The ATM Line At BICIGUI

Since I had used a big chunk of my money on the Sierra Leone visa, I decided I better go to the BICIGUI bank and take out a couple of GF200,000 tranches. As I've mentioned, the problem with Guinea is that the largest denomination bill is worth $2 and it's pretty big. I got to the bank at about 3:30 after a nap. There was a long line--maybe 20 people. Each person takes a long time because you have to put your card in (the motor sucks it in really slow), enter your PIN, do the other things you need to do to tell it to give you GF200,000, wait for it to dispense the money, take your card out (the motor pushes it out really slow), and then wait for it to be ready to take the card again. Then you repeat for the next stack of 20 two dollar bills. Repeat as often as needed until you've taken out the number of tranches of $40 you need.

Well, there I was in line and it just wasn't moving. After an initial acknowledgement, I tried to avoid looking at 2 men with polio wearing flip-flops on their hands who hang out the entrance to the bank begging for money. A girl in pink in front of me got impatient and asked me in English to save her spot as she went to run an errand. The line slowly advanced. I met the guy who translated for me at the Malian embassy. Kids were coming by selling books, phone cards, and other sundries. The girl in pink bought a knitted hat and another girl got a pair of sunglasses. The guy from the Malian embassy bought a phone card. That was the most commerce I'd seen transacted with these ambulant salespeople since I arrived in Africa.

After about a half hour there were 10 people in front of me. I had nothing better to do so I continued to stand in line. The girl in pink kept coming and going. Then the ATMs ran out of money. I wondered if this would happen. When the machine is stocked with nothing but think $2 bills and people take out several tranches of 20 each, the stack of cash must go down pretty fast. The security guard peeked into the room with the ATMs every so often to see if they were up yet. Four thirty came and the bank closed. I had hoped to be done before it closed just in case it ate my card. Five o'clock. The ATMs were still down. Then at 5:30, one went up. There were only 5 people in front of me at this point--but there were about 30 behind me. The girl in pink asked me where I was from. I told her and explained my trip. She is engaged to a British man and that is why she speaks English so well. I had though maybe she was from Gambia or Sierra Leone. But she was from Labé. We chatted about Labé since I had spent a few days there. She was impressed with my trip and happy I was enjoying Guinea. Then her turn was up. She shook my hand and went in to draw out her money. When she finished, I went in and got 2 tranches. Everything went well. I got my card back and I got my money.

After that, I decided to eat at an Indian place called Taj Mahal. I was the only customer. I got Lamb Korma, vegetarian samosas, 2 beers, and a sort of condensed milk ice cream. It came to GF90000 or US$18. It was pretty good, though not as good as The Clay Oven in The Gambia. And the beer should have been a few degrees colder. I read La Route while waiting for my food.

When I came home, I folded my money the way the Guineans do. They make little bundles worth GF50000 (US$10). One bill is folded over the top of a stack of the rest of the bills which are rotated 90°. The bills are twice as long as they are high, so when folded like this they form perfect squares. If you line up the corners where both folds come together and keep all the bills tightly compacted, it is easy to quickly pull out multiples of US$10.

August 29, 2008 19:59 Guinea local time