Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
arrived one hour and a half before my 10:00 appointment. Happily, by 9:30, not only was
myvisawaitingforme,theembassygavemea3,000CFAreductiontothecostofthevisa.
I then made my way to the Côte d'Ivoire Embassy, who weren't as charitable and ended
up paying the full cost (5,000 CFA).
With both visas in hand, I went to UNESCO's art exhibit. As my luck would have
it, there was an opening ceremony (which I missed) but noticed the waiters cleaning up. I
also noticed a lot of food still on the table. I asked the waiter what they planned to do with
the left-overs and he said they were going to throw it in the garbage. Instead of allowing
suchatravestytohappen,Isteppeduptotheplate(literallyandfiguratively)andaskedthe
waiter if I could eat something. He smiled and began wrapping a week's supply of sand-
wiches and cakes for me, which I put into my backpack.
With a huge “merci” I left and visited UNICEF's office to see if it was possible to
visit one of their projects. They told me that “if I arrived yesterday, I could have met the
director”…whatever. I smiled and left in search of a store to buy some spare bicycle tubes.
After successfully locating a shop and making a purchase, I headed to Dakar FM
Radio for my first African radio interview. I was ushered into a studio and sat across from
the DJ. For the intro, my song 'Learn to Love' was played as he introduced me on air and,
afterfadingthemusic,begantoaskquestions.TheinterviewwascompletelyinFrenchand
I must admit, I was scared of not being coherent. However, through his body language of
nodding in agreement, I felt reassured that I was answering logically (more or less). The
30-minute interview went by rather quickly and when we went off-air, the station execut-
ives presented me with a large Dakar FM Radio lapel pin and a cassette recording of the
interview. I thanked them for the opportunity and returned to the cathedral school.
The next day I got up at 7 a.m. and prepared myself for a sightseeing-and-errands
kind of day. I filled out my postcards and went to the post office to mail them and my film
backtoCanada. Ithenwenttobuyalensfilter formycamera whichIbrokeinangerwhen
that airport porter in Nouakchott 'stole' and subsequently returned my bike tool. I left the
camera shop and headed to a nearby supermarket.
Just as I exited the supermarket, I noticed two men approaching. One of them
greetedmeandimmediatelywantedtostartanimport/exportbusiness.Withoutwaitingfor
a response, he handed me a gift and the address to his shop. He then introduced me to his
'brother' and we chatted for about two minutes. He handed me a second gift which was
wrapped in newspaper and placed it into my bag. I noticed that he took an unusual amount
of time doing this which raised my suspicions. It seemed he was searching for things to
steal but alas, there was nothing of value in the bag except for my toilet paper (the camera
Search WWH ::
Custom Search