The afternoon went from bright and heavy to a kind of greenish grey in about ten minutes. I was standing on the terrace of my new place in Grand Yoff, looking west toward the sea, and the air just went still. The birds stopped. Even the sound of the street seemed to get swallowed up. And then the sky opened. Not a sprinkle – a proper Dakar hivernage downpour, sheets of it, coming down so hard I couldn't see the building across the street. The thunder rolled in from the Atlantic and the whole city just hunkered down. And I thought, this is it. My last full day in Dakar, and the city is giving me a proper send-off.
So let me back up a little. This morning I woke up early, before the call to prayer, which is not like me at all. But it was my last chance to do all the little administrative loose ends that I kept putting off. I made a list on my phone – I'm a list person, it's a problem – and the first thing on it was checking the status of my CIE card. The Carte d'Identité d'Étranger. I applied for it last week, paid the fifteen thousand franc fiscal stamp, even did that repatriation deposit thing at the Caisse des Dépôts, which for US citizens is around one hundred and thirty thousand CFA. That one hurt. So this morning I walked over to the DPETV office in the Plateau to see if there was any news. Spoiler alert. No.
The woman at the desk recognised me. She gave me this look that said, you again. I asked if there was any update on my récépissé. She just shrugged and said, it takes time. Eight months, sometimes. I nodded like I understood, but my insides did a little panic. The récépissé is renewable every six months, so it's not a disaster. It just means I'll be planning my travel around that little piece of paper for a while. I said thank you, nanga def, and left before I could ask any more annoying questions. The good news is that it's a done deal. The application is in. There's nothing left to do but wait.
From the Plateau I took a Dakar Dem Dikk bus back towards the Médina. I'm getting pretty good at it now, which feels like a small victory. The buses are cheap – around two to five hundred CFA a ride – and I've figured out the main routes. I noticed they're installing these new ticket validation machines at the stops, and the conductor on my bus just waved me through without much fuss. I'm told the whole system is being upgraded, with new validation machines and fewer onboard receivers. The tickets themselves are changing, too. I'm sure I'll miss the chaos of the old way once it's gone, but I won't miss the confusion.
I got off near Tilène Market. The post-Magal calm is definitely lifting. Last week, the city felt like it had been put on pause, everyone either in Touba for the Grand Magal or just… quiet. But today, the market was back to its full, glorious noise. I wanted to buy some wax print fabric to bring home as a gift, just a metre or two. I went to my usual spot, a stall I'd been to on day one. The woman who runs it, Aïssatou, she remembered me. That's the thing about Dakar. You go somewhere twice and you're a regular. We started talking about the storm that was coming. She said, you wait, it will be a big one. The sky looks like a drum that's about to break.
She was right. I bought a beautiful piece of indigo and white bazin, paid about five thousand CFA for it, and the light had already started to change. The market sellers were covering their stalls with tarps, not calmly, but in a practised, quick way. Everyone moving as a single body. I decided to head to Soumbédioune, the fish market on the coast, because I wanted one last look at the fishing boats coming in. It's a sight. The colourful pirogues, the calls of the women gutting the fish, the smell of salt and diesel. It's real, that place. Not for tourists, even though the craft sellers will definitely find you there.
I got to Soumbédioune just as the first big drops started falling. I took shelter under a corrugated awning with about fifteen other people. Nobody seemed bothered. The fish keep selling, the rain doesn't care. I watched a man negotiate the price of a huge silver capitaine while water poured off the roof in a curtain. The whole scene turned into a kind of watercolour. And I thought about how different this is from my first day here. How terrified I was of getting everything wrong – the language, the money, the transport, the whole thing. And now I'm just standing in a fish market, waiting out a rainstorm, like it's my neighbourhood.
When the rain let up a little, I made a run for it. I knew exactly where I wanted to have my last lunch in Dakar. Not a fancy place. A canteen near the port, the kind of spot with plastic chairs and a big pot of food that's been bubbling for hours. I ordered thieboudienne. Obviously. The national dish, the rice and fish, I've eaten it maybe six times in the last week, and I still don't think I could ever get tired of it. This plate cost me about two thousand CFA, which is – let me think – about three dollars. And it was incredible. The fish was flaky, the sauce was rich with tomato and a little bit of heat, and the carrots and cabbage were soft and sweet. I ate it slowly, savouring it, while the rain hammered on the metal roof. A perfect meal.
