Happy New Year!

With a thick layer of dirt and my hair feeling like straw, after getting through what seemed like a million border checkpoints, we got back to the PCV house in Conakry finding again a houseful of volunteers and no open beds. Luckily, there still is water, so I took a nice hot shower and feeling all refreshed from my ride back from Freetown, Sierra Leone.

We had left on the 28th, spent a whole day in the car and got in Freetown just before it got dark, checked into the YMCA in downtown Freetown. I had changed about 100000 FG (guinean francs) into about 43000 SL (sierra leonian) at the borders, but that was just enough to pay for the hostel room for the night. There was a reliable person at the YMCA who helped us to change about $200 in the street to 600000 SL since all the banks were closed by the time we arrived. Actually changing money here in Africa are mostly done on the street where one can usually find a better rate and no service charge. The only time one is able to change FG into dollars or euros at a bank is when one can furnish an airline ticket out of Guinea and a passport, because according to the bank why would anyone need to convert their FG into dollars or euros (short of the daily devaluation of FG).

It is amazing how after 10 years of civil war, Freetown looked nicer and more structured than Conakry. For starters, there is definitely more infrastructure of roads and electricity. The "state road" on the Sierra Leone side is much wider, smoother and less pot-hole infested compare to the "state road" on the Guinea side. We also saw much much less "wild life" strolling on the road in Sierra Leone. I really meant domesticated wild life like cows, sheeps, goats and chickens. Driving in the state "highway" in Guinea, one must acquire the skills of navigating through a obstacle course of pot-holes and live-stocks on the road. In Sierra Leone, there are plenty more road signs, street signs, sidewalks and even crosswalk markings. Some establishments have actual street address like we do in the states, unlike in Conakry, where an office or private residence doesn't have a street address, just a post box number and the neighborhood it belongs. In Freetown while riding in a taxi or walking down the streets, one other PCV who is with us couldn't help awing at all the street food and a large selection of consumer products. For 4 days, we overdosed on fried chickens and fishes. They were so good, tasty fried breaded skin and tender meat, and they are everywhere. I've never seen fried chicken being sold on the streets in Conakry. And even if there is fried chicken being sold, they probably don't have much meat on them. Chickens in Guinea are scrawny. I hope that I've eaten enough meat to last me for a month.

What other things in Freetown really stood out in my mind?
1. There are tons of churches. Apparently 40% of population in Freetown is Christians, lot more than that in Conakry.
2. More young women and girls are in western clothing and more skimpy skirts that show a whole lot more legs.
3. Normal capacity of 4 passengers in a taxi, not like in Guinea, 6 passengers + the driver in a taxi.
4. Feeling that things are expensive. The price "sticker" are in the same amount except in Sierra Leonie which is 2 times more valuable than FG. So we were constantly multiplying all the prices by 2 to determine how much we would be paying in FG. I heard in Dakar, Senegal, the price is 10 times that of Conakry since CFA is much more valuable than FG. PCV in Senegal can save up to buy a ticket to go home, and us, we would be lucky to save some money to fly to Dakar which is around $250.

After spending first night in Freetown, we headed south along the coast to a beach resort that most of the expats, westerners and guinean PCVs go to, called River #2. Funny name, but it was absolutely beautiful. It was only 1 hour away from Freetown, but the trip was broken into 3 legs, with the first two legs us riding in beat up minibus with other Sierra Leonian bumping our heads and butts in the bus due to the dirt roads, then we had to wait around for over an hour at the second stop hoping some random car passing by will be willing to take us down to the resort. We ended up charter a mini-bus for the three of us and paid 10 times more than what we would pay if the bus wasn't chartered. All the hassle on the road was well worth it, though. The beach is pristine. Like the nice beach in the carribeans, but without the touristy feel and has unspoiled natural beauty. I spent a lot of time staying in the ocean and contemplating the dramatic scenery of mountains soaring into the sky.

The hotel rooms were simple but clean, and right on the beach. Each night, we went to bed listening to the soothing sound of ocean wave. There is a tiny village by the resort with people living there mostly working in the resort. We had some even better fresh off the hot oil fried chicken from this lady in the village. Yummy! The food from the restaurant of the resort is kind expensive to us poor PCVs, but I treated myself to 2 meals of oh so tender crab and baracuda. New year was rang in on the beach as well. We kept ourself warm by a bonfire and listened to dance music coming out a "disco club" in the small village.



All wonderful vacation has to come to an end, and we headed back to Freetown on New Years day. The capital was rather deserted, and we found strolling around rather easy and much more pleasant than walking in Conakry. I have acquired a hobby of buying fabrics ever since I came to Guinea, well I say hobby is because I would keep buying fabrics and can never decide what I want to make out of them. There are some type of fabric in Sierra Leone that can't be easily found in the Guinea, so we each picked up a few. Then we headed to a restaurant by a beach at one section of Freetown, and it was packed with locals enjoying the turning of new year. It was outdoors and nice, good mix of locals and expats, and I felt like I was back in southern california.