Articles in Guinea Bike Trip
Guinea 049
Friday February 2 6:47 a.m.
I tried to continue my journal last night but I was far too tired. I’m still tired this morning but I’m hoping a cup of coffee or two will perk me up.
I’m sitting on a tiny stool outside a small Fula hut where I slept last night. It’s odd being down here on the valley floor with the cliffs rising above …
Guinea 050
Saturday, February 3 9:00 a.m. Douki
I got kicked out of my Fula Hut by a Frenchman who showed up out of nowhere and said he was with “two women from the embassy” who needed a place to stay. This happened at the worst possible time it was already dark, I’d spent an hour cleaning up and settling in after climbing out of the valley via …
Guinea 051
Monday February 5 8:30 a.m. Telimele
Everything I do in Guinea seems to be or at least feels like an escape of one kind or another and my departure from Douki felt like much the same. The irony was that there was no need for it. As I said before, I wasn’t angry about anything. I was a trifle annoyed with the Mastermind but I couldn’t …
Guinea 052
Tuesday, February 6 8:00 a.m.
My second chicken was even more minimalist than the first. This one didn’t even come with a tomato. Just a knock on the door and a big white platter with a whole chicken planted in the middle of it. My first chicken came after a physically hard day and so I enjoyed it very much. This second chicken though was unexpected …
Guinea 053
Wednesday, February 7 8:06 a.m.
My concerns about the family’s eating habits appear to have been misplaced a result perhaps of too many late night fund raising infomercials with Sally Struthers working up throaty sobs over starving children in far flung places. I say this (quite callously I note now that the sentence stares back at me from paper) because later in the day I saw …
Guinea 054
Thursday February 8 5:23 a.m.
I had dinner with Jessica and Greg last night but it wasn’t a success. I don’t know why but conversationally speaking we didn’t hit it off. Perhaps it’s because of a difference in our ages. I’m probably twice their age. I didn’t think of that till now but I wonder if it’s much more apparent to them and they were uncomfortable …
Guinea 055
Sunday, February 11 6:30 a.m. Lelouma
I’d like to go back in time, visit every one of my informants about the road from Telimele to Lelouma, and give them each a sharp little slap. And that includes the PCV’s in Telimele. Jessica and Greg told me the road was pretty steep in parts. They also told me there were deep ruts on those steep pitches and …
Guinea 056
Tuesday, February 13 – 8:00 a.m. Labe
Every once in a while in the life of a cyclist a day comes along that is like a gift. Yesterday was such a day.
It started early for me as usual. I woke up before sunrise, did battle with the legions of spiders that had moved in on me during the night and quietly shifted my gear and bicycle …