Gringozada

In Brazil a “gringozada” is any event with too many foreigners or gringos attending. Friday night was a gringozada. I went with one of my host sisters to the bar where one of their friends works, expecting to find a regular Dakarois club. Instead, I found myself in the kind of bar where all of the clients are foreign white men and the only locals are the service staff, i.e. exactly where I don’t want to be on a Friday night. The music was awful, mostly class rock (sorry to you classic rock lovers but I didn’t come all the way to Senegal to hear covers of “Jailhouse Rock”) although it did get better when the DJ went through a more typical Dakar set of hip hop, coupe decale, reggaeton and techno before going back to classic rock. I spent the night sitting in the corner, nursing my (expensive) beer and wondering why tourists would go so far to go to then try as much as possible to recreate home. I can understand it on an intellectual level, but sitting there in this bar that could have been anywhere in Europe except for the service staff (and even in much of Europe now, I am sure they would be people of color) it just seemed silly. If you wanted to eat the same fries with mayonnaise and drink a Stella, why not just stay in Brussels?