Articles in Guinea Bike Trip
Guinea 001
The Guinea Journal
Sunday, December 10 2:30 a.m. Conakry
It’s early in the morning or late at night depending on how you look at it. I went to bed around midnight but couldn’t sleep. My mind was reeling with the images and activities of not just today but the previous couple of days. It’s a sensation unlike any I’ve had before. It felt like a physical assault, …
Guinea 002
Sunday, December 10, Le Club Altesse, Conakry
I must skip ahead in my story here. This is the first time I have ventured out by myself. It seems a small thing, but it is not. It’s 2:45 in the afternoon, and the full heat of the day is beating down. It stuns me to think that in a very few days, I will be out there …
Guinea 003
Monday, December 11 8:51 a.m.
I got up earlier than usual this morning (even though I had trouble sleeping last night), showered, and left the hotel. I followed the same path as yesterday except I extended it just a little bit. I walked past the place where I watched the soccer game and continued to the corner. Here taxis wait for fares and the local mini …
Guinea 004
Tuesday December 12, 9:30 a.m.
It turned out there was nothing sinister going on at the cinder block cafe. I was imagining that these men were recruiting soldiers to fight Foufana or forming their own splinter group. Such is the power of arrival disorientation. The truth was so harmless as to be laughable. The men were gambling. The cafe I’d stumbled into was a bookie’s establishment. …
Guinea 005
Wednesday, December 13 9:17 a.m.
I’m back at the same cafe, Le Club Altesse, where I’ve started most of my days in Conakry. The short walk to get here does not overwhelm me anymore. Certain things – the people, the roads, buildings, colors, smells and sounds – are falling into familiar patterns so that it doesn’t hit me all at once and my mind has begun …
Guinea 006
Thursday, December 14 9:00 a.m.
My first bike ride was a success in every way and I feel like the arrival portion of my journey is coming to a close. My Guinea has suddenly increased in size from the few blocks in my neighborhood which I’ve learned is called Taouyah to all of Conakry 1, 2 and 3 which covers about ten kilometres of the end …
Guinea 007
Friday, December 15 11:15 a.m.
I changed my pattern today and went out into Taouyah before my morning coffee. It was still cool and I wanted to take a look at the Taouyah market. Silly me I thought I’d already seen it – the row of stalls lining the main road. But yesterday Sundar sent the young boy who works at his shop off to the …
Guinea 008
Saturday, December 16 4:50 a.m.
My second trip to see the rooms that are available for rent was strange but probably fairly typical for Guinea. At least I was the only one who seemed to find the process a bit unusual.
I went to Marie’s small apartment at 6:30 as we’d arranged. The small door into the compound was open and I just walked in. The yard …