To all my Northeastern family and friends who are braving today’s cold front (hey, it’s November, the warmth couldn’t last), and to my pals in the parched deserts of the Southwest, I send you these images from one of our favorite places (so far) in Senegal. The village is Toubab Dialao (pronounced too-bob jallow), and the hotel is called Sobo Bade. We heard about it through the expat grapevine as well as saw it written up in our Lonely Planet travel guide, and decided to take a quick weekend getaway last month to pay it a visit.

Well, maybe quick isn’t the right word, considering that we took a “car rapide” for the first half of the 50 mile journey. A car rapide is really a small bus crammed to the seams with people that stops every 100 yards to disgorge a passenger or take on a brave new soul. In between the standard benches that we find on most buses (think of a school bus), are additional seats that fold down to form rows of uninterrupted, window-to-window benches. This means that there is absolutely no space whatsoever to stand up or walk. The fun part happens when someone needs to get off — there’s a lot of creative maneuvering. Needless to say, this car is in no way “rapide.”

Still, I must admit that it was an adventure, and it was quite interesting to watch. Fortunately, Abraham and I eventually made our way towards the front of the bus, towards the side, away from the activity at the back of the bus (that’s where the door is).

The car rapide eventually made its way to Rufisque, where we caught the standard form of long-distance travel in Senegal — the “sept place.” A sept-place (seven seat) is a Peugeot station wagon with three rows of seats for seven passengers: one in the front next to the driver and three each in the middle and back. They tend to be quick – sometimes too quick – and this helped us to arrive at Toubab in under three hours (more on sept-places, including pictures, in my next posting).

It was definitely worth the effort. We quickly shifted gears at Sobo Bade, down to a nice, easy low gear. It was our first venture outside of Dakar, and the peace and friendliness of the place were welcoming. Above is a picture of one of the hotel buildings.

The hotel has unusual architecture that is not native to the area but is gradually being copied by other buildings in the area. I’m standing next to our room, behind the tree on the right.

This is the view from our room. We slept under a mosquito net to the sound of crashing waves. Paradise!

Abraham takes a walk down the hotel steps to the beach.

The beach on the south side of the hotel fronts the village. Here, the fishing boats are in for the day.

The north side has a long beach that stretches for miles.

Mostly we just encountered dogs on the beach. They lazed about in the sun, the occasional wave lapping at their paws. This didn’t seem to bother them.

A neat thing about Sobo Bade is that many art-related classes are offered there, especially music, dance and drumming. We happened upon one group that was in the midst of an impromptu drumming session.

These children were washing clothes by a well off of the beach.

The nicest time of day was sunset. We found front-row seats, and Abraham took this picture of me.