The MD bivouac: How to celebrate the end of the year in Dakar?

The members of the bivouac Dakar 2023 they will not forget the end of the year 2022. It is a unique day, of celebration beyond the bubble of the camp, but inside it, of maximum concentration among the participants. On the 31st the prologue stage was played and all the important stuff started playing. And on the first day, it’s time for the real fire, for the first stage argument. It seems that there is no time for celebrations between one thing and another, that it will be another day in Dakar, but finally, there are some surprises.

After the prologue, we chatted with some pilots about their plans for the night of the 31st. Things just didn’t seem to go their way. They were so involved in the race that even some of them forgot that it was the last day of the year. This is the case of Joan Barreda.

“Before, my girlfriend told me it was New Year’s Eve and I didn’t even remember. It’s been many years since we celebrated too much, but that’s our job. The next day, we wake up early, use our bodies. waking up early, today is six, tomorrow is new, five or half past five… the total Dakarian chip”, pointed out the man from Torreblanca, clarifying that he was about to go to sleep in his motorhome.

“I don’t understand the question… (we remind you that it’s December 31) Oh yeah? It’s 31! I had forgotten (laughs). I had completely forgotten that it was December 31. I’ll go to bed for Sure before the 00:00, but I hope that the team cooks a slightly better dinner than the rest of the days (laughs)”, he said. He didn’t make a mistake. At 7:00 pm (the time when dinner is served at Audi since it is a German firm), there was already a line in front of the tent where dinner was served. They lit a small barbecue and prepared potatoes and gravy to go with the steaks and hamburgers they were preparing. After that, to rest, and those who still have to work, have to continue with their obligations.

“Last year was in the hotel, waiting for the first days, but now in the bivouac, we are calm, to sleep immediately, certainly no party. We will not wait (to eat the grapes in Spain) at twelve, we will rest , and I don’t know if there will be anything unusual in the team, I didn’t even ask, but I don’t think anything is out of the ordinary,” said Carlos Sainz, who kept it a secret that his son, Carlos Sainz jr. (he came to camp at 10:00 pm).

“I don’t have a problem for today. I don’t like grapes,” said Lucas Cruz, Sainz’s co-driver, for his part.

“A strange day that is starting to become common. While some are eating grapes, we are already in the fifth dream. At Christmas I had a small celebration at home and we presented the celebration of the beginning of the year a Little. I am almost sleep I usually go to bed at 8:00 pm “, comments Lorenzo Santolino from Salamanca. However, he must have jumped out of bed when he heard what caught our attention as we entered the tent. Several repeated beeps from several trucks at 11:55 pm warned that something was about to happen in a bivouac area.

We already took it for granted that it would be an ordinary night, no celebration. It is true that dinner in the dining room of Dakar is special, with a kind of barbecue based on chicken and a piece of beef and the serving of a party hat. In the dining room and in the bivouac, many wore hats and that gave the atmosphere a unique sense of fun. They were also seen at the ‘briefing’ before Stage 1 in the central square of the camp, a special moment where all the competitors come together every day to listen to the instructions of the director of the Dakar, David Castera, about in what will be the stage of the day afterwards. There, David wished everyone a happy new year and the entire bivouac responded with applause. Then hug and congratulate. But a little more.

However, at 11:55 in the evening because of that truck’s whistle, many moved towards it from different parts of the bivouac. That’s where I met Mónica Plaza. “I don’t know if they’re going to do it, they’ve been told not to do it because they’re going to wake up the motorcycle riders, who are going to be up at about 5 in the morning.” But those guys don’t seem like they’ll stop at anything in the world. In total, there are 5 service trucks lined up. In front of him, one of his team members, with a mobile facing them to show him the time. And the countdown has begun. The students of the University of Nebrija, who participated in the improvement of the Plaza vehicle, put a Spanish accent on “10, 9, 8…”. And finally, the time has come. The traditional bells, at the Yanbu bivouac, turned into whistles. The lights were put on by the trucks with their flashes. And in front of him, dozens of people from different teams danced and toasted Coca-Cola. There is a van with one of the open sides serving drinks (non-alcoholic). And people from many parts of the world celebrate together an atypical end of the year.

But there is more. About 50 meters away, another truck upped the ante by interpreting well-known songs with its beeps. There the neighboring team members meet. The truck beeped for about 10 minutes, non-stop. Santolino, who had been sleeping since 8pm must have heard it because he wasn’t far from there. And meanwhile, in the central square of the bivouac, in front of the bonfire, ‘La Macarena’ was playing and a team of Argentines went crazy when they heard the now famous ‘Muchachos’ that accompanied Messi and company to their third cup. In a bivouac with mostly French people and a French organization, the ‘anthem’ of the three-time champion in Argentina sounded.

It’s like a party. Just a moment of relaxation in the midst of so much competitive tension. 10 minutes later, in the central square there was no sign of the celebration. Everyone is in their respective tents. Need to sleep. A few hours later, the year began with the contention of Stage 1 of the Dakar 2023.