After lunch, I took shelter in a café in the Plateau. I went to KOTAO Coffee, which has become my little haven. I ordered a cappuccino, about two thousand CFA, and sat by the window to wait out the worst of the storm. The rain was coming down in waves now, turning the streets into shallow rivers. The city's gutters were working overtime, and the taxis were splashing through the intersections. I watched a car rapide, one of those painted old minibuses, push through the floodwater, music still blasting from its speakers, everyone inside looking completely unbothered. This is the spirit of Dakar. Rain won't stop it. Thunder won't stop it.
I'd planned to visit the Museum of Black Civilisations this afternoon, but the storm had other ideas. I got an alert on my phone about a thunderstorm warning, hail, the whole thing. So I made a different plan. I went back to my apartment in Grand Yoff. I had a few errands to run online, and I wanted to test out the new BRT app that I'd read about. Apparently, they've partnered with Sonatel so you can buy your BRT tickets and top up your pass right in the Max it app. I'm told it's part of a big push to expand digital payments across the electric bus network. I downloaded it, poked around, and it seems… fine. I'll give it a real test when I come back to Dakar after the river trip.
Actually, I should tell you a bit more about that. Tomorrow morning, I'm leaving Dakar. I'm heading north, up the Senegal River valley. I've got my bag packed, my sabar drum is carefully swaddled in my new wax print fabric, and my CIE receipt is tucked safely in my passport. This week was always meant to be an orientation. A soft landing. Learn the city, open the bank account, get the SIM card, find the rhythm. And I really did find it. But the plan was never to stay. The real journey starts now.
So this afternoon, as the storm raged outside, I sat on my new floor with my notebook and tried to write down everything I've learned. Not just the practical stuff – although that matters. The fact that a monthly bus pass is around fifteen thousand CFA. That a good plate of thieboudienne will set you back about two thousand. That a short taxi ride in a yellow cab is about fifteen hundred. That the first thing you should do at the airport is buy your SIM card at the Orange store before you even leave the arrivals hall. But also the other stuff. That teranga isn't just a word for hospitality. It's a practice. It's the woman at the market who gives you an extra tomato. It's the bus driver who waits for you to run across the street. It's being invited to a family meal on your second day in a new country.
I wrote down the Wolof words I've managed to remember. Nanga def, how are you. I'm getting the hang of the responses. Maangi fi, I'm here. I'm fine. Not bad, which is the standard answer, even if you're not fine. I've learned that a sabar drum isn't just an instrument, it's a language. You can hear greetings in it. Conversations. Arguments, sometimes. I've learned that the city of Dakar is a paradox – it's chaotic and it's orderly, it's overwhelming and it's intimate. And you have to learn to hold both things at once to really get it.
When the storm finally passed, the city was glowing. The sun was setting, and the wet streets were reflecting the orange light. The air was clean and cool, and the humidity felt like a kind of pressure that was finally released. I walked out onto my terrace. The puddles were like mirrors. And I could hear, from somewhere down the street, the faint sound of a sabar drum. Someone starting an evening session. I smiled. It felt like the city was welcoming me, one more time, before I left.
I have a new ritual now. Every evening, before I go to sleep, I play my drum for a few minutes. Not a song, just a rhythm. A heartbeat. That's what Dakar feels like to me. A heartbeat. It's got its own tempo, and you just have to learn to move with it. I'm not there yet. My hands are still clumsy, and my timing is all over the place. But I'm learning. That's the point, right? To be a beginner. To be willing to sound silly. To be the one who doesn't know the steps at the sabar dance, but is dancing anyway.
So here's to the last day of the first week. Tomorrow, I get on a bush taxi and head north. But I'm leaving my heart here, just for a little while, beating to the rhythm of the rain on a tin roof. Until next time, nanga def. This is Fatou Diop, from Dakar.
And one last thing, before I go. If you're in Dakar and a storm hits, don't hide in your hotel room. Go find a doorway, a covered market, a café. Watch how the city moves in the rain. It's when you see what it's really made of. Teranga, remember. You're never a stranger for long.