Dakar thursday 11 Nov

Rising late I plod up the dusty roads to buy the daily baguettes and to revisit the travel agent to buy our desert. I'm assured that we will be able to return in time for the Tabaski fete which causes a massive outrush after work on Tuesday prior to the wednesday meat fest. We are looking forward to some stars and the real bushland which seems not far off in Dakar but  is obscured by an endless vista of houses as we rise over the small mamelle on occasion.

We are encourage to try out a 4 star nage privee which promises a pool good pizza and all the rest.  It takes $16 each to enter and then the beach is completely flat with introduced sand and a rock wall which is wave prohibitive. The air is rich with food and the pool's fountains murmer against the discreet inground muzac. The rocks are faux the lifeguards oddly american and very welcoming. The pool is great and we loll in the thatched shade. Lunch proves sumptuous.

Through it all I feel the strains of the slave ships in the book that occupies my restive mind. When in Rome......