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I went on a little bus trip into town today to go to the big market. I have to be in the mood as it is unbelievably hectic. There is a section for everything, from look-a-like Colgate toothpaste, to second hand trainers (scrubbed with detergent to look as white as they can), to mountains of multi coloured plastic objects (kettles, bins, storage units, buckets), to stacks of brightly coloured material for making clothes. As well as the hundreds of stalls crammed together selling the same stuff (well in their section at least), you have people wandering around selling clothes hangers/sunglasses/nuts/newspapers/ batteries/Monopoly... pretty much anything you can think of and then a whole load more.
The opening section of Sandaga market is madness. Dakar's battered yellow taxis and beautifully decorated car rapides (deceptively hiding the appalling state the vehicles are in), weave their way in and out of two narrow lanes with stalls lining each side. Each market trader has a megaphone strung up on their stall and they announce over and over again what they're selling and how much for. Not dissimilar from the East End banter of the flower sellers at Colombia Road market back in Hackney, except this time you can't really work out what they're saying as all the voices merge together in one big and messy wall of sound. The voices are so quick and unintelligible, it reminds me of the commentators in horse racing in a bookies when they get over excited and talk so fast you can't understand!
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Sandaga market entrance
You have to barter for everything and I am perfecting my horrified face when someone first tells me the price. I quite enjoy the banter around agreeing on a price; even if I don't buy anything it can be fun just chatting to the traders. Only if I'm in the mood though. Otherwise, being followed around by someone intent on selling me tinsel in March, when all I want is some mugs, can be quite annoying.
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These are the icons of Dakar - yellow taxis and car rapides. The latter are quite fun - they stop anywhere, you just tap a coin on the roof to let the driver know you want to get off. Not the most comfortable of rides though and almost the same price as the slightly more up market Dakar Dem Dikk big blue buses.
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Back of a DDD bus
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Wandering around town I came across this advert for a night in a club where Youssou N'Dour was playing. 50,000 CFA for the entrance fee.
That's about £80.
Just to get in.
Dakar is strange like that, there is clearly a growing class (however small in relation to the population) who have a serious amount of money. The number of brand new 4x4s and Hummers you see driving round the city is quite extraordinary. And if you drive out to Les Almadies, the posh part of town, there is street after street of stunning villas. Feels strange seeing a huge billboard for the latest iphone, with a group of barefoot street children sitting underneath, begging. I know this is the reality of big cities the world over, but I haven't seen such stark differences in any other place in this region.
