Letter Home: June 19, 2009

So we finished our project. We successfully made 44 Malians jump into their nasty, and quite possibly, toxic Niger River for the final test ( i more than likely have some illness called schisto but who cares! Peace corps will have to pay for the treatment). This made us rethink the progress we thought had been accomplished in seven weeks. BUT we can't do anything about it now... We had a huge closing ceremony where we each (there were three of us volunteers) received unexpected gifts-a full bogolan outfit and ciwara sculpture.



Mali LESSON: Bogolan is a traditional mudcloth art that originates in Mali. Many countries have tried to copy their designs and claim they started it but it is ALL MALI :) and Ciwara means... while it is given to the mightiest warrior, greatest leader, etc. It is a sign of respect and again a Malian thing (it means something in Bambara but I forgot).



We also decided to honor Alkalifa Traore, our safety and security officer, because we would not have been able to accomplish anything without him. He went with us to the military offices and convinced the commanders/captains that this was a worthwhile project and they should participate.



The following day, after seven straight weeks of having something that resembled a job, my boyfriend and I went to my old village to see my friends and 'family' before my Close-of-Service conference and vacation. It was a nice couple of days. We ate well-made Malian dishes, played with kids, and got updates in my village. One of my friends, A WOMAN, got elected to be the 2nd deputy Mayor! How amazing!



THEN We come back and I go directly to a nice Malian Hotel!!! UMMMMM good food, A/C, pool (haha you'd think i would be tired of swimming), and my RETURN DATE to America!



I spend three days learning about how to make a resume, how to market myself, and how to deal with the shock of going home... It is true. It is harder going to America from Mali than America to Mali. You learn to live without and about reverse-racism! My date is set for September 4th, which is at least three weeks earlier than i thought i would get.



Ok now here comes the adventure!!!



We (five other peace corps girls, my boyfriend and myself) decide to travel to Guinea together since our vacation overlapped each other. We meet at the bus station (really a taxi station). Get a sept-plus (it should hold seven but we learn they shove in nine; then why do they call it a sept-plus?) and head to the border. This is where we encounter our first corrupt Guinean gendarme. "Um you need to pay 5000 cfa for administration expenses." "Why? We have visas, our WHO cards, all our shots, and what admin expenses? Your 'office' is a table under a tarp with thatch walls." That was the first response and last response he got from us since he didn't even try to ask the rest of us for a bribe!



We get into Kankan, Guinea (google Guinea so you can follow our adventure :) and lucky for us the Peace Corps regional house was marked. We exchange money and find out that Guinean francs seem like a lot of money but really has no value. Every boutique, street vendor, etc couldn't carry wallets and replaced them with money 'buckets'!!!!! ahh the madness! Or the economy of a state in constant government turmoil. We have a lovely evening with Peace Corps Guinea volunteers-exchanging stories about our experiences in West Africa.



We wake early the next morning to get on the road before 8am. We had the most serendipitous moment when the same exact taxi that brought us from Mali drives past us on the way to the station. He pulls over and says he will take us to the station. Once we are in the car, we negotiate a decent price to Pita, Guinea. We wanted to get as far as we could that day so it would put us closer to our destination, Doucki. All day we passed beautiful landscapes as we slowly very slowly made our way up bumpy, potholed roads to the topmost points in the Fouta Djalon. I should describe the car we are riding in… A Peugeot station wagon with a third seat in the far back. Normally you shove two people into the front seat next to the driver then four in the middle and another three in the far back which is probably the worst spot since you have no head or leg space. BUT we bought out the last two spots so we could comfortably travel to Doucki. This trip lasted about 12 hours! We arrive in Pita and learn that our car can’t make the last leg to Doucki since the road is no longer a road and it is a bit confusing. We chased down to the edge of town by another taxi that is trying to be “generous” and give us a lift. We literally said we would walk the last 20 or 30 km to the campsite and they all laughed but we were not going to pay a penny more than what we expected to be the price. FINALLY we get a price we can agree on and make the haul… UMMMmmmm yeah our car could not have made it and we were in this car for another three hours! My motion sickness decided to kick back in during the first 30 minutes. Regardless we made it to the site. We had dinner and crashed!



Our first day was a half day hike to a waterhole, it was called “wet and wild.” It has been so long since we’ve seen green and topography. Hills, rock formations, creeks, trees, and grass were abundantly available to the wandering eye! We got a lot of cool pictures and got to go swimming in a creek that had a few hidden holes in the rock. It is always scary but worth it when you jump into the unknown and come out on the other side.



The afternoon was a short hike to the cliff edge to see where we were gonna hike the next day. Breathtaking! Plus the cliff edge is the same spot that villagers go to when there has been a death and they yell to the village below. Our guide kept telling us to lower our voices… opps!



The next day was the “chutes and ladders” and the name alone scared me! We descended for hours! All I could think about was the upward journey on the other side of the day! We made it down and my knees already felt like jello. Had lunch at a cool waterhole where the fishes viciously attacked anything you put in the water including your toes! Directly following lunch we started the hike UP! We made our way up, up and up then we encountered the ladders that were branches, logs, tied together with vine. They looked as though they would fall apart but they held us. We made great progress by scurrying up 5 or 6 ladders then the real hike started! Thank you GOD! I made it up the hill and all the way to the campsite… I can’t even begin to describe how out of breath I was near the end of the hike… We kept climbing and climbing but I made it… And! I wasn’t even sore the next day! YAY



The last hike was a half day before we took off for SIERRA LEONE! It is called Indiana Jones. We climbed vines and played in the water! It was an amazing time! It felt as though we were in a rainforest. Again, after two years in our barren wasteland known as Sub-Saharan Africa, the beautiful topography of Guinea was greatly appreciated.



Ok so our hiking days were over and we were ready to get to Sierra Leone. We made it to a hotel for the night… Did you know that most of Guinea doesn’t have electricity? It is an eye-opening experience to see a town that was probably at one time, thriving and bustling with lights and running water. But Guinea struggles along since they are continually ravaged by coups and insufficient governmental support which at the moment is military control! We had just spent three days in the villages and extremely surprised to see that the village people kept their towns clean, their pumps in running order, and houses that were substantially in better shape than I have ever seen at such a low economic level. BUT things at the higher level are getting bypassed…



The hotel we were staying at turned on their generator once it got dark and cut it off at the daybreak. Somewhere during the night the electricity did something wacky and pumped too much juice into our rooms and ruined our converters and chargers (ipod, zune, phone). But it didn’t matter… We have learned to expect as much in developing countries.



We made our way to the gare (bus/taxi station) only to be told countless times, “oh Sierra Leone? Go there”. We went to five different places before we finally got the taxi we needed. Then we made the long hike down the hills, got to another gare, and negotiated the price to the border of guinea so we could get into Sierra Leone. At this point we are running into many English speakers and having a hard time! I think we all negotiate better in Bambara!



We travel to the border… Now here comes the corruption. We were asked at three different stops to give a bribe. Of course the police/gendarmes didn’t even tell us why, they just demanded money. We always refused and they always threatened to make us wait at this checkpoint. One time a guy said we were gonna stay the night. We said ok and ten minutes later he let us go. I bet the taxi driver was fed up with us and had to pay a bribe for us since we wouldn’t do it. But that is Peace Corps.



The border to Sierra Leone. Ok Ok before you say anything we knew that you were suppose to get a visa ahead time but we just wanted to try our luck. We thought that they would be the one place we could and would pay a bribe…. Opps. We walked through the countless Guinea exit border checkpoints because the taxis to Sierra Leone were trying to charge us a ridiculous price to Freetown. We finally get to a point where we need a taxi, it takes us to the border and then we were reprimanded for over an hour about how we were suppose to get a visa prior to our arrival at the border. They told us to pay the $200 for the visa or go to the embassy at the Guinea capital or change our plan which is exactly what we did. During this whole ordeal I am feel faint from motion sickness because my medicine has ran out and my conscious is killing me b/c I know we should’ve done the right thing but… NOW we had to turn all the around and make it to Conakry. We made it to the 36 km point where we got held up again for another bribe but this time we called the Safety and Security Officer at Peace Corps Guinea and she straightened him out.



Finally, we made it somewhere nice and cool! We slept at the PC Guinea house which is a mansion in our eyes! Next to the beach, with a beach bar that has great pizza, a wonderful roof, a/c, four stories, nice bathrooms, etc…. we were in heaven for a day!



We decided to enjoy the beaches in Guinea and went to Room Island. We really did nothing for three days. Ate good seafood – fish, calamari – swam, hiked, and read books. It was amazing and we all got sunburnt.



Then back to Conakry! We made dinner, said good-bye to our entourage (the five other girls that were traveling with us), went to the Sierra Leone Embassy to only find out they wanted US dollars from us