Saint Louis (Another Senegalese Roadtrip)

Saturday morning I woke up sometime around 5:15 to get a taxi and head to Saint Louis, the first colonial capital of French West Africa. It is one of Senegal's largest cities (after Dakar, of course) and is situated on the coast just a few miles south of the Mauritanian border. The city itself sprawls on both banks of the Senegal River and also encompasses a small island in the middle of the river itself. Bridges connect the island to both river banks. The city was completely different than Dakar, and completely wonderful. We spent most of our time on the island, which has a thriving ex-pat community and is home to most tourist amenities. (Because lets be real, this weekend we were being the world's biggest tourists.) One of the coolest/most unique features of Saint Louis is that most of the original colonial architecture has been maintained. This makes the island a colorful, open, and beautiful place. The buildings are painted bright shades of yellow, blue, and red, with shutters and balconies and other ornate details. There is also very little traffic on the island because it is so small, making it really nice to wander around.

The view from the back seat of the sept place

Let me backtrack for just a minute to talk about how we got to Saint Louis. Travelers leaving Dakar have a number of options for shared transport. There are buses operated by the Mauride brotherhood, minibuses that squish way too many people into them, and sept places (station wagons that offer seven places for passengers and their baggage, plus the driver). There are probably more, but those are the three I hear about most often. The sept place is slightly more expensive than the minibuses, but is generally considered a more comfortable option, so the five of us opted to take that. The other group of students was already at the station when Alyssa and I arrived, a fact made obvious when we pulled up in our taxi and immediately were greeted by two men saying: “Toubabs going to Saint Louis? Your friends are over there.” And indeed they were. Sometimes the toubab title is useful. Luckily there were other passengers headed to Saint Louis (the sept places don't leave until they're full), so we were able to leave almost immediately. We were squished three to a row, but it was surprisingly comfortable (and also a little too hot- but really how is that different than any other day?). The drive between Saint Louis and Dakar was fast- it took us only about 4 hours to travel the 310 kilometers between the cities. The road connecting the two cities is well known as the nicest road in Senegal, and it showed. Rather than the bumpy, slow ride that we enjoyed on the way to Toubacouta, we went highway speed on a road whose biggest problem was an occasional pothole. It was ritzy to say the least. The drive was fairly uneventful, although it was nice to get to see the Senegalese landscape in yet another region.

A typical building.

We spent most of the day on Saturday zigzagging across the island, taking in the sights and sounds. The architecture continued to amaze and the weather was amazing- a nice breeze coming off the river and not too hot. The island was so calm in comparison to Dakar. There weren't many people wandering around and this part of the city lacked the constant barrage of advertisements and vendors that are so common on the streets of Dakar. It felt amazing to get out of the city a bit, even if it was just to a smaller city. We also enjoyed a delicious lunch at a Moroccan restaurant and went to find our hotel, a cute little place called La Louisiane on the north side of the island. The day went fast, and soon we were gathering to eat dinner and find some way to amuse ourselves for the night. The island is home to a number of fine eating and drinking establishments; we frequented a number of them during our evening excursion. We started off eating some burgers that had a skewed bun to burger ratio but were delicious nonetheless. Then we continued on to a nice hotel bar where we enjoyed a few drinks, kept an eye on a Senegal-Mauritius soccer match and got offered many tours of Saint Louis and the surrounding area. Even though we were bothered by a number of beggars and vendors, the streets were much calmer than they ever are in downtown Dakar. We were sitting outside on the street and only got the occasional proposition. It was nice. Eventually we decided to hit up another bar where there was live music- a great little reggae group that made it hard to hear, but provided excellent ambiance. We made friends with some Guineans and danced a little, which put us all in a great mood. Obviously, we couldn't go to sleep after the band finished, so we continued on to a bar called the Flamingo that we had noted earlier in the day. The bar was calm, although Lonely Planet tells us that it is where the best parties in Saint Louis can sometimes be found. The service was great and there was a pool in the middle of the bar area. It also sat directly on the river's edge, which provided lovely panoramas. We had a great time there, chatting with the bar tenders and other patrons. There was a very silly man named Pierre who worked for the American embassy, a bassist named Becaye from a local band, and another man who only spoke Spanish? The night was definitely a success, and we managed to stay at the bar chatting in Frolof (French + Wolof) until well after 3 am. By that point we were tired and hungry, so we grabbed some really rich donuts and hit the hotel, where I actually didn't successfully get to sleep until more like 7 I think. Silly silly toubabs.

We all woke up tired, but content to wander, so we walked off the island and attempted to get close to the Mauritanian border. It turns out that even when you walk to the end of the road in Saint Louis and get close to the river that everyone always says is the border you are actually still about 7 kilometers from the border. We weren't altogether successful, but Joe and I have convinced ourselves that the tree line we saw down the beach had to have been the border, so that is a personal victory. The beach was worth walking to as well. There were lots of people fishing and the waves were lovely. There was also a group of Senegalese preteens who laughed at my nose piercing and tried really hard to get us to dance. It's really hilarious watching them laugh at us for being really white.

And after the march to Mauritania, we were pretty much ready to go. It had been a long night and the day was much hotter than the previous one had been. So we squished too many of us into a taxi and headed out of town to grab a sept place back to Dakar. Again we got lucky and got to leave almost immediately, which we were all grateful for because it was nap time. Sleeping in a sept place isn't exactly comfortable, and it was very funny to watch my friend Griffin's head bob on and off the shoulder of the stranger sitting next to him. At one point the woman turned around to me and Alyssa and started laughing at him. It was one way to pass the time. The drive home took even less time than the way there and after failing to figure out the car rapides leaving the sept place station, I just hopped in a taxi to go home.

So that was my weekend as a tourist in Saint Louis. I would highly recommend the city to anyone who happens to have a little time to kill in Senegal. I am a little bummed because I lost one of my favorite earrings at the hotel, but I guess I should have looked a little harder for it if I am going to complain. And I also got pretty sunburned. Oh well, c'est la vie. The weekend was just what I needed to clear my head a little bit and I would have been mad at myself if I spent three months here without setting foot in Saint Louis. It was well worth the adventure.