more than mosquitoes

walking down the street in dakar is truly an exercise in etiquette. vendors will follow you for blocks with boxes of counterfeit perfume -- "real fake" -- and dolls, bracelets and other baubles. if you don't want to buy, no problem, just go to their shop and look around. no matter how emphatically you say "no," it's almost impossible to shake them, and the swarm just grows and grows. imagine 12 bottles of perfume from seven hands reaching in from every direction. other hands with other goods hang back waiting for their chance to "do business." as if they're going to make you want that padded africa-print bag or "adilab" track suit.

tommy hilfinger briefs are also available.

today we tried to visit what's known as the best african culture museum in west africa, IFAN, but were stymied by an absolutely mad taxi driver who tried telling us a construction site miles north of dakar was our requested destination. he then wanted us to pay for the return trip back to the proper IFAN site, southwest of the city. the ride was supposed cost 1000 CFA ($2). he wanted 3000 cfa for his troubles.

the ensuing dialogue:
"we're not going to pay more than 1000."
"ok, no problem -- you pay 2500."
"no, really, we won't pay above 1000."
"ok. no problem, no problem. i don't have a problem. 2500 cfa."

it went on and on like this for the hour-long ride, which ended up blocks from where we'd gotten into the taxi, having never reached the museum. we thought the ride should be free at that point, since he'd wasted our time. our threatening to go to the police was the clincher. he agreed to 1000 and kicked us out of the cab, but circled around a few times to glare at us from his window.

as we type this there may very well be a man covered in dyed-indigo fabrics lurking out the door to convince us to buy his material ("very expensive, from guinea!").

if you happen to end up near dakar's sandaga market, you'll see rows upon rows of vendors with similar products for sale. what makes the difference is the price and the personality. we ended up at a very nice shop in the centre commercial el malik with cheike kadam -- who gave us very good prices and some good quality materials. if lost, ask around for ehaj douf, who guided us there and to other fine places. his english is great and he is a straightshooter, highly recommended.

on another note, today is our 3-year anniversary. morning started with french-style pastries, some of the best we've ever had. one was a sort of brownie truffle and the other a carmel pecan tart. if we're lucky, 2005 will be as sweet.