Floating Will Never Be the Same

When I first decided to study abroad in Senegal one of the first attractions I learned about was Lac Rose (the Pink Lake) and this past weekend I was able to finally visit this incredible lake!  Lac Rose retains it’s pink coloring because of an algae called  Dunaliella salina that produces a red pigment and uses sunlight to create more energy.

In order to get to Lac Rose we took a crowded bus from Dakar to Rufisique (about an hour away) and then after being harassed by cab drivers and haggling our way down to a good price we hopped into two unmarked white “cabs” driven by a pair of brothers named Bass and Siri.  Many people had told us to be ready for disappointment as the lake is not always as pink like google images makes it out to be.  Suffice it to say we breathed a huge sigh of relief and astonishment when we pulled up to the lake and it was indeed pink.  The area around the lake is unlike any of the lakes you would find in the United States.  Instead of being surrounded by green trees and shade, it is surrounded by sand (isn’t everything in Senegal) and piles of salt from the lake.  This lack of natural surroundings highlights the rosiness of the lake even more actually.  Siri and Bass dropped us off at our encampment where we quickly settled into our personal 8-person tent, girls’ sleepover style.

Because Lac Rose has such a large salt content it brings a whole new meaning to the idea of floating.  You can only go into the lake for a period of 10-15 minutes and have to rinse right afterwards because the salt burns (luckily our encampment had a pool).  We were even told by one Senegalese person that women are forbidden from collecting salt from the lake like the men because it is bad for child bearing.  Nevertheless we decided to give it a try.   While in the lake we laid back to experience the ease of floating with no effort in a salty lake.  I swear floating will never be the same for me because in Lac Rose I was able to lie back and float, no problem.  About an hour later when I tried to float in the pool I decided it was not as much fun when I actually had to use my muscles.

On Sunday morning we woke early to watch the sunrise over the lake.  Although it was difficult to see the rosy tint of the lake in the early morning, the sunrise was beautiful, especially when accompanied with the men getting their boats ready for their day of salt collecting.  After packing up we called our cab friends Siri and Bass and had them pick us up to find the Keur Moussa Monastery where we could hear monk chanting mixed with Wolof chanting.  Unfortunately, it was far from simple to get to the monastery as all of the roads were blocked for paving (we found this a little ironic in Africa).  After an hour-long tour of the back roads around Keur Moussa we arrived with 10 minutes left in the monastery’s service.  Although we missed the chanting it was still beautiful and the monastery itself was full of stunning African depictions of the life and death of Jesus and even a Baobab tree with all of the Saints.

On our drive back to the bus stop I realized I have officially been in Senegal for two months now.  It is a weird sensation as I began to notice things that were once unfamiliar like the dry landscape juxtaposed with the colorful fabrics of the clothing, women carrying all sorts of things on their heads and backs, and the boutiques on every corner, have become not only normal in my mind but also comforting.  On Sunday I will leave for my week long rural visit in Tambacounda, Senegal where I will spend the week in a rural village host family with a peace corps volunteer and another girl from my program.  I am very excited to see another side of Senegalese life and also see if I can survive in the real African heat as the forecast predicts an average of 110 degrees everyday, wish me and my hydration luck!