Jumpkicks and Barracuda in Sierra Leone

After nearly nine months of service in Guinea, 7 friends and I finally made our escape, in the form of a nine day vacation to Sierra Leone. Talk about a different world! Just crossing the 100 feet of no man's land between Guinea and Sierra Leone made all the difference. On one side, there was a lady selling rice with a fishy, bony, leaf sauce; on the other, a lady selling fried chicken and cold beverages. Guess which one wasn't Guinea!

The trip started out with a bit of a hitch (shown below). Although Alison, Jesse and I had negotiated for the taxi the day before, striking a deal to deplace the taxi (meaning we'd have it all to ourselves), the driver arrived the next morning with another man in tow. Apparently, the other man was the owner of the vehicle and was determined to get a free ride out of us. After vehemently declaring we would cut the price of the ride by one ninth, the man squeezed into the middle seat next to me and we commenced the 400ish kilometer ride to Freetown, four men abreast in the middle seat. As you can see, we were quite happy with the situation ;)
Between the two West African capitals lay 20 or so barrages, or military/police "checkpoints", five of which were in Guinea, the remainder in Sierra Leone. At the Guinean barrages, we were harrassed over and over again, pestered for bribes in spite of the fact that we're living alongside these militaires in the country, working to try to make it a better place. Every Sierra Leonian official, upon learning who we were, shook our hands, smiled and told us to have a good trip. Unfortunately, they weren't quite as friendly to our paperless companion. As a consequence of a complete lack of official papers, the car owner had to get out and bribe each and every official, the whole way to Freetown, resulting in a total trip time of 13 hours and 13 minutes. Yeah, it was a pretty long trip. But worth it!

Freetown seemed to have everything Conakry lacks: sidewalks, trash collection and Faygo Diet Rootbeer. Believe it. Faygo Diet Rootbeer is sold on the streets. In a country which, only a decade ago, was torn apart by civil war, it was impossible to understand how it could appear so much more developed than it's Guinean brother to the north. At dinner the first night, I feasted on mozzarella sticks, shrimp cocktail and a bacon cheeseburger. Can't beat that.

The following day, we went into Freetown and did a tour of sorts: when we saw something interesting, we'd go check it out! Sites visited include the Cotton Tree, some 500 years old, where they used to hold the slave market, King Germaine's Wharf, where the slaves were brought in/sent out, and the National Museum of Freetown, a one room deal exhibiting old warrior masks and snake skins.

After sating our capital cultural curiosity, we hopped down the coast about an hour to the No.2 River beach. Talk about gorgeous! Mountains. Beach. Water. The next week comprised not much more than swimming, sleeping, throwing the frisbee, and sitting around bonfires. For a guy looking to unwind from the stresses of village life, this hit the spot.

Did I mention we went crocodiling nearly every day?? That's right - crocodiling. A lagoon ran behind the beach, growing as the tide came in, shrinking as the tide went out. At just the right time, the lagoon would be anywhere from 8 inches to a few feet deep: perfect depths for a crocodile. We would get in the water, crouch down, and, only moments later, transform into the terrifying, prehistoric crocodiles we all have pent up inside. As the tide went out, we would be drawn along the length of the lagoon, in our own lazy river of sorts, a team of crocodiles 5 or 6 strong, making our way to the beckoning waves of the ocean.

PICTURE INTERLUDE! Enjoy some photos of our sojourn:

The Sierra Leone flag at the border.

This little guy was always hanging around. Why not let him try on a pair of sweet shades?

On our last night, travelling back into Freetown, we encountered the Easter Monday celebration overtaking the streets. Every year, the day after Easter, the various secret societies in Sierra Leone dress up a "devil" and chase it all through the streets, "beating" it out of town. This was still going on when we left at 5:30 the next morning. The photo is taken from the balcony of our hotel on Wilberforce Street.

The Cotton Tree.

Supposedly about a million bats live in the Cotton Tree. These are just a few of 'em.

King Germaine's Wharf. The locals did NOT like it when I made my snap snaps (took pictures). I got out of there pretty quickly.

Pigs eating trash around the wharf, a site uncommon in the Muslim country of Guinea, where pigs are much harder to find.

An Anglican church built in the 1800's. Across the street is a wonderful crafts market, where I bought a hand-woven poncho and a shirt painted with a elephants. One woman really wanted to sell me something, but I really wasn't crazy about her stuff. When she asked what I wanted, I decided to throw her a curveball and said I wanted a lion's tooth. You better believe she sent that curve ball right back -- the lady had a lion's tooth! Too bad the sucker was too expensive or else I'd be rocking a fierce lion's tooth as we speak. We also saw a gnarly streetfight across from the church - one fellow hit the other with a 2x4. The second responded with a jumpkick. The jumpkick failed, he fell to the ground, everybody laughed, and the fight was over.

We got one room at the beach and pitched tents on the sand. Not a bad way to sleep.

We ate dinner on the beach every night - the choices were limited, but delicious: barracuda, shrimp or lobster.

Each night ended with a bonfire on the beach.

... And now I'm back in Guinea! After a wonderful 9 day visit from my friend Katie, tomorrow morning I'm hopping back into a bush taxi and scooting out into the void for six or seven straight weeks of village life. I won't be back online until the 12th of June, but in the meantime I have sent all of my current Africa pictures to my mom on DVD, so perhaps some of those will turn up on my picasa page before too long. Furthermore, I have invited Katie to do a guest-posting, giving you guys an outsiders perspective to this insider's life. I hope she doesn't make it look too grand ;-)

Remember, I'm just a phone call - wait, no - an e-mail - wait, that's not it either... I'm just a hand written letter and 6 weeks away, haha. Take care while I'm away!

OO-oo-OO

Hunter