With each passing day, we’re getting closer and closer to Sudden Death Overtime: March 18th- the date for second round voting for the presidency of Senegal.
On one side of the road you’ve got the fanciest kitchen store that I have ever laid my eyes upon…
…while directly across the street you have les petits commerçants offering wares (and household furnishings) that are closer in reach to your average shopper. This planet is a world of startling disparity.
When I got to Dakar, the limited number of non-functioning street lights (clearly a relic of the Diouf a bygone era) were a source of amusement. Over the past year, green shoots of renewal have revealed themselves in the form of fresh (and some even functioning!) traffic lights. I’m still having trouble paying heed to those that function in Plateau.
And behold the mighty Radisson Blu and Sea Plaza Shopping Center. You walk inside the places and think “I am no longer in Dakar.” I don’t have much need to frequent either of these hip spots- but I probably should take a trip and photograph the mall- just to show you modern the space really is. It’s way nicer than the Cape Cod Mall- I can assure you.
After snapping the above photo of the Radisson Blu, I promptly turned ninety degrees and took this photo. Dakar without a doubt is a city balanced carefully between two worlds, and you can feel it tipping swiftly towards modernization. We’re see dilapidated structures being cleared away as room is made for newer and more profitable enterprise.
I often wonder what the corniche will look like in ten years, and immediately after I imagine the view I draw comparisons to Kalakaua Ave. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Despite all of the change, at the end of a day’s journey you’re still relegated to the same ritual: you step through your front door and dump the sand out of your shoes. I’m long-since used to this practice (and for those of you who want to call my plumber- no, I don’t wash the sand down the drain). No matter how much Dakar builds itself up, this peninsula will always be seen first and foremost as a big ole sandbar. We’ll be emptying our shoes for decades to come.