Mamou To Kankan

I woke up after a great sleep. I slept from about 5:30pm to 7am. Straight through. I woke up at 10:30 and didn't know if it was am or pm. It was pm. I was confused, but I realized that my lights were on. I had eaten a can of spaghetti, so I was OK hunger-wise. I had had a dream that I received a letter from the American embassy stating that I had a legal right to lie to the customs police in Africa. I packed and headed out. The guy to pay was washing a floor so I gave him GF60000 (US$12) and headed to the gare voiture a few steps away. A guy seeing me asked if I wanted help with my luggage, but I explained I was just going to the gare with the cars to Kankan, so he left me alone not able to get any money out of me.

At the gare, I went straight to the car and paid GF80000 (US$16). There were already three people with tickets and they took seats in the back. This was not a sept-place. It was a Nissan Sunny. It can hold 4 comfortably. So that means, they'll fit 6. The ticket man asked where I'd like to sit and I chose my favorite seat--the front seat against the door. Actually, I like any seat against a door, and the front was the only one left. But I like the view. So I got the best seat. Yesterday I had the worst seat for hours--the seat next to the guy in the front seat. There you have to sit on the edge of the bucket seat, left ass cheek hanging over the emergency brake, legs cocked to the right. I felt sorry for the poor sap who would get that seat. ;-)

They took my computer and put it in the back with my backpack. More and more people came. A SoTelGui (sort of the AT&T of Guinea) truck came and unloaded a big piece of equipment that got priority in our Nissan. So all the stuff came out the equipment went in and the stuff went on top. Then they tied down the hatchback with a stretch of broken rubber belt. Then 3 soldiers came. I watched as the head one got a shoe shine from a boy. Everyone had luggage and people were coming and there were more people than seats. They kept unpacking and repacking. Eventually, I retrieved my laptop since it was getting close to being in a crushing situation.
The car repositioned. I went to the new location. Then I got in and it came back. More dawdling. Then with 4 people in the back and me alone in the front seat, it took off. There was a guy waiting there and 3 soldiers left behind, so I wondered what was going on. Well, it turned out we were just gassing up. A few minutes later we returned. The guy got in the driver's side and squeezed from the left, while I got out. A man explained something I had feared. When a Guinea soldier rides in a sept-place, he always gets the front seat against the window. So I found out who the poor sap would be with the worst seat--me. But, actually, I only had the second worst seat. The guy to my left was literally crammed into the space between the bucket seats. About 50% of his ass was over the emergency brake, another 35% in the drivers seat, and the remaining 15% in the passenger's bucket seat where I and the soldier were.

The commanding officer was angry with the ticket man because the car is supposed to carry 6 and it would carry 7 (not counting the driver). But, it sounded like it would only be like this until Dabola. He tried to have them put my computer in the back, but they didn't seem to secure it well and when I explained it was and ordinateur portable qui est facile à casser, the soldier made them give it back to me. Lonely Planet put Mamou to Dabola at 2 hours. We left at 9:15. The road was horrible--it took 3 hours. Three hellish hours. With all the potholes and cattle and goats the driver was down-shifting and up-shifting constantly. Every time he shifted, the guy in the middle had to adjust his legs, one positioned on the drivers side which he had to make sure was out to of the way of the gas and brake, the other on our side with my 2 feet and the soldier's 2 feet. He threaded the scattered cows with skill and grace, but one of these days he's going to clip a cow.

We stopped for a bathroom break and had to get back into our horrible seats, but my ass got a bit of reprieve for a while.

We finally arrived in Dabola. Whew. I was hoping the soldier only needed to go here. But, no, it was the guy in the middle. So I got the worst seat while he got the best seat. Oh well.
The road got a little better after Dabola. Not too much better, but enough to notice. There were fewer cows and longer stretches of highway without potholes, but still a lot. I saw a monkey. Then a bit later, a boy carrying a stick with a monkey, arms bound and legs bound, hanging from the stick. The monkey's eyes and mouth were open but I couldn't tell if it was alive or dead. I saw the prettiest bird I've ever seen--neon red head, neon orange breast, and pitch black wings and tail. Then another monkey.

We stopped for gas. The pump was a modern style pump, but there was no electricity, so they had the front panel off and a crank attached to the electrical motor. The gas station attendant, cranked--with some difficulty--20 liters of gas. It costed GF14000 (US$28). We were there about 20 minutes. The soldier had a cold Coca-Cola. Then we all got back in. The road was good and bad in stretches. Then at about 4pm, we entered a town 83km away from Kankan and had to turn left. As soon as we turned left, the road was excellent. We reached speeds of 130km/h whereas we had been going between 20 and 40km/h previously on much of the road. It was glorious. The stones on the side of the road ticked off every 5km. 80, 75, 70, 65, 60. Still going strong. 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10. Now were were getting close. The population density increased dramatically, we slowed down a little, but mostly, the driver laid hard on the horn so we could continue our highway speeds.

Finally we got the Kankan gare. It was 4:45. That's a 7.5 hour trip in the most discomfort I've had so far. I got out and recovered the use of my legs. A guy asked if I needed a moto-taxi. I asked how much to the Baté Hotel. He quoted me GF5000 (US$1). Seemed high, but I agreed. I got my backpack, secured it to my body, and we headed to the moto-taxis. An older guy who is like a dispatcher or something tried to up the price to GF10000 in English, but I told him we already agreed on a price. He said there was a problem with the motorcycle and needed a part from Honda and that he couldn't accept less than GF8000. I told him we agreed on 5000. He pointed at some part and said he needed a new one of these so he needed GF7000. I started to get off and said I would just walk it. No, no, OK, GF5000. I won. It was a hard ride with my heavy backpack. The ride was long and my hands were getting tired hanging on. Also, I only had a few sips of water since the morning and my mouth suddenly dried terribly. Finally we arrived. I quaffed the remaining few hot milliliters of water in my water bottle as I got a room for GF80000 (US$16). It took a few tries for them to get a good room. Room 107 had a problem I didn't understand, room 105 had a dysfunctional key, and I finally got room 104. It's in the less nice annex and has a fan instead of AC. But I actually prefer the fan. I went to the BICIGUI Bank but it was closed and didn't seem to have an ATM. I figured if Labé had an ATM, the second largest city in Guinea should have one. But, I'm wrong.

I came back to the hotel and had a 1.5 liter bottle of water, 2 Skol beers, and a chicken with fries dish that was pretty tasty. As soon as I started drinking all that, my shirt went from more or less dry to soaking sopping wet. The meal came to GF47000 (US$9.40) or GF50000 with tip. It was close to 7pm when the electricity should come on so I went to my room. At 7:03, there was electricity. I fired up my computer and wrote this.

September 9, 2008 20:08 Guinea local time