Pretty(ish) in Pink(ish)

There is a lot of pink in our Dakarois life.  

We live in a pink house with pink curtains and pink towels,  rented from a woman named, appropriately, Rosie.  We can't make this up.

Continuing the rouge trend, this weekend we headed two hours northeast of Dakar to Le Lac Rose, the pink lake.

This lake is actually pink.  Lac Rose is a dirty reddish white from the mix of incredible salt content (40%) and cyanobacteria found in the water.  At the south end of the lake is a small community of salt harvesters and those who make their living off of the pink lake tourism. We were definitely the activity of the day for the local children, which was actually quite fun for all of us. 

Dozens of salt harvesters dredge the lake with salt baskets, pulling out wet lumps of gray-white salt, which is then mounded along the water's edge in crumbling ten foot salt pyramids.  Besides peanuts, salt is one of the few staples that is able to be produced in-country in Senegal.

While in their small boats, the salt harvesters use a salve of shea butter to protect their hands and arms from the corrosive effects of the salt -- which is understandable considering that after a short drive around the lake in an old WWII military jeep (no pink Cadillac for us), we could actually lick the salt off of our lips.

As we rounded the lake, we veered off over a sand dune and found ourselves right at the Atlantic ocean again -- more salt, but less pink, oh and a few more camels.