Sunday, December 31 – 2:30 p.m. Mambiya I imagine somewhere in the world there is a place more grim and dismal than the tiny room that was produced for me in Mambiya but I’d hate to think what it would be like. A Turkish prison perhaps? I could have continued on and completed the final…
Saturday, December 30 8:00 a.m. I came across Ali around 6:30 last night sitting in the chair of honor in the semi dark outside his house. He said that he had fallen sick to his stomach and so hadn’t been able to have dinner with me. It was a particularly believable tale because I had…
Friday, December 29 8:00 a.m. Without a guide like Ali my learning curve flattens considerably but even just hanging out I pick up on things. I keep my eyes open, watch, and take mental notes. Last night my search for food went beyond L’Oriental “where all the tourists go” because it was closed. I walked…
Thursday, December 28 8:10 a.m. Waiting for Ali to show up or not last night I listened to the BBC and there were two reports on Guinea. One story reported that ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) had decided to send 1500 peacekeeping troops and monitors to patrol the borders between Guinea, Sierra Leone,…
Wednesday, December 27 8:00 a.m. I haven’t been able to find out as yet if the boy was seriously hurt or not. No one seems to know about that accident but me. Either the boy was not hurt at all (from my vantage point that seemed very unlikely) or such accidents are so commonplace they…
Tuesday, December 26 2:00 p.m. Perhaps it was the Christmas spirit, perhaps it was the bicycle, perhaps everything I’ve read and everyone I’ve spoken to is wrong but I had no problems whatever cycling the remaining twenty-three kilometres to Coyah. Even the dreaded kilometre 36 roadblock at the Dubreka/Coyah junction was as pleasant an official…
Monday, December 25 8:30 a.m. Christmas Day in Guinea begins with the usual long, involved discussion about breakfast of which I understood nothing. Part of the problem is my poor understanding of spoken French but most has to do with something I still don’t understand. The way I’m perceived as a foreigner perhaps. Or a…
Sunday, December 24 9:00 a.m. To my horror Conde wormed his way back into my life and into my thoughts yesterday. It was spectacularly bad timing because I had plans to leave Conakry this morning. I’d had my laundry done. I was saying my goodbyes to Sundar, Bob, and the family at La Vina, and…
Saturday, December 23 The build up and the walk to the cinema was certainly more entertaining than the movie itself which was a standard conspiracy flick with corruption going to the highest levels of government. Ivory Keenan Wayans was the fall guy and fought back and won only because of his commando training. Oh yeah,…
Friday, December 22 9:00 a.m. I seem to have been unusually lucky in terms of the police. I’ve ridden my bike all over Conakry and haven’t been stopped once by anyone for an ID check or bribe scam. Angie was very surprised to hear this. She won’t even go to the Madina market because she…
Tirugondar 