Articles in Guinea Bike Trip
Guinea 033
Friday, January 12 8:15 a.m.
The plan was to spend only one night in Linsan and cycle to Mamou today but the plan has changed. “J’ai beaucoup de temps” has become my motto repeated over and over again to Guineans querying me about my slow moving bicycle. And with lots of time on my hands I might as well stay in Linsan a day and see …
Guinea 034
Saturday, January 13 1:38 p.m.
The turtle lives. I moved a scant twenty kilometres down the road from Linsan before I decided to call it a day. I thought I was in Konkoure, the only town on my map between Linsan and Mamou, but in fact I’m in Tamagaly. (Though of course that depends on who you ask and how you ask. I could be in …
Guinea 035
Monday, January 15 8:00 a.m.
I can add bed bugs to my list of pseudo new experiences. I thought I’d seen them, experienced them before but obviously before Guinea I hadn’t. I didn’t notice them in the night shift room when I was there in Tamagaly. That’s one of the considerate things about bed bugs. They have a very light touch and their bite is painless. …
Guinea 036
Tuesday, January 16 2:41 a.m.
I was having trouble sleeping and decided to get up and have one of the world’s best cheese sandwiches. It’s very good. Unfortunately most of the mosquitoes in Mamou have decided to join me. They’re the small, soundless ones with the really savage bites. Their anti coagulant produces a much stronger allergic reaction than that of the big hairy mosquitoes. I’m …
Guinea 037
Thursday, January 18 7:39 a.m. Dalaba
The dreaded cold that everyone warned me about has so far turned out to be more myth than fact. I find it quite mild this morning. Mamou felt much colder. Of course that could be just a question of the difference between a cold bucket bath and an actual hot water shower. And the Tangama Hotel is based on courtyards …
Guinea 038
Saturday, January 20 8:04 a.m.
My legs are a pleasant surprise this morning. Jason and I went on a six hour hike yesterday that was a bit more than either of us had bargained for and I thought that my knees would be seized up or my leg muscles cramped. But the only aftereffect is a pleasing tightness in the thighs and calves. I have to …
Guinea 039
Sunday, January 21 7:46 a.m.
Dalaba is supposed to be a place of “beauty and repose” but though I appreciate the town’s scenic qualities I can’t quite master the repose part. I’m not sleeping well. I spend the whole night aware of the pillow and sheets and the squeaking headboard and I can’t sleep past 6:00 a.m. even though I’m quite tired.
I don’t think it’s anything …
Guinea 040
Tuesday, January 23 3:13 p.m. Ditinn
I asked Michel, the owner of the spotless and well run Tangama Hotel, if there was a hotel in Ditinn. A pained look came over his face. He had to admit there was a hotel there but he didn’t want to. “It’s not clean,” he finally said.
And it’s true. It’s not clean. In fact it’s spectacularly dirty. And my room, …