Category: West Africa

Wednesday we took the bush taxi approx. 100km (60 miles) from Conakry to Kindia. Kindia is inland and maybe 1000 ft. elevation. The ride was fine except being squeezed four across in a Renault 21–a compact. Upon arrival we put our bags on our bikes and rode about 4 km out of town to what was supposed to be the nicest hotel. The hotel is fine–quiet, nice rooms, electricity at nice for the AC. We napped and then took a short bike ride back away from the road. We found a village and people working in the field. Unfortunately while talking to about 20 people in the village square (where the well is. There is very little running water here), my GPS disappeared from my bike. There were many little kids around. We told the village major what happened and he said he would look. To make a long story short we later enlisted (they volunteered) some French tourists who enlisted their local connections to make a visit to the village and offer a reward. The fear is that the little kids have destroyed it trying to get the phone/radio/game boy working. We will find out this evening. Yesterday we took a 20 mile round trip bike ride to some a nice waterfall. We were the only tourists. Louisa talked to the trinket vendor and he said the French mostly come in December and the American’s in January and February. 

Aïsha, the young lady who helped in the village became our guide for some fabric shopping. Only two pieces so far. Well, a third that was made into a shirt. We missed the bargaining because Aïsha took care of that. A good change of pace to have a guide. I suspect we will use them more here in Africa, but time will tell. It is not a problem being hassled like Asia. No is understood, but it is more difficult to accomplish some things.

Martin asked about motos as transportation in Conakry. They don’t exist there. There are a few private ones. And many shared taxis, but not enough for rush hour. In Kindai there are many motos (small motorcycles) both private and I think also to hire. We’ve been on bikes or with guide, so not positive. The motos in Kindia are quite new, so I suspect a new addition to the area. The city to city taxis are in fairly good condition, the local ones are very well used. The main roads are very good. Smooth and wide enough. Our bike ride yesterday was OK because not much traffic, a car every few minutes, occasional truck, and also motos and bicycles. Evidence of many accidents though.

At our nice hotel there are three choices for dinner, brochette (shish kabab), steak, and chicken; all with French fries, no vegetables. There are plenty of vegetables in the markets. Local fruit is practically free.

We are now in an area with mountains and forest. Some of it is quite beautiful. Tomorrow we’re going to climb Mount Gangan, something like 3000 ft. We will leave early to avoid the heat. Cooler here, but still hot and humid. It’s been partly cloudy just about every day. They come and go. We had thunder storms at night in Conakry.

We still are having some problems sleeping, not sure if it’s the bed’s, the humidity, the Malarone.

I know this is all a bit disjointed, as I’m on a slow connection, can’t see what I wrote yesterday, and I can’t remember what I wrote here and what I wrote in my notebook.

For now.

Melting. We are not used to the heat. We did finally make it to the US Embassy. It was moved a few months ago to the “suburbs.” We were looking to see if a women who worked for her uncle twenty years ago here was still working here. Her uncle, Gary, worked for USAID. As one would expect she no longer was still here.

Then we took a shared taxi to the bus station. We are leaving Conakry tomorrow. And all of you who been in third world bus stations know they are hectic. And most buses (although it looks like here it will be a shared taxi) leave relatively early in the morning. We both wanted to know where it was since we’ll probably bicycle here and also to get an idea of what we’re up against taking our bikes.

 The interesting part was that we entered by walking over a bridge, and Louisa decided to take some video. That almost immediately brought on the  (pseudo) military guy looking tot throw his weight around/collect a bribe. We tried to explain that we had a paper from the government that said it was OK to photograph. We had stopped at the tourism bureau to get the form and the guy there said it wasn’t necessary, but he zeroxed a letter saying it was OK. Our military friend couldn’t even read it, but didn’t care as it wasn’t getting him his bribe. Several people came to our aide. They are not intimidated. One guy negotiated the bribe from about $8 to about $5. It appeared as if the military guy was going to make a scene, so we gave the guy the
$4. One of our helpers pulled us aside to explain it all. He’s an accounting student. We decided to let him show us a place to eat and later where to find an internet cafe. Restaurants aren’t plentiful until evening and not always well marked, at least to the American eye. The menu was fish and rice, and a Fanta. Then to the Internet Cafe, which is somewhat airconditioned which is very nice.  i think we’re only eating about half of what we should be because of the heat and difficulty of finding a sit down restaurant.

 Yesterday we found the failings of the transportation system. We are staying about 5 km out of town, and we were ready to return about 6 pm. Crowds at every corner trying to catch shared taxis. We talked to one guy who said it was worse than usual. And we knew if a taxi showed up for our location, it would be full by the time we gained that information. We tried a few other corners and then got the idea to find a good hotel where they would certainly find us a taxi. A doorman flagged what appeared to be private car which was willing for about ten times the normal price, which considering that was about$8 and would save us at least two hours of standing around in the heat.

Last night we stopped by the apartment where the women who helped us from the airport is staying. She is shaying with a women from Dallas who is a coordinator for the Peace Corps. A very nice and large apartment. Guess one needs that if you’re working in a third world country. It would be hard to function if one was staying where we are now. No running water. No screens. Bed, but no tables. Electricity at night to run the fan.

We have seen markets for fresh fruit and occasionally bread. But little else. Obviously not a whole lot available, but there has to be more available somewhere. And the richer buy goods somewhere.

The people are friendly and helpful. I think their French is enough different from our poor French to cause us some difficulties. Some English spoken. Our student assistant and others speak good enough English to communicate.

PS. I was reminded of the setting for English keyboard which is helping.

We are in Conakry and I am typing on a French keyboard which is similar, but enough different to be confusing. I should probably use hunt and peck. We had a 16-hour layover in Casablanca. When to a large relatively new mosque on the seashore. Then to a hotel for a shower and nap. The flight took its toll, particularly on Louisa. A young women we met on the plane, here for a six week work stint gave us a ride to a hotel. We had not been able to make a reservation. The good was that we saved about two hours at 2 in the morning leaving the airport, the bad was that the hotel was twice what she thought it was going to cost andmore than we planned for. OK for adjusting to West Africa. Hotel is a sterile compound. We put the bikes together with lots of volunteer’s help. Good to be out on the street in the real world. We probably aren’t in the poorest neighborhood, but typical third world poor construction. However mqny of the women are dressed up in very colorful outfits. Shirt and top of matching pattern. Don’t know if it’s everyday or because it’s Sunday. All our baggage made it here checked straight from LA. Remarkable because on our last trip to NY, my bag was lost in both directions. Even got a full meal on our 11pm Royal Air Maroc flight. Hot and humid, but not quite as bad as I expected. More later–the keyboard is definitely breaking my train of thought. That and 8 hr time shift.

Since many of you have responded we’re now obligated to post. And since I should be packing, I’ll post. My excuse is that I was looking for information on creepy crawlies (bed bugs) and ran across some quotes.

~ And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more. –Erica Jong
~ The only risk is a risk not taken……–Unknown

The question I was trying to answer is are Silk bed liners more effective against bed bugs than cotton or fleece ones. I came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter and that silk was pushed because it sounded more luxurious.

We just received our passports back from the Malian embassy in today’s mail. Took longer than two weeks because of a payment problem.

This weekend is the opening of an exhibit on Tuareg art and music. We became aware of this show from a women Louisa has corresponded with because of her work in Niger.

More information: Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World (don’t know if this link will work after the event is over). And here is information on the opening day events, Sunday, October 29.

This should get us on a cultural start for our trip, even if we aren’t getting to the Tuareg regions for weeks.

Did I say we have six days left. And we just looked at our reservations closely and we have a full day layover in Casablanca. We hope we can get a tourist visa and visit Casablanca.

We hosted the long standing Friday Happy Hour. Since we’re missing all the year end holidays, (We won’t totally miss all of them, we just won’t be with friends. And Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.)  Louisa cooked a turkey with stuffing and other side dishes. Friends brought more food including delicious cranberry/orange zest relish and pumpkin crumble to fill out the Thanksgiving them. All the food was great. Thank you to all.

Coming down to the wire. We now have two cat sitters lined up which is good for Chloé.