Nine-hour walk, from Dakar to Lac Rose

Sunday 11 march

So this past sunday, I decided to go out of my comfort zone by getting into something most of my friends judged as simply crazy. 

Ok, I live in Dakar (Senegal) and from where I stay (Fann Résidence) to the lac Rose, it's apparently about 42 km. Basically, we left at around 6:45AM and started walking for EVER until reaching the lac, which, by the way, REALLY is pinkish.

Now, for the walk itself. It took us almost 9 hours of straight walking the coast line to reach our destination. At first, the morning chill made it quite comfortable and it almost felt too easy. The group was composed of the four people you see below + me. 

Dev, Laurence, Moses and Noémie

(picture above)

From the left, Dev (in red t-shirt) - Indian but he's actually lived in many places in Africa. He's our guide, the initiator of this adventure. Very cool and chilled guy, from my opinion.

Then, next to him, Laurence. A French girl, very nice, easy going, who's only been here for a few weeks and is not planning on staying longer than three or four months. 

Next: Moses - Ok, I thought at first "What a peculiar name for someone who clearly isn't a jew". But, that judgment quickly disappeared because I felt he was the coolest of the whole group. His life is fascinating (for the parts I understood of it). He's basically from Hong Kong, has lived in Japan for some parts of his childhood and has travelled around quite a lot. He's been in Dakar since last week I suppose, coming from Cape Verde by boat, and was in Ireland before that. He was the true adventurer of us all. It was actually nice to meet someone to truly want to live his life and allow the universe to show him the beauty of diversity and of people.

Last but not least was Noémie. She's a cool, young, French volunteer here. The first thing I noticed was her look - her hair in particular. She has a head full of thick dread locks and seems to not try to complicate life but actually live it, one day at a time, enjoying the enjoyable moments.

I guess I was the most normal of them all - or, shall I say, the most boring. My wife and mom routine certainly is not the profile one might expect from this type of eccentric, free-living group. But, I didn't ask myself and went along with the flow.

** The Walk **

The first couple of hours of the walk were actually nice. We took turns talking to one another, asking the preliminary questions to make ourselves opinions about who were our counterparts. After that, my body started to feel that this was serious business. I mean, my legs felt tingly at some point, then my lower back started hurting, then it was my right leg's turn to act up. Basically, my entire body was screaming "What the heck are you doing to me?"

I took it as a good sign that I should persevere. Challenges are always good and I was happy to know that if I felt something, even if it was pain, that it was just proof that this whole thing was worth doing. And I was right, because, once I started thinking positive, all pain stopped and everything that remained was just the bliss of witnessing "live" the beauty of nature: the beach, the blue sky, the purity of the air I was breathing, the forest, the white sand. It wasn't all perfect, because at times, there was dirt left around, dead fish corpses laying around, bones and all. But all in all, I just took it as the way nature works. With all its imperfections, I could see beauty and the magnificent work of God.

Me, white sand dunes in the background

Nine hours later, we were finally there. The lake was pink as promised. We stopped at a small hotel. It was actually quite unexpected. Like a weird oasis that normally shouldn't be there. Oh, I forgot: we were greeted by a young local guy who was just standing there, on top of the last dune, trying to see us tourist stuff. It was funny because so unexpected. I mean, how many people does he actually see coming from Dakar by foot to justify his presence and the probability that some of his stuff might be bought by one of our exhausted selves. Any who, it makes for nice anecdotes.

Well, it's pretty late now and it's time for me to hit the bed. Overall, my experience was nice and exotic. Definitely not for the woosies though. Lady, precious divas - abstain from it because you might break a nail!

Special thanks to Dev!

Camels - just chilling under the heat