First Day Back

Tuesday, July 30, 2007

Today was my first day back in Dakar after nearly a month long vacation in the States. It was a full one as well. My plan was to get off the plane, go home to drop my bags off, and go to the garden…that didn’t happen.

My flight into Dakar ended up being late by about an hour. We sat on the tarmac in Atlanta for about an hour and a half due to weather and because they “wanted to wait for the last few pieces of luggage to be loaded.” This stuff happens, not a problem. It is an all night flight and can’t say it is inconveniencing me one bit.

So we get into Dakar around 6 or 6:30. About 20 people got off the plane with the remainder going on to South Africa. Going through customs was a breeze. Next up, baggage claim.

The only people waiting for luggage are the few from the flight I was on. While the Dakar airport is an international airport and major transportation hub for West Africa, it does not have a high volume in traffic, especially this morning. After about 5 minutes, the bags start coming through. I spot one of mine which is soaking wet, apparently due to the conditions in Atlanta, and then I wait and wait. There is myself and another gentleman. I realized at that point that while the plane was waiting for more luggage in Atlanta, one of those pieces was not mine. Its weird though because the bag I did get had been checked by Homeland Security. Who knows.

I have heard horror stories from friends about lost luggage so I was a bit concerned. I went to an office in the bowels of the airport and submitted a lost baggage form. Fortunately, I got great customer service. (The next day, I ended up getting 4 phone calls (I was asleep for the first 3), letting me know my bag had arrived. I picked it up and it was being kept in a locked room away from the 100s of bags just sitting there. I must say that I had a great lost bag experience.)

So after the airport, I walked out of the airport grounds, glad I don’t have all 130 pounds worth of luggage, to get a cab. The drivers on the grounds are sharks. I did meet a guy who tried to just jump in the cab with me and go to my neighborhood. I don’t know why, but it was very shady, and I managed to give him no option but get out.

Pretty much exhausted, I got home with it starting to rain. Parts of my neighborhood were already flooded from rains the previous few days. I greeted my mom with open arms and went to my room to take a nap. While there were a lot of things I needed to do, they had to wait, this kid needed a blankie and a nap.

A few hours later, I managed to get the sleepy out of my eyes and head downtown. I had several things on my agenda, but didn’t know how much I would get done. My first stop was the Peace Corps office. I needed to check my mail and drop off some health forms. It was funny. I knew a package was coming for me ever since February and well, 5 months later, it arrived. The system may not be perfect, but at least it works. Afterwards, I decided to go to my new Cape Verdian haircut place for a trim. They give some of the best feeling haircuts I’ve ever had. So I go only to find out that the power is out and their generator is being fixed, so no haircut. Very typical here in Senegal. After my unsuccessful haircut experience, I head to find a bookshelf. My room/house is getting crowded and I need to make space, so a bookshelf was my best option. I go to about 5 places and either they didn’t have them or wanted more money that poor Aziz has.

By that time, I was exhausted and managed to make it back to the neighborhood. While it wasn’t the most successful day, it was a good day to get me re-acclimated to life in Senegal.