Prayerblogging: Ugh You're Prettier

As part of a "Dakar adventure" series we've decided to begin, Addie and I went to a local more food type market today (also a part of our homework). Awhile ago, we became known as the twins, and the following events of course happened to us.

Right when we met up, we were greeted by a man who just wanted to shake our hands. Weird. Then another man came up and tried to hand Addie 10cfa. She asked why, and he said it was because he wanted France to win the world cup. He gave me money too, 25cfa and when Addie later realized this she said, "ugh! You're prettier" (Ha I'm the pretty twin).

We walked a little ways and got on a rickety white vehicle after some assistance from a nice man who didn't speak Wolof, thus nullifying my points for asking question in that language. It cost 100cfa each, and there we were in a full bus. I sat next to a woman who kept giving me sugary peanuts and Addie was transaction girl. She had the perfect middle seat to pass money around. The apprenti hanging off the back knew we didn't really have a clue, so he tapped me and said "Castor!" (Name of market) and we got off. Easier said than done. As we oriented ourselves, we bought an orange to share...sucking on a shared orange in the streets of Senegal neex na. We had noted the crowd gathering for the lutte (wrestling match). Remember this, we'll come back to it later.

Anyway we asked which way the market actually was and of course we got the standard "Passe par la" which tells you nothing. We did that for awhile and then asked again and discovered we were one turn away from arrival.

The Monday after Easter is a real holiday here so it was pretty empty. It was nice because we could go slowly, talk to people, and I even scored a few pics! (Markets and cameras are generally not a good security combo). Tomatoes and strange smells abounded! Other veggies, fruits, spices, fish (hence the weird smells), shoes, jewelry, household goods, fabric, clothing, school/office supplies and other odds and ends were also plentiful. I maintained a conversation with some women in Wolof, causing Addie to believe I understood exactly what they were saying. Hehe I'm so good at fake comprehension.

The market seemed endless. We tried asking a woman selling fish some questions but 1) she didn't really speak French and 2) she just wanted to sell us the fish. We wove into a more enclosed area and were in awe of the depth. Really cool stuff. Completely lost, we continued wandering. Even though Dad said he didn't want a gift, I picked up some piment for him because if I smash it up I'm sure he'll love it...sandwiches, burgers, pizza. Spicy and delicious. We got to talk to a man who told us there really wasn't anything interesting about the economy of the market. He said he was from Guinea and that they come, they sell, people buy, and that's it. Wednesday at 11am is the busiest time. After that mildly successful chat, we decided to try to find our way back. We took a couple turns and we made it exactly where we'd come from!

Because of the lutte, all the return buses were more than packed. As in full on the inside with tons of people on top dancing and making a ruckus. Addie's new life goal. We decided to walk.

As we got closer to the stadium, we decided to cross the street and keep a hand on our bags, as we'd been warned about pick pockets at luttes. Sure enough, a man put his hand on Addie and followed us, saying "Madame, madame". We didn't think too much of it until I saw a second man approach her from the front. Pick pockets generally work in teams. This man tried to point at something so Addie would be distracted and the other man reached in her pocket/bag range. She didn't realize what was happening, so I put a firm hand on her bag, disrupting the men and saying "Non! Bay nu". She didn't actually have any money in her pockets (in the shirt all the way. The things you learn abroad) and her bag was basically her phone and atm card but I had no way of knowing that, and neither did our little say says. They knew they'd been busted and we continued on our way.

I told my friendly neighboor about our trip and she said she goes to Castor every morning (now I know where she gets the veggies she sells!). She invited me to go with her one day. I think that would be neat.

So I'm the pretty twin and the Wolof speaking twin and the street smart twin and the twin with cool old Senegalese woman friends. Good day for me.