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Published: December 28th 2006
There were 35 or 40 volunteers in the Conakry house for the holidays. There were not enough beds for everyone and we kept running out of water, but it was nice to see everyone and eat good food. In the TV room, Love Actually was viewed about a half dozen times. We got the broken stereo working and played a few chrismas CDs on repeat. A few people's families had sent them Christmas decorations, so we had a mini tree, a string of lights, a stuffed snowman, and a couple of santa hats.
On Christmas Eve the sun was hot, so we took a swim in our director's pool. That evening he had us over for beef stew, good salad, and real beer. We watched football on his satallite TV, played cards, and hung out for most of the evening.
On Christmas morning, we packed our beach bags and piled into taxis to go the the port in Conakry. There you can take a brightly-colored, kinda-seaworthy boat taxi to the islands off of the city. We went to Roume, the less-populated island. We were dropped off on the beach and walked a short distance to a small resort on the other side of the island. There, the mostly-rocky shore gave way to a soft, sandy beach dotted with thatched shade huts. The water was bright blue, clean, and beautiful. With the palm trees, peace and quiet, and the cleanliness it felt like we were far away from Conakry for the afternoon.
After a day of swimming and relaxing we piled back on to the boat taxi and headed back to Conakry. As we docked, our boat driver ran us into another boat taxi hard enough to scare the crap out of his already-nervous passengers. No one else seemed to react, they just grabbed on to the boat and instructed us to climb out of the boat on to a narrow concrete dock that sat just below the water level. The port reeked of wet garbage as we pushed through a small crowd of market vendors and fought for an overcrowded taxi. We were back in Conakry.
The days since Christmas in the volunteer house have been marked by group dinners, card games, movies, latenight dance parties, and a keg of the cheapest beer in the world. Five of us are planning a trip to Freetown, Sierra Leone, leaving tomorrow. The trip is only about four or five hours by taxi, but we're expecting to spend several hours being hassled at the border by corrupt Sierra Leonean border patrol agents. We're not sure how much bribe money to bring.
I'll be back in Conakry on the 3rd or 4th and I'll let you know how the trip goes. Until then, Happy New Year!!!!
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Aunt Judy
non-member comment
"Happy New Year"
Wishing you a very happy and healthy new year, Rosemary. It's almost sad that I don't have EXCITING THINGS TO WRITE ABOUT like you do. It's life as usual, which I suppose at times you long for. Anyways, stay safe, positive, and happy like it seems you are!! Best of everything, Love, Aunt J