Road Warriors

Travel in Senegal is always an interesting experience. A common form of transport is the sept-place. This is a mini station wagon fitted to the max with seats enough to accommodate seven people plus the driver. Our particular sept-place today had seven adults, two children and the driver, making for a sweltering intimate experience heading east cross country.  It was a scenic tour complete with deep potholes, pieces of missing road, monkeys crossing hand in hand, and a total breakdown of the braking system about 7 hours out. Waiting for the brakes to be fixed a local teen provided us with a news flash - 'the car broke down because it is hot.  Everybody knows this.  Africa is hot'. I'm pretty sure I was equally as insightful at that age. Thankfully things were repaired and we were soon on our way, only to stop in the next town for more brake repair. This time we offered our two cents on how to fix it (which actually solved the problem).  Onward, at least until the clutch went on the sept-place. We had to push the car to start the engine, which was no problem. The real problem was running to catch up to and jumping into the moving vehicle. Not losing my flip flops was the trick. We finally came to a dead stop about 100 feet from the border crossing to Mali, where we slept in the disabled car until morning.