Dakar 2

Back in the city of scum. This place really is despicable. But I ain't got no choice but to come here to get my flight back to good old Germany. Stuttgart's going to be a hell of a culture shock after this place. Talk about night and day...

I just had lunch in a fantastic restaurant just off place de l'independance. It's called La Palmeraie, and they had a Carpaccio de Thiof, which is a local fish from the coast here. For 6,000 CFA (about 9 euros) you can get a really gorgeous meal and a drink in this place.

Now I'm heading for the Librairie Claire Afrique to blow my last traveller's cheque on books. That'll be the only souvenir I'll have brought back for myself, so I might as well make the most of it.

I spend last night by the Lac Rose, which is about an hour and a half from Dakar. It's a salt lake which has a pinkish glow, and it's especially beautiful in the sun. It was great, except that I ended up getting stranded at the hotel! The receptionists all buggered off with a tour group, and when the electricity broke down there was only a security guard left to deal with it. The sky covered over very quickly, and all the birds and frogs started going crazy, announcing a storm. Then the rain and thunder hit, and the wind blew really hard. It was like being in a storm by the seaside or something. The trees were bending, you couldn't light a candle or anything. The guard had to run about looking for candles for me, and the door of my hut kept bursting open with the wind. It was pretty powerful stuff.

It kept up for a couple of hours and then just died away. Very impressive, but not very consequent for people here. Having said that, I don't know how they manage, in the shitty little shacks they live in. Most people have better houses somewhere inland, but live in these iron or wooden shacks by the tourist areas to be able to sell stuff and make money. I was lying in the comfort of my shack, under the mosquito net, writing poetry by candlelight, wondering how Adamsa, the guy who had sold me dinner an hour earlier, was going to make it through the night...

He was fine in the morning, and sold me some clothes at a ridiculous tourist price when I got up. I didn't have the hard to bargain him down beyond 50% after the storm. I'm a cissy, I know.

Meanwhile I'm waiting for the MP3 player to charge so I can distract myself during the luxurious 12 hour journey starting 3.30 am tonight, to get back home. In fact, I won't make it to Stuttgart till the late evening, since I'm landing in Frankfurt and still have to catch a train. The joys of travelling with Royal Air Maroc.

Better go. Please respond, if you read this. I have no idea if this travel diary is of any interest whatsoever.