As I mentioned it rained substantially last night so the roads are absolutely flooded which makes the 3km walk into the main island nearly impossible. Luckily there are several cheap modes of transportation available: Autobus en Commun, Taxi, Sept Places and unofficial Taxi.
The Autobus costs about 100 CFA which is around 20 cents. It was an excellent way to get to the big bridge this morning other than all the stops for the morning traffic rush and massive potholes and puddles. A taxi is good for the evenings and costs around 500CFA (~$1) to get pretty much anywhere around the area. Then there's Sept Places which varies in cost and Unofficial taxi costs around 100CFA per person.
The status of the vehicles is so unbelievably bad, it is amazing some of these things run! I have heard several people say their Sept Places broke down coming here from Dakar which then meant they had to push it to get it going or switch to one that was working. I can see why people say that the best mechanics come from areas such as this. The bus en commun are quite the experience and are reminiscent of a sardine can. I can't wait to post a photo of one barreling down the highway, totally full of people, with a few clingers on the back for good measure.
Nevertheless, today I recieved the official tour from Sarah, the girl from Wisconsin who works at PA which was good. Once you get to know which banks are good, and where to get different things, life becomes a little easier. We had an excellent lunch at the customary 2pm hour, and I went on my way, wading my way home to retrieve my laptop to make some email updates.
Tomorrow, I finally begin work!
WOW Ashley - you sure are one brave girl - I might be thinking about leaving if it were me - even if my second language was the local one! Interesting reports - keep them coming
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