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So I was a bit apprehensive about the trip over here mainly because I found out on Tuesday that all flights from Dakar to Banjul had been canceled, and I had not been informed. Side note: The first time I tried to book the flight, the air company charged me $29,000 instead of the agreed price of $293.00. Needless to say, I had to call up to check on my scheduled flight (which had been moved back to Wednesday...two nights in Dakar) and I had to ask for a refund, which aparently will take 6-8 weeks to go through. Anywho, I decided to keep an open mind, despite the airline disaster and the newly scheduled 8.5 hour car trip, I was still pumped.
When I got onto the airplane, I was really impressed. It was by far the largest airplane I had ever been on and each seat had a tv in the back of it. I sat next to a diplomat for Dakar who apparently does this flight thing alot, and he showed me some of the awesome features. First off, there's a camera on the tail of the flight that allows you to watch both the plane taking off and landing! That was so cool although I felt like it was un-real. Secondly, the tv's were touchscreen tv's...no big deal or anything. There were several movies, tv shows, and music chanels to choose from. I don't think you could ever get bored (well, unless you do this a lot...which I don't intend to). We received food on the flight, and in general everyone is so nice and friendly! Overall it was a very smooth flight. I didn't sleep much, but that was partly due to the excitement.
When we landed I was surprised. It was such a small airport that didn't even have the possibliltiy of unloading straight into the terminal. You walked down the stairs and towards a bus where workers checked your passport. Customs weren't too bad although it was one of the most intimidating customs experience I've ever had. People were screaming things in a language I did not understand, and it seemed as though they were taking forever to let people pass through. But it went smoothly when it came to be my turn. We collected our luggage and were bombarded by people who were looking to help us. I kindly turned them down. We wandered outside where a bunch of people were looking for us to take their taxi service and we ran into Pape and Baboucar. They saved us! It was so great to see them. We walked out into the parking lot and waited for our "tour bus". People were still coming up and asking us if we wanted to have money changed or any help with anything and we kept turning them down. When we finally loaded on, we decided to stop somewhere locally and grab something to eat. Our menu was completely in French, and we all wound up getting the same thing - something that involved coffee, tea, orange juice, crossiants, bread, and eggs. It was pretty good! Hit the spot. We finally got on the road around 8.
As for the car trip itself...whew! Let's see...well I couldn't look forward because I would tense up so much in fear that the driver was going to run over a person or a horse drawn cart. People just run across the street, even when you're flying at 60 mph. Seriously..these people define the concept of "no fear". We saw lots of goats, cows, dogs, horses, and donkeys. This driving has completely re-defined "city" driving for me. You really have to be aggressive with everything that you do when it comes to driving. Drivers here are also very well aware of their vehicle and it's size. I really didn't think we were going to make it in some places...but we did. As we were leaving the heavily populated areas of Senegal, the drive became less stressful but the roads did not. So many potholes that in some instances, we drove through the sand to avoid the horrendous divits in the road. We would hit some bumps and everything would fly about 5 inches out of it's seat/place. These cars can take a lot! Our driver was awesome and very nice. I felt very safe and taken care of the entire trip.
As we approached the Gambian border, we had to buy insurance for the vehicle and we split off to get our passports checked with Baboucar. The first stop wasn't bad, and then we went to the immigration office. The one officer gave us a hard time about not having the right visa and allowed us to stay for only 30 days. Baboucar said not to worry, so we're good to go. (Oh yeah, and did I mention that I peed in a hole?? With no toilet paper? Yeah. That was pretty sweet :D) We finally crossed the border, stopped about two more times to check in with police, and were headed towards a ferry. We waited in a longggg line for about 2 or 3 hours..I honestly lost track of time. We walked down to the loading dock to catch the breeze. Kids were swimming everywhere, women had babies strapped to their backs and were balancing amazing things on their heads, kids were doing the same and trying to sell us cashews, and pigs were running around the beach. Huge wooden boats were beached since it was low tide, and other boats were coming across the channel to deliver items such as mayonaise and rice. Again, I was simply amazed at the balancing acts that ensued.
We eventually grew hungry waiting so we asked a security guard to take us to a decent restuarant. He led us through a cramped area filled with people, items, and corrugated roofing that was rusting. Cars were the sound in the background, and I almost felt as though I was in the middle of commplete chaos. The restuarant that we arrived at I was very impressed with...great staff and good food. We enjoyed the shade and some water as well as a delicious dish that consisted of chicken, rice, and a peanut butter sauce (I forget the name of it). The ferry finally arrived and we awaited anxiously to see if we would even make it on. We were the second to last car that could fit...we were nearly hanging off the end. We wandered up the stairs to grab some seating and sat next to two women and one man from Holland. After almost falling asleep for 20 minutes, I wound up talking to them about traveling. They've been everywhere! Australia, Kenya, Egypt, the U.S...it was pretty amazing. When we arrived, we jumped back into the car and drove through the crazy city of Banjul. That was a sight to see. People upon people with moto's weaving in and out...horns blowing, donkeys pulling carts...selling of fruits and meats on where we would build sidewalks. After that little piece of craziness, I couldn't help but fall asleep. I think I had slept a total of 2 hours during the entire voyage.
We finally arrived at the house around 7 pm. Yamai was here to welcome us. she gave us a wonderful hug and the girls came down the stairs to greet us and help us with our luggage. We put our stuff in our rooms and had a lovely tour of the house before heading back downstairs to receive our cell phones and dinner. Right after dinner, the electricity went out. We decided that unpacking was useless and just called it a night. It was an awesome and exhausting journey. But it could've been worse...our poor driver Omar was driving back to Dakar that night!
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