From Senegal West Africa...

For weeks, months in Cape Verde people have been talking about Akon coming to Cape Verde. I was fairly certain was a rumor because other performing artists (i.e. Norah Jones) were suppose to come in the past and people bought tickets and she never showed up and they did not get a refund. Important diplomats and embassy people included. Also, rumors have an uncanny way of being started and spread here in Cape Verde both in the Peace Corps world (in which I mean volunteers and staff) and in the Cape Verdean world. People talk about everyone, your private business is never your private business. However that’s not the point of this story…

Yesterday Akon was supposed to play. Tickets had been sold for the last few weeks for anywhere from $20 to 50 USD. No volunteers bought tickets because we were all skeptical. A PCV calls me and informs me she saw Akon getting off a plane in the airport in Cape Verde. I began to get excited. Let me explain my sentiment towards Akon for all my indie scenster a friend in D.C. whom I can feel judging me from across the Atlantic, Akon is loved in West Africa. He is from Senegal and every Cape Verdean I know can not get enough of his music. Also riding in the back of a Hilux truck, blasting “Freedom,” speeding through the rolling green mountains of my town, you have feel this quintessential feelings like…Wow, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. I live in Africa. So, Akon coming to Cape Verde was a huge deal to me, just like all my Cape Verdean neighbors. I met up with some other PCV’s in a place I thought had tickets but was informed they were sold-out. PCV’s were meeting for a Halloween gathering so we went to the party. I could not give up on Akon that easily.

After debating and misgiving, another volunteer and I said good-bye and got in one of the last cars towards Praia. The car went a strange back route and stopped frequently for drunken chats. It seemed we would never arrive. Then I called another American living in Cape Verde who told me he had tickets he could sell to us. Optimism set in, we had tickets secured, we just had to make it into Praia and meet him. That might not sound like a feat but everything in Cape Verde is unnecessarily complex and drawn-out. We made it to a volunteer’s house where we would stay the night. I immediately “took some medicine” (read drank a Pirata malt beer, and yes Pirata means Pirate) because the day before I had a sharp prick (that is not the word I want but my English is hurting right now) in my foot for awhile. I had been walking around barefoot in crops because it was muddy. I stepped on a long sharp prick from a stick, which I did not notice until an hour later, after a bath. I had to have the woman I live dig it out with some random needle she had in the house. So naturally I decided to drink to feel better. We headed out to meet the American who had tickets for us.

When we met up with him, he informed us he was actually going with someone who had V.I.P. passes and extra ones. Everything was falling into place, like it does here in Cape Verde. It was uncertain as we pulled up at the concert if we were going to have to buy tickets, or would be given tickets, if there were tickets. It was certain we were way undressed for the occasion. All the Cape Verdeans were wearing tight, stretchy, flashy clothes. All the women had heels on. I had my stained jeans, tye-dye tank tops, and flip flops on. Somehow, we were allowed in. The group we were with split up but we stayed with this awesome Senegalese woman. There were free drinks…which I did not realize, I thought people were buying me drinks. It is probably for the best I did not know the beer was free. This Senegalese woman and us spoke in Creole, none of our first languages but we had some really good conversations as we waited to see if Akon would show up. I asked her about the prayer ritual and the drinking out of a blessed bottle I had accidentally participated in on Sal (turns out it’s just for good health, I am not married to a random Senegalese guy). We talked about the differences between Cape Verdean men, Senegalese men, and American men (it kind of seems like Senegalese men are the best). We talked about her children, her work, etc.

Finally, Akon came on stage. The crowd was so energetic so excited, people were screaming in Creole, French, English. He jumped into the crowd, threw water, took his shirt off. He knows how to perform. He came out in a big plastic ball and rolled throughout the crowd, guided by our eager hands. Us, our new Senegalese friends, and this young Cape Verdean girl who was holding my hand, danced and sang together. During the song “Oh Africa” I had that tingling Wow, I am in Africa feeling made all the more intense by the crowd singing, the flashing stage lights, and the sweat all over me. I lost my cell phone at some point. We tried looking on the floor but there were so many people. After he played we went to the V.I.P. sitting area, without tickets. I pretended to be looking in cleavage to find mine and was allowed to just walk by. We drank some juice and said our good-byes and headed back to the apartment we would be staying at, not before getting our new Senegalese friend’s number and promising to call her.

I woke up this morning with my foot hurting. I couldn’t go back to sleep the pain was too bad. My foot was swollen and I had pinkish red lines of infection. I called our doctor and limped in a cab to go meet her. It was so sweet of her to meet me on a Saturday. Peace Corps does not take foot infections lightly as they have a tendency to cause some major problems for volunteers. She scrapped my foot while we chatted about corn, the dam, and All Saint’s Day which is tomorrow. My foot is feeling much better now and I am still riding on the high from seeing Akon last night. I am now sitting in the PC office sweating because the AC isn’t working but its okay because 1) I have become super Cape Verdean and cold air makes me sick. Yes, I close windows in Hiaces here and 2) I am the only person here and am blasting a 311 Pandora station that would make anyone feel amazing and 3) I am waiting to go eat pizza and discuss the previous night’s festivities with other PCV’s.

Tomorrow there will be a festa/party at the dam in my town. I will go early and help the women skin (is that the word I want?) vegetables and cook food. We will cook all the dishes that use corn. These festas used to be boring but now I love them.

My Pandora station just put on “Wish you were here” and how perfect because I wish all my friends and family back home could be here right now…