Impressions Of The Republic Of Guinea

Guinea had grown on me. The rough trip from the border with Guinea-Bissau to Labé was a harsh introduction to what is actually a very nice country. The rural areas are pretty inexpensive, though not as inexpensive as in the Lonely Planet. Conakry itself is also about 2 or 3 times the Lonely Planet rates, but still cheap. It sort of has to be cheap since the largest denomination paper money bill is worth about $2. That means my pockets bulge with even small amounts of cash.

In Conakry, I'm hearing a new call. There is still the "Mon ami!" from the booth attendants in the Marché du Niger though they don't waste too much time since they are selling stuff like detergent and kitchen gadgets that tourists don't typically buy--but you never know--I'm looking for Mir Express, after all. But I'm hearing a lot "Patron! Patron! Boss! Boss!" as they try to ferret out which language I speak. It seems to be mostly the money changers doing this. The money changers are everywhere and they have to be since it's hard to deal with large amounts of money unless you have foreign currency. While they call me patron, they are always calling each other "Mon frere" ("my brother" in English though I haven't heard it in English).

I mentioned it in a previous post, but there is a lot of goodwill toward Americans here. I really didn't expect that. The security guard at the ATM of the bank had a Guinea security guard uniform, but he had an American flag patch stitched on the shoulder. I'm not sure why. The American flag motif is everywhere. The guy who had me fill out the check-in paper at the Hotel Niger is excited about Obama.

Guinea is artistic. There is a lot of public art. Big public art--an elephant at one roundabout, two huge antelope statues up on a column at the intersection near the Hotel Niger. There was public art in Labé as well.

I see these kids walking around clanging a piece of metal with a small rod. I'm not sure what they are doing.

Power is pretty unreliable. Water supply as well. And the vehicles are still in a bit a disrepair. A lot of the buses are old American school buses. I saw one that said Denton Lake Community Schools. I'm not sure which state has Denton Lake, but at least one of their old school buses wound up in Guinea.

They have roadside food vendors. The skewers look pretty good but I haven't had one yet. They make donuts, too. There are lot of people cooking on these charcoal stoves out by the side of the street.

It's the rainy season. It does a lot of the Seattle style sprinkling as well as the more traditional downpours.

I saw a kid with a new looking Reggie White #92 Green Bay Packers jersey. I saw an woman wearing an old Washington State T-shirt--I felt like saying "Go Cougs" to her, but I'm sure she wouldn't get it.

A lot of people here speak English.