Occupying vehicle space in this country = helter-skelter to say the least. Good times.
After getting back into town, I was invited to a cocktail hour at a friend’s house in downtown Dakar. While the company and social atmosphere was quite excellent, I have to admit that I spent more than my fair share of time on his balcony watching the night’s traffic pass back by on the street down below. It was probably one of the most fascinating things I have seen in my two years in Dakar.
Here we are. A bottle of cold Flag beer in hand. Wow. This is better than reality TV!
Okay, if you don’t know much about life in Dakar, then this might seem like a completely stupid blog entry. For the rest of us in the know, we are all quite excited and a bit confused by the sudden and (so far) constant operation of the streetlights that are now found throughout Plateau.
I had only been back in Dakar for about 24 hours when I caught my first glimpse of a traffic light. It was dark and I was in a taxi. “Holy shit!” I believe was my highly analytical observation of this development. Then I grabbed my camera. I am sure that the taximan thought I was nuts.
Traffic lights aren’t exactly new to Senegal. I mean, if you scrutinize the dusty jumble of downtown’s bizarrely-constructed edifies, you can find vestiges of defunct traffic lights dotting some of the streets streets. I’m actually surprised that people don’t hang their laundry off of them, just to render them once again useful. They stand like antiques sentries who guard a hidden and parallel Dakar that is doubtlessly more orderly – but these lights have certainly never worked in the two years that I have been in this town. Traffic as we know it just kind of runs on its own. Or only kinda runs, as the case often is.
“Il y avait des embouteillages” is perfectly acceptable (even if you are lying) excuse for running late. Here I am in one of backups on a Friday afternoon.
I’ve covered the street lights for motor vehicles, but I can’t neglect to mention the walk lights for us bipeds. These are great innovations, but I’m still having trouble believing that they must be respected. Even today I was chastised lightly for strolling out in front of ongoing traffic as is my habit.
So what does it all mean? Are these fancy new blinking things in place just because the elections are coming, and the President wants to look good in his bid for reelection? Nah- I don’t think so. Even for me, I think that conclusion is far too cynical and simplistic. I mean, progress does happen here- and I see it every day amidst the general mayhem that sometimes often leaves you shaking your head.
For example- check this out:
They’re expanding the road out by my house, and here you can see that they’re lining the street with solar-powered lights! There’s plenty of African sun to spread around, even when the supply to the power grid is less than ample. Behold this country implementing sustainable solutions.
So I don’t care what my brother’s Orange Fanta bottle portends- these signs are nowhere near apocalyptic- but I certainly hope that we see more of them in the coming months. This city has so much potential just waiting to be harnessed, and the Senegalese are slowly implementing means with which to harness it.
Now if someone would just find a way to magically restore all of the dilapidated taxis crawling through this country, we’d really be on to something truly earth-shattering…