Get out if the car and walk around a bit. Time for another window into my daily aesthetic consumption.

Today I’m running to work wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Usually I opt to wear cropped leggings that cover my knees while running in Senegal- even when it’s a million degrees outside. I do this just to show a modicum of respect for the general flow of life here, but I find that the more I see what the Senegalese men get away with in terms of accoutrements, the less I want to shield the world from my scandalous legs. Case in point: while traveling on the corniche yesterday, I saw in broad daylight a completely naked guy hunched over on the sidewalk. Not a stitch of clothing. And while I don’t really want to gross you out, I will say that I got an eyeful of confirmation that suggested to me that he was out there serving as a tripod.

Eff it. I’m wearing shorts.  And without giving it any further thought, I set out down the road.

One silver lining to all the road construction projects in Dakar is that they allow me to map out new uncongested running routes. The Canal Road has been shut down for awhile, and this deserted (and paved!) road offers me unheard of elbow room that serves as a welcome break from my monotonous, standard routes. 

So the canal is not the body of water in front of you. The canal is actually on the other side of the wrought iron fence. On its best day, this road only smells kind of bad (but then again, maybe I’ve lived here for too long). This new bonus canal stream is actually a product of the rainy season, currently in full effect here in Senegal. It makes this area smell doubly bad.

Um, hello random horse (actually, I see him here often, so he’s no longer random). I wonder how much his owner is paying to board him on the side of the road.

Just like Kinko’s.

Whenever I run by this section on the canal road I try to imagine how this particular accident might have happened. I guarantee it that it was some fool taxi driver, who inexplicably made a hard left into the railing, when all he had to do was drive in a straight line. We had a bad accident a few days ago (photo here), and it is for this reason that I am grateful that most of the roads here are in poor condition. Fatalities would skyrocket if people were granted unbridled acceleration.

My Wolof is about as good as the road quality, but from the few words I know, this woman doesn’t want a dirty city. I hope nobody brings her down to the canal, because it’s a bit of a mess.

See? This is only one of the trash piles. Incidentally, I don’t know why I get so much enjoyment out of photographing garbage, but I find it fascinating.

Canal Road ends where it meets the corniche. Out of No Kidding respect, I don’t try to blatantly photograph the people here. It’s really a shame too, because the Senegalese really are stunning with vibrant personalities that are begging to be captured on film. Their brightly colored dresses and boubous only add to this effect, and they certainly make for far better viewing than the trash I just showed you above.

This building was painted up all pretty-like a few months back. I love the color and retro look of the chick painted on this joint ad for bottled water and phone service. “Nio far!” written on top, loosely translates from Wolof as “We’re in this together”.

I mentioned earlier on that this is the rainy season. It’s a bit of an overcast day, and the continued lightning I saw outside my house before I departed kind of suggested that we might see rain this morning. I’m kind of an ornery bastard, so I still set out for my three mile run with brand new camera in hand. It wasn’t until I was just about into Plateau when I looked at the clouds and noticed that they looked a bit imposing. Right after I snapped this shot I started to feel beaucoup de refreshing raindrops hitting my toubab legs…and decided that I needed to pick up the pace.

I made it into the office without getting completely drenched. And as you can tell, my camera survived its first needless beating and continues to take pictures. The thing I like about getting into the office first is that I can use the floor to stretch and cool down under the blast of two air conditioners. Here, I figured I’d show you a bit of my IT band stretch. The photo is upside-right.

And fast forward now to Megan sitting back in her apartment and looking out the window at the end of yet another Ramadan summer day. Since getting back from my last trip, I notice that a new minaret has been added to the skyline, and I rather like the addition to my ocean view.