Care for a Walk?

My walk to school takes 20 minutes. I head out the door, walk along the short side of the soccer pitch through the dirty sand, and turn left onto our side street that takes you out to the main road. In the morning, it is strangely quiet on the street. Women are seen dragging their children along, hustling, so as to get to school on time. The ladies wear brightly coloured dresses, and the children all have their school pinafores on with such details as the school name, and phone number in case you are inclined to stalk any child in particular and want to make easy work of it. Otherwise most traffic happens when I hit the main road.

I pass the same homeless man on the left sidewalk every day. He wears a touque, an old dress short (once white, now grey), and dress pants. Unless I see a piece of bread sticking out of his pocket, I usually give him a piece of my breakfast baguette. Once I turn onto the main road it becomes much busier and noisier. The colourful Car Rapides (buses) and taxis and UN convoy vehicles and horse and buggys are all in a hurry to get somewhere.

Everyday the fruit vendor asks me if I need fruit. His pile of watermelons is never very appealing so I wait for the guy down the street who usually offers the same price and has nice looking oranges, apples and bananas. The coffee vendor offers me a tiny cup of super sweet Touba coffee for 50CFA and since it`s just not my taste I politely decline.

Everywhere I walk someone is psss-ing me to get my attention. While it is common to hail a cab with such a hiss or someone you know or want to know, I find it pretty irritating to be psst-ed everywhere I go, so with great practise I have developed selective hearing over these last couple of weeks!

Next I pass the police station or Commissariat at the round about that either tosses you straight towards the bridge or right out into the country side if you drive 15 minutes. After that its only a couple of more streets until I turn right onto level ground. Most (or all, likely) side streets are made of sand which may account for why the cobblestone sidewalks and other paved roads are in such disrepair.

This weekend we are off to Dakar for a 2 day excursion. We are taking a private bus and staying in some sort of apartment deal because it's cheap. That being said, I will not be making posts this weekend... so have a great weekend!