Guinea-Conakry

Ah, Guinea...what can we say? We were welcomed to the country by a nice woman in the airport wanting a bribe. Steve was singled out at customs. At this point in our travels this was a novel concept. In the latter stages of our trip we could look so confused and clueless that the briber would often become frustrated enough that they would allow us to pass without giving up any money, this, however, was Steve's first experience with bribery on the international level. He played the part quite convincingly since he really did not understand what she meant by "gift for me." It was funny because we ended up simply picking up the bags and walking away. As a girl we met at the Peace Corps house later that week said when she arrived from the airport (she was arriving from Moscow, where they know a thing or two about demanding a bribe), "that's not how you demand a bribe!" True.

There are many third rate dictatorships in the world but this one is particuarly creepy. Each evening the new president comes on t.v. in his red baret and fatigues looking remarkably like Chuck from the Riverbottom Nightmare Band complete with entourage of cronies (although Chuck is well known enough to Muppet fans that he need not where a nametag) and speaking with a similar frightening tone. This may be completely normal for the Guinea PCVs but for those of us from Mali, it was a bit unnerving. Granted, most people don't get to enjoy his nightly rants without a generator due to the fact that the country he is running has no power, including the capital. There are plenty of drugs and humans trafficked through his territory, so at least something is coursing through the country, if not electricity.


Natalie and Sam being sufficiently creeped out by his nightly speech:











We quickly decided that Conakry was not a place that we would like to hang out in too long, although the Peace Corps digs there were first rate with a sweet beach bar close by. We tried, unsucessfully, to get our visas for Sierra Leone straightened out. We also checked out the town a bit in the daylight hours.





We had been to the coast in Dakar but it was too cold and near Conakry was too dirty to swim. In fact, we had been warned against even touching the water unless we didn't mind contracting any flesh-eating diseases. We preferred to avoid that, if possible.






We needed to swim! So we headed out to the islands off the coast. It was pretty eerie on our way out there in our pirogue because there was a ship graveyard on the way out. Apparently, people pay to trash their ships there and the Guineans sink them just off shore. It made for a pretty cool boat ride. Finally, we had reached a beach where we could swim.

We decided we'd had enough subtle, or not so subtle, police and military intimidation and we headed for the border of Sierra Leone, sans visas. Steve and Mark ended up being arrested at the border trying to exchange money at the frontier but they were released a few hours later. No story there; on to Sierra Leone...