This photo was taken from inside one of the many taxis we took in and around Dakar. These rides were some of my favorite memories during the trip. I saw a lot of interesting things through the window of the taxi as we weaved through traffic and dodged people and goats alike, going to the market and health centre among other places.

The taxi rides helped me define Africa for myself because there I realized that the people were not all poor and demoralized as I was led to think the one sided sources of western media. Most of the people I met, including the taxi drivers, were lively, hard workers making the best of the situation they were given. I learned a lot about the country from these drives; from asking questions in broken French, to seeing roadside billboards of the president, to looking at the various religious paraphernalia on the dashboard.

The defining moment would definitely be when four of us were taking a ride back to the ship after a tough barter for a good price. The taxi driver, who was a fairly old guy, started to sing a song off the top of his head in Arabic and jokingly I tried to imitate him. He laughed at this and before we knew it all of us were playing Arabic--sing--along with our new friend. The locals were so sociable and it was moments like this that made Senegal so enjoyable. It truly was a "world beyond our world".