An Afternoon in Saint-Louis, Senegal

A few years ago, I visited the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art to see a Senegalese exhibit, Good as Gold. One of the exhibits was a video presentation of The Fanal, an end of year parade in Saint-Louis, Senegal. I was so drawn by the rich culture and knew that if I ever made it to Senegal, a stop in Saint-Louis was a must.

So when I finally made it to Senegal a few months ago, Saint-Louis was the first city outside of Dakar that I visited.

 Saint-Louis is the oldest colonial city on the Western African coast. It is made up of three parts, Mainland, Island/Old City Colonial, and Fisherman Village/Guet Ndar.

Saint-Louis also known by its Wolof name, Ndar is 4 hours away from Dakar. We only planned to spend the day in Saint-Louis, so we set off bright and early.

We got to Saint-Louis at about noon, and started our adventure with a horse carriage tour.

 

We started our adventure in Old City Colonial and could immediately see the glaring traces of the colonial past.

The Portuguese-style buildings are typically two/three floors

The colonial French homes are generally bungalows

The colors of Saint-Louis...so beautiful!

We also spent some time in the Fisherman Village, the fishing community of Saint-Louis. The main occupation is fishing and this passed on from generation within the family structure.

However, fishing activities in this area has declined in recent times due to overfishing (mostly illegal)by European countries and

foreign industrial fishing companies. 

According to a study by European Journalism Centre , Saint-Louis, ministry data shows an 81% drop in fish caught since 2016!!

The western world really does get away with anything when it comes to Africa 🙄. Still, this is a vibrant community of people who work hard in their colorful pirogues to provide for their families.

These little boys came up to me and asked me to take their photo. These ended up being my favorite photos from the entire trip

How beautiful are they! That rich melanin against the blue skies is everything!

Louis Faidherbe Bridge is Saint-Louis most notable landmark. The bridge goes over Senegal river and connects the Mainland to the Island/Old City Colonial.

L'Agneau Carnivore is a bookstore that has an extensive collection of African books and art.

The entire store was a vibe.

How beautiful are these gorgeously dressed women!

 

Saint- Louis was an entire vibe, and I hope y'all enjoyed seeing this West African gem with me.

Happy Thursday!

Nike Art Gallery: Lagos, Nigeria

Hiiiiiii everyone! It has been a minute since I have been in this space. *Hides face in shame*. Hope you are all vaxed and blessed! I am fully vaccinated, and I am definitely looking forward to Summer 2021.

Anyway, now that things are opening back up, and people are beginning to travel again, I thought I'd highlight one of my favorite spots in my hometown of Lagos, Nigeria. Nike Art Gallery is the largest art collection I have come across in Nigeria. It boasts of five floors and is chock full of over 25,000 pieces of art work by Nigerian artists. Textiles, sculptures, print, paintings, beads are just some of  the things you can find at Nike Art Gallery. If you are an art lover looking to cop some pieces, you will be spoilt for choice!

Now more than ever, I have started appreciating art and I find myself constantly going back to view these pictures from my last visit. I cannot wait to go back and actually cop some pieces for myself. If you are ever in this corner of the world, you should definitely stop by.

Enjoy the photos and leave me your thoughts in the comment section!

Met up with my friend, and we were coincidentally wearing the same t-shirt! How cool is that. #girlpower

I absolutely fell in love with this metal sculpture

This was also one of my favorites. You can't tell from this picture, but the palm oil in the painting looked so real! Nigerians are a talented bunch I tell ya

Loved this too.

We also got to meet the owner, Nike Okundaye. She loved our t-shirts, and we had a very brief conversation about feminism.

Have a great weekend guys!

A bachelorette dinner in Havana, Cuba

Hey guys, in my last post, I promised to do a separate blog about the bachelorette dinner we hosted for my friend in Havana. Here goes...

Before we left North America for Cuba, I had suggested a day for us all to wear the same color and take photos. When I got to Havana, I casually scouted for a plain wall, and found a blue wall right behind our Air BnB in Centro Havana. Blue complements yellow (our color), so I was hella excited at the possible outcome of our photos. My friend who was getting married the following month was also on the trip, so the rest of us decided to throw her a surprise bachelorette dinner after the photo shoot.

When it was time to take the photos, an outburst of heavy rain ensued. Boy was I disappointed. The rain did not look like it was stopping anytime soon, so we decided to utilize an indoor space--the stairwell of our AirBNB. When we were done inside, the rain suddenly stopped, and we dashed outside for our shoot. We took a few photos on an outdoor stairs, and as we were fixing to change positions to another wall, the rain started again, and at this point we called it quits😪.

The photos were not exactly what I was hoping for, but sometimes you just roll with the punches and keep it moving. I am sure COVID-19 has taught us this too well.

The bachelorette dinner on the other hand was perfect. The bride-to-be was utterly surprised, as she had no clue. The restaurant staff at Elizalde were amazing. They let us rent out a space for free, got us a cake at a moments notice, and George, the host even serenaded the bride-to-be with a Boyz II Men song. In all it was an amazing time. 

Enjoy the photos .

Bachelorette Dinner Time

That's all folks. Have a lovely socially-distanced weekend.