Impressions Of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is my most pleasant surprise. Whereas I had no impressions of Guinea and was pleasantly surprised by it, I did have impressions of Sierra Leone and its recent history was not very good. What I found is that Freetown has the best energy of any of the cities I've visited. The market area between the PZ and the Clock Tower can only be compared to the French Quarter on Mardi Gras. It's thick with people, merchants, and vehicles trying to work their way through the throng. There is wonderful food and every item you can imagine. I love it and regret that I can't stay longer. I think I'll return to Freetown and see more of Sierra Leone sometime in the future. Sierra Leone actually lets you email a scanned image of your passport and then emails you a visa to print out. It works at the airport, but I don't know if it works at the border, so I just used the embassy in Conakry where I paid double what it costs the email way.

There are churches of every type here. It's supposedly 30% Christian, but it's like a city in the Deep South with all the churches.

The ambulant salesmen so common in all the cities I've visited so far are virtually absent here. There are a lot of money changers, but no ambulant salesmen. Instead, the small merchants set up on the sidewalks. It seems a much more efficient way to sell stuff. After all, if I want something, I'd rather know where to find it than to wait for a merchant with the item to walk by.

Sierra Leone seems to have the same problem as Guinea--the largest circulating note is worth about $3. That means you carry wads of cash. At the bank, a guy made a withdrawal and got a stack of bills about 6 inches high. Based on my money, $130 is about 1/3 of an inch. So 3 x 6 x ~$130 is about $2340.

You see a few war wounded walking and hobbling around. Sierra Leone had a vicious civil war recently. The UN is here to keep the peace as well, though I'm not sure of their status right now.

English is the colonial language and even when people speak their native language, it is peppered with English.

Sierra Leone street food is delicious. And it's cheaper than restaurant food. Since it's recognizable and the merchants all speak English, it is much more accessible to me. My fried chicken last night was delicious though cold. And I saw a guy scooping hot chunks of meat into a freshly purchased baguette, so you can mix and match your street food options. I could make a pretty good fried chicken sandwich, for example.

Traffic sucks. I guess the problem with nice places is that traffic follows the people wanting to go there. Then because all the cool people are there, more people want to come.

There is more energy in the street here than other African cities. A smaller portion of the population is idle and/or lethargic.

The police wear nice blue uniforms.

The colors of the flag are very pleasing. A sort of light marine blue and a bluish green. Much nicer than the red, yellow, green of the other parts of West Africa.

Freetown is hilly. The parliament is up on top of the hill just to the south of downtown. Off in the distance there are hills dotted with houses. It looks really nice.