12/25/2023 Bikepacking Senegal Day 139 : Père Noël

“Are you a teacher?” I asked the friendly gas station attendant.

“Yes,” he replied.

No sooner had I asked the question, when I thought, “wait; this guy is working at a gas station and today is a Monday!”

Why did I even think to ask that question? I guess that I tend to like the teachers on this trip. And I liked this guy.

“Why aren’t you teaching class now,” I backpedaled…

“Today is the 25th of December: Noel”

“But Senegal is a Muslim country…”

“Il y a beaucoup de chrétiens ici,” he replied. (There are a lot of Christians here).

When I finished the ride, I checked online, and there are 3.6% Christians here… so not exactly a lot. But it felt a bit ironic that on Christmas Day, the Arabic greeting “peace be with you” was suddenly on sabbatical. Everyone was now replying “ça va?” to my “salaam alaikum”.

From the internet:

“Although a Muslim-majority country, Christmas is celebrated by Christians and Muslims in Senegal. The capital city, Dakar, is decorated with Christmas trees and traditional masks covered in Christmas lights. The Senegalese people celebrate Muslim and Christian holidays together, as holidays are seen as an opportunity to share festivities with a communal spirit. Pères Noel, or Father Christmas as Santa is known in Senegal, is even known to appear at supermarkets in Dakar”

Moving South, starting late yesterday, people were almost exclusively greeting me with the French “ça va?”. I switched over to “ça va?” (How’s it going?) myself today.

By the way, ever since bidding adieu to Spain, I’ve had some daily déjà vu in my conversations:

Person: “ça va?” (How’s it going?)
Me: “ça va bien, comment allez-vous?” (It’s going well; how are you?”
Person, smiling brighter: “ça va?” (How’s it going?)
Me: “parlez-vous Français ?” (Do you speak French?)
Person (shaking head and smiling): “oui! ça va?” (Yes, How’s it going?)
Me: “ça va bien” (it’s going well)
Person, (you can now see their gums they’re smiling so hard): “ça va?” (How’s it going?)

After a few repeats, I now say, “au revoir” (until next time), and pedal off, not wanting him to use up all of his “ça va’s?” In one place.

While planning this trip, Senegal had been a place that was just “in the way of” the mountains of Eastern Mauritania and the Guinean Highlands. Of course, Senegal surprised me with the people in the Central and North East of the country. Those who I met were some of the most fun-loving I’ve met on any of my travels; I already miss that region. It changed my feelings of kids running up towards me because they behaved so differently from the kids in Morocco. I started to think the whole East side would be that way, but each region is entirely different from the previous. I’m having a little regret that I didn’t stay in the section between Ogo and Tamba a little bit longer. Yes, Senegal surprised me in a good way.

The side of Senegal that we did NOT see was the West. This is where you find the capital city of Dakar, Saint-Louis, and the Fathala Reserve (famous for the “Lion Walk” where you can walk with lions).

I feel confident in skipping all of the more popular attractions because of how they usually make me feel. Dakar is famous for its traffic, the cyclist who rode down that side wrote to say he had rocks thrown at him, and the Lion Walk sounded cool until I read about how the lions are drugged and that many people online advocated avoiding Fathala on the basis of animal welfare.

Tomorrow, I’ll head to the only touristic destination I’ll be doing in Senegal: Dindefelo. Natural beauty and a waterfall. From there, a quiet border crossing that can’t even be done on a motorcycle. I see some hike-a-bike in the future.