4th to 5th of January, 2018.
It is not difficult to get to the Hostel. On the street, I am looking for a sign or something when some guys start to call me. Of course I am passing through, without looking back, when they yell all together “The International House of Dakar”. I freeze with my leg on the air and turn around like that, what makes them laugh.
Talking to the attendant about the possibility of doing a volunteer work, he says I should wait until the manager come back at night and talk to him.
I do not have the whole amount to pay the Hostel with me, so the first thing I do after dropping off my stuff in the room is to find a place to exchange some money and then after, finding a market to get some vegetables and food.
On the first place I asked about the fees, I do not accept because I think it is too high a price. Later on, I would realize that it is a fixed price. At the supermarket, everything looks so expensive for me but it is just because I do not know yet the right average between Francs and Euros. I just buy some cherry tomatoes, a onion and a yoghurt.
Back at the hostel, I meet three girls: Nick (from England) who is just travelling alone and Tigi (England) and Ana (Scotland) who are working in a charity house teaching English for the kids. The place is about two hours from Dakar and they are in some kind of vacation in the city for two weeks.
Before I take a shower, I meet a fourth girl, from Canada. I feel I have more in common with her than with the other girls and I will explain why: the other three girls are young and like to travel to drink, meet new people, have fun, they have some money and use some real small clothes. Because they are still so young, they are always in contact with their families (by the way Ana’s mother was coming to stay some time with her), so it is more like a holiday trip, with maybe a wish of some volunteer work in their CV for the future. The girl from Canada is travelling to know the countries in Africa. She is doing some kind of work, if I am not mistaken, but her plans are to go to Burkina Faso and Kenya and finally India. She tells me that even after almost my ten years of travelling (because Canada probably will be one of the last countries I will visit), I can just contact her and I will have a place to stay over there.
I cook some lentils and pasta. It is good. I talk a lot with Ahmed, the manager. Not exactly about the Workaway thing but about a lot of other things.
Before going to sleep, I spend some time with the other travelers, on the nice rooftop of the Hostel. We talk about a lot of things, including the corruption to enter Senegal. The girls kind of offer me to stay with them in the charity house. I could stay just for stay (according to them it is just a mattress on the floor, which is not a problem for me at all) or even try to help in somehow. They are leaving on Sunday, so I would have to stay more three nights in Dakar. I could find a CS and on Sunday come back to the Hostel or decide to pay the Hostel. I am still waiting for an answer from Ahmed so I decide to sleep and wait for the next day.
The plan is going to Decathlon and exchange my backpack. It is not that far so everything is looking fine. Until I get there. The shop is a small container that makes me laugh and cry at the same time when I first see it. I wait a little while until they open (it is still closed before 9.30 a.m). The girl who comes around looks fancy in a black dress and long straight hair. She is Senegalese. She speaks just a little of English but we understand each other. They do not have the same bag or even a similar one on the shop. I have no idea what to do in those circumstances so I decide to go back to the Hostel and try to contact Decathlon again. But before I leave, I explain my situation to the girl, Ndéye Fatou, and at the end she say I could stay with her. Her offer really caught me by surprise. I kept that in mind.
Back to the Hostel, Ahmed talked with the owner and unfortunately they are already doing something similar with another woman over there so no chances for me. Decathlon answer me that I would be refunded and could order another bag to receive on that shop. It is looking simple and good so I am happy.
I decide to order the bag, stay with the girl from Decathlon until Sunday, go with Ana and Tigi for two weeks and come back for my backpack when it arrives. At that moment, it sounded like a good plan.
Ndéye Fatou is waiting for me at Decathlon and even though I was hoping to resolve my case in that same day, she says we should come back tomorrow.
She lives in the University City, in a small room, with another seven girls. They have mattresses on the floor and there is a place to cook. Just for three days it looks OK for me and I don’t need to pay six thousand Francs per day.
10 Years Around the World 