Magalee ak jam - Have a safe pilgrimage

Today is the Maggal, the annual pilgrimage undertaken by members of the Mouride brotherhood to the city of Touba in Senegal. It's been the talk of the town for the past week. Members of the brotherhood have been preparing to leave (and asking us why we're not going) and everyone else has been talking about how hard it is to get around Dakar.

It seems like a good majority of all automobiles make their way to Touba this week. These include privately-run Car Rapide and Njaganjaay buses, potentially private (I'm not sure) TATA buses, taxis, and apparently even public Dakar Demm Dikk buses. And if the cars and buses haven't gone, then their drivers have. That's because people are paying to cram into any moving vehicle available to make their way to Touba, the holy city.

This leaves Dakar feeling like a different town entirely. It feels a little desolate. There are still plenty of people around, and cars on the street, but somehow the in-your-face, overwhelming energy isn't quite there. Half the storefronts have their metal doors rolled down. Wind gusts through town and sand slithers across the street. The buses don't come - Amy waited more than an hour each way going to her dance lesson yesterday. When the buses do come, they inexplicably refuse to stop to let you on, or they're already so full, people are hanging out the door almost dragging their toes on the road.

I haven't got much done today - it took an hour just to find an open cyber café - but I feel like I don't have to accomplish much. It's a pilgrimage for the Mourides, and a sort of laid-back early Sunday for everybody else. As for what's happening in Touba, I can only guess.

The grand mosque in Touba, built by several generations of Mouides.

Note Mouride members make up a huge portion of Senegal's population, making the brotherhood hugely influential, politically, economically, and culturally in Senegal. It's said they control almost the entire peanut production chain in Senegal (peanuts are the primary export crop). The city of Touba is governed autonomously by the Qadifa leadership. It's also often quoted that a NYPD survey found that Mourides sell over 90 percent of watches and perfume on the streets of New York.