GETTING AROUND DAKAR

The most common means of transportation is the colorful "car rapide".  You can find them going everywhere but they are very popular and therefore quite crowded. The other means of transport is the taxi and they are equally as common.  The trip in town is the equivalent of a little less than $1 or 500 FCFA ($1US = 690 FCFA on 2/2001).

 

One can find small stores "alimentations" with the essentials in them including soap, soft- drinks, snacks, etc....

 

Telephone cabins can be found all over town and calls are timed with stop watches.  Don't forget that you are being timed as communication is very expensive.  

    

ALMADIES

      

On the northern tip of the Dakar peninsula, called "Les Almadies", there are 5-6 restaurants.    You can chose from French, Senegalese and Vietnamese cooking.    Also available, are oysters on the  half shell, clams and grilled chitons served in small buildings by the water's edge.  Great place to hang out and watch the sun set over the ocean.   

One can also find interesting seashells on the sand. 

Near the restaurants, there are a number of small artisans shops where you can find wood carvings, African cloth apparel, woven baskets, masks, and other works of art. 

FOOD - Some delicious dishes typical to Senegalese cuisine 

Thie Bou Dien -  The translation is "Rice and Fish".  This dish consists of fish prepared in a spicy soup with eggplants, manioc tubers, and cabbage served on a bed of rice cooked in the juices from the fish soup.  The rice at the bottom of the pot is cooked until crispy and is eaten at the end of the meal as a treat.  The fish of preference is "thiof", pictured here.

Yassa - This is the name for a type of sauce that is served often with chicken but also with fish.  The sauce is a pepper, lemon and onion sauce.  The combination of the sweetness from the onions and the tart lemon juice make for a savory addition to chicken or fish.