Week 8, Guinea and Sierra Leone

January 31, 2024

December, 13th:

Rose at 7.20, breakfasted, did my laundry, updated blog texts, but ...

No publishing, since there is no Internet all over the country (rumors say that since the 29th the government has closed all social media and wifi, so ... week 6 will be published late again)

Going to get my guitar and play a little ...

Jordan even made a small movie ... with sound ... *blush* ...

Funky guitar stuff

Checked out this town in the afternoon with Andy ... not much to see to be honest and so we returned after an hour or so and went for a cold soda.

Waiting for diner while chatting, gaming and a beer. Soup for diner was lovely.

Chatted the evening away, but since i was very tired i went to my tent by 9 for an ST episode and a good sleep...

PS: we are a bit above sea-level here, so temperatures are fairly pleasant, even cold at night and early morning ...

December, 14th:

Rose at 7.30, breakfasted, and a full morning for myself ahead. Love that actually. Group process is showing some cracks ... subgroups seem to be on their own more and more ... i can deal with that but some do not like that at all ...

Anyway, i will repeat yesterdays morning: updating blog, shower, play guitar ...

In the afternoon we (= my new cook-group (Lauren, Aussie Dave and I)) will go to the market to get some beef and vegetables (it s available here at a very good price).

...

Dave and Lauren went to do the shopping themselves, since everybody got back very late. It gave me the opportunity to jump in with today's cook group and help them out.

Drank a last beer with Andy and went to my tent round 9, for an episode an a sleep.

December, 15th:

Rose early, breakfasted and on our way to <name> to get our Ivory Coast visas. 2 nights of bush camping/campsite ahead.

We arrived in Dalaba early, so we could do some extra shopping for cook group. It went so slow, that it annoyed me ... but hey, it's Africa, so i should slow down and relax a bit (as Dave made clear to me ... and he was right).

On the way back i got lost and made an extra km or 2.

At 15.30 we started cooking. Very extensively: bread, potatoes and beef on the BBQ, lattice, tomatoes, spicy yogurt dip, banana-bread, you name it, we cooked it...

At 8, all was eaten and put down. Some of us went for a bar (a shed basically), but i decide to call it a day and slept good.

December, 16th:

Rose at 5.15, packed my gear and setup kitchen for breakfast.

Left at 8, for 100K's or so over (at first) a bumpy road again.

Had lunch in a small town (Mamou), where we talked to some very friendly teachers from a local school up there ...

Then on it went to the waterfall of Voile de la Marie, where we will bush camp...

Best bush camp ever!!

The waterfall was the best shower imaginable ...

Diner was good, and Andy, Rasjhree and I drank a very nice Portuguese red wine. Slept like a log, but ... diarrhea ... again!! So fed up with that.

Anyway, i managed with a pill and slept good.

December, 17th:

Woke up at 7.30 or so.... toilet au naturel, to empty myself as good as possible. Let's see how that goes ....

Breakfast with turning bitches (wentel teefjes), and an extra relaxing hour before we would leave for the peninsula of Conakry, where Cloe will get our Ivory Coast visas ... hopefully.

See you there ....

Did an extra bush camp in Guinea in an open field. The local kids couldn't believe their eyes (again).

December, 18th:

Rose and breakfasted late because ...

Both following cars and Cloe and Lauren went ahead of us to get our visas in Conakry.... or so we thought ...

There was a huge explosion that night and the embassies were all closed (what are the odds??), so we met at the border, but without the visa stamps for Liberia and Ivory Coast ...

Luckily we could get a visa on arrival for Sierra Leone ...

Crossing the border into Sierra Leone went smooth ... we were welcomed so hospitably!