I had the day to myself, free to do as I pleased, so I decided to head out into the city and check off a few more things from my “Dakar Bucket List.” Aside from two hills, locally known as “les mamelles,” the city of Dakar is very flat. On one of these hills is the Monument to the African Renaissance, the tallest statue in the world. And on the other is a lighthouse. I have already visited the monument, so today I thought I would check out the lighthouse. This turned out to be a fabulous decision. Although I had to climb the relatively steep hill on foot under the blazing African sun, the view from the top was worth it! Nowhere else can you find a 360° panorama of the city like this! After I had finished admiring the view, I descended the hill and then took a taxi downtown. My first stop was the Musée Théodore Monod, the most well-known African art museum in the country. The museum’s exhibits displayed works from all over Africa. Masks from Mali, jewelry from Gambia, weapons from Niger, and even the door to an ancient cult from the Ivory Coast. My next objective was to find the Canadian embassy. This actually took longer than it should have because Google Maps lied to me about its location. I ended up having to stop at a café to use their wifi in order to consult the Government of Canada website about the embassy’s location. Ironically, the café I stopped at was a Canadian franchise! It didn’t take long to find it after I had verified its actual location. I soaked in that little piece of home as I took a tour around the embassy. There wasn’t much to the place. It was small, simple, welcoming, and not nearly as extravagant as I imagined the American embassy would be. (This was later verified when I passed the US embassy on July 22.)
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