Sightseeing

Thursday 20 January

Isle de Goree – or the Slave Island

 

Nice ferry ride out to a small island which is really very cute. But my word there are a lot of folk trying to sell a lot of the same thing there, of which I want none. And they are not easily persuaded of this fact, either! I check out the few sights and then see the supposed slave house with its door, may really be a furphy as no ship could have docked so close to the rocks there. And history shows that of the 20 million slaves transported from West Africa, only about 300 a year left from Isle de Goree.

Head off looking for a few errands in the busy city of Dakar. Can I find safety pins – yes, I do. But they are in little sets – of 3 sizes on a bigger safety pin. The seller soon understands that I only want one of the sizes and three of us all set to work liberating 100 of the size safety pin that I want to make giveaway flag pins. I think of Monica while we’re doing this, knowing she would have loved this craziness, especially when the bloke wants to charge me for the labour, after we’re done!