of the girls and I took part in "un cour de danse", African dance lesson with Matilde's boyfriend, Alpha. I've wanted to have a go at dancing here since Senegal is so famous for it's music and dance. It's amazing, so energetic, so different to the 1,2,3,4 of 'normal' dance, not that i am an expert, whatsoever, having pretty much never had a dance lesson ever (I'm imagining Amy and Karin laughing at me right now!) The lead djembe (highest of the drums) gives a kind of call which you have to listen out for to change directions/movements, but there are so many drums all doing something different so it was tricky to identify the "call"! (i still have "les courbatures" (stiff muscles) two days on!)

We spent Saturday evening at Alpha's pavillion just next to the beach. They BBQ-ed freshly-caught fish on an open fire, and made this huge platter of fish and onions - "pimenté" (with chillies!) We all sat around this huge platter on the floor, tucking in with our hands, the traditional way. It was delicious but seriously HOT! All the locals were busking, singing a mixture of traditional wolof songs, reggae and rap late into the night. I learnt how to play the mbira (a kind of xylophone-thing, interested? google "lamellophone"). Then some hours after midnight, not sure when, we migrated to "la boite" (literaly, the nightclub - it didn't have another name!) and danced til it was nearly dawn.

Naturally, a lazy Sunday on the beach followed.