Thies by tro-tro

After leaving the auberge, I walked to a shop that was closed, then the post office, then the Internet, also closed, over to another café, where I spent an hour, then ran into Oussou on my way to the travel agents, where the visa machine wasn’t functioning, so back downtown to the other travel agency, where they couldn’t issue the ticket, some lunch at the chawarma stand, where the chawarmas wouldn’t be ready for another 30 minutes and finally to Khady’s to say goodbye. Her children are downright adorable, about the kindest little things you’d ever meet. I took a couple photos and posed for a couple photos and then said my goodbyes after Khady gave me a gawdy blue ring and Marie slipped a bracelet on my wrist. Oussou’s sister had already given me six plastic bracelets and two bracelets made of cow horn. Oussou gave me a weird looking pendant thing and preached for a minute about how it would give me protection. During the cab ride, he kept muttering stuff about how he would say prayers for me and write out my name with cock’s blood while chanting the prayers and whatever my heart desired would come to fruition.

At the gare routiere, I paid my fare, said thanks and goodbye, then climbed in. About a minute later, Oussou was calling me over, a gesture that seemed conspicuous to me and put me on edge. Turns out he wanted money, claiming the electricity company was on the verge of shutting out the lights and I needed to help them pay a 7,500 CFA bill already two months overdue. I balked. 7,500 CFA is a lot of money to me right now and I have to admit my nose was out of joint at the idea that this idyllic African experience was being marred by a last minute pitch for money. I even wondered momentarily if Oussou was one of the men who can work, but doesn’t, preferring instead to sit around smoking, drinking a coffee and talking, writing and reading as though he were a great scholar, not someone with a large family to feed. In the end, I gave him 5,000 CFA, then felt horribly guilty as he promised to send anything I wanted: necklaces, blankets, anything. I told him they’d already done enough, but he didn’t agree. We thanked one another again and parted ways and the more I thought about it, the more sheepish I felt. I still have not budged the cultural divide that separates the individualistic Western society – where everything I have is mine, I earned it and I’ll decide where it goes and how it’s spent – and the African mindset that doesn’t have the same concept of property and ownership, nor even the same sense of family or familial obligation. In Africa, families rely on one another and if you’ve got money or a good job, you’re expected to share it. It’s like eating in public: almost no one does it, maybe because they don’t want to share, but more likely that they’re uncertain they’ll have enough.

I just wish, though, that that money was actually going toward something, like Grace and her business. I have a feeling I could send money and clothes and they would be used for more babies, more cigarettes and more coffee.

The minicar – Senegalese tro-tro – took about an hour to fill and once we were back on the highway and away from the water, it was hot and dry again. The trip took about two hours and the only event of note was a flat tire.

Thies is quite beautiful and quiet, quite live-able, in fact. I checked into the cheap hotel, then went in search of dinner. The rest of the night was spent in my room, hovering near a toilet and hoping the toilet paper would last.

I woke this morning feeling exhausted, packed up and moved to the more expensive hotel, then ran errands until lunch, when I made myself a sandwich and had a nap. The whole reason I stayed in Thies a full day to visit the museum and the tapestry factory, so I was some pissed off to discover they’re both closed for renovations! I will likely scrounge for a more solid dinner and head off to bed early, as I’m off to Dakar tomorrow.