Second Full Day In Freetown

I woke up after a delightful sleep. Two excellent nights' sleep in a row is a rarity these days. Even though Freetown is rainy, I haven't seen any mosquitos. There are roaches and spiders in my room, but no mosquitos. It looked pretty good out weather wise, so it looked good to visit Aberdeen and Lumley Beach. I decided to walk the 4km to get there. It was cool when I left and turned sunny after a while. I had my Lonely Planet wrapped in a plastic bag (in case it starts raining) and only had to refer to it once or twice to get my bearings as I came to forks in the road to Aberdeen. I crossed 2 bridges, saw the local "Monoprix" supermarket--nothing like the Monoprix I came to love in France. I went by the UN compound and saw most of the hotels in the area.

Lumley Beach is a sort of thin strand of sand. Maybe it was high tide and gets a bit bigger when the tide goes out. Aberdeen is better than the Atlantic resorts in Gambia, but not much. It's tourist oriented and, as a result, I met hustlers and guides for the first time in Freetown. One guy asked if I needed a guide. I said I didn't. Then he told me to buy him a drink. I said no. Closer to one of the expensive hotels, I attracted the attentions of a woman who, I presume, provides such services that I wouldn't want in a country where every second billboard mentions HIV/AIDS and/or condoms as a protection--not against pregnancy but death.

All in all, I didn't like this area at all. It's funny that the area of Freetown made to appeal to tourists is actually completely unappealing to me. Give me downtown Freetown and it's African hyperactivity and vibe.

I headed back and decided to have a beer at Paddy's, a local hangout that, according the Lonely Planet, "never closes." I went up at 11:40 and the guy outside told me they open at noon. Another Lonely Planet error. So went to the bridge over Cockle Bay and just watched the people. There were men and women on both sides of the street carrying all sorts of stuff on their heads. One woman had a huge basket of 20 or 30 empty 1.5 liter water bottles balanced on her head. I wonder how long it takes to learn the art of balancing stuff on your head. I waited 40 minutes just watching UN trucks go by and women balancing things on their heads and then went up to Paddy's at 11:59. The woman who runs it wasn't there yet. About 5 minutes later, the guy sitting there pointed to a woman getting off the bus and said that she was the one whose arrival opened Paddy's.

It's an interesting place. It's quite large and has a few bars and pool tables. Some kids came in and played foozball. Actually, I've seen a few outdoor foozball tables. I never stopped to watch to see if they're any good though. I know some wicked foozball players.

My first beer was on the edge between cold enough to drink. Fortunately, the second one was much colder. After I paid Le10000, I headed out planning to walk back hoping to get to the National Museum before it closes at 4. Minutes after I left, the sky turned dark, then it started to rain. But just then a minibus came by. I asked if it goes to Freetown and the guy motioned me on. We didn't go quite where I wanted to go, but it got me most of the way--worth the Le1000 (US$0.33). I was able to use intuition, knowledge of a few landmarks, and luck to find my way straight to the museum after 15 minutes. The cost is Le9000, but they don't have change, so I paid Le10000. There are no descriptions so a guide automatically attaches himself to you. It was pretty interesting. One side had various artifacts of tribal life. The other side was mostly about the slave trade for which Sierra Leone has one of the more interesting stories-though there was nothing at all in the museum concerning the maritime court charged with determining the fate of Africans rescued on the high seas by the British navy. Maybe it's too complicated and requires too much of an understanding of maritime law or something. Sort of how the mainstream media talked about the nuclear option during the filibusters but simplified the meaning because the real nuclear option requires some understanding of parliamentary procedure, the role of the Senate parliamentarian, the role of the Vice President, and a few relevant clauses in the Constitution. If the American media can simplify the nuclear option and get it wrong because it's too complex to explain correctly, I suppose the Sierra Leone National Museum can gloss over the complexities of laws of the high seas. Interested people can read Hugh Thomas's The Slave Trade for the fascinating details on the system. Anyway, I tipped the guide Le10000. He did a good job explaining the artifacts. The museum closes at 3pm, not 4pm as in Lonely Planet.

After that, I got another shawarma from the guy across the street from my hotel, and then went into the hotel lobby and had a beer and watched CNN. Andy's Hotel is going under some renovations. It's not a bad place at all. I guess it will get even better.

After a thing about Obama/McCain I got asked who was going to win and who I was going to vote for. I explained that I figured Obama has a 2 in 3 shot of winning. I told them I was going to vote for Obama, but it didn't matter too much because Washington will give all its delegates to Obama and that it was most important for me to vote for Christine Gregoire over Dino Rossi. And that I'd have to somehow get the absentee ballot sent to me through DHL. But I think all that whole thing sort of went over their heads. The Electoral College even confuses Americans, after all. Oh well. Ask a C-SPAN junkie a political question, get an over complicated answer that excites one party and confuses the other.

Here is an accounting of my Leone supply. I plan to spend Saturday night here and take the car to Conakry. I need Le50000 for each of those. I have 18 Le10000 bills, 2 Le5000 bills, and 5 Le2000 bills. Ten of the 18 will be for the hotel and car. I'll also need some, probably, for luggage and a few Le2000's for bribes this side of the border. So that means I have Le80000 for food and entertainment. That's like $25. I'll probably need some chicken tonight and tomorrow I'll just visit the free Railway Museum and walk around on the hill with the Parliament. So I should be in good shape.

September 5, 2008 16:57 Sierra Leone local time