March 27, 2023.   Senegal Redux.

This past weekend I was back at the Pullman hotel in Dakar, Senegal, for the first time in a decade. (The Pullman — specifically its old room service menu — makes a cameo in chapter four of my book, some of you might recall.) It was mostly the same as I remembered, except for one thing.

As in the old days, we all got rooms on the east side of the building. Riding up the elevator I was excited, remembering those wonderful views of the harbor and Goree Island. But a surprise was waiting.

The top photo shows the view from my room in 2009. The lower photo shows almost the identical view in 2023. Speaks for itself. Progress or something.

The curved building with the triangular top is an old property that I once nicknamed “the Graham Greene Hotel,” because it reminds me of the sort of place where the famous novelist would have stayed, making journal entries in a sitting room with potted palms and a ceiling fan. I was pleased to see it’s still there, and looks like it’s been renovated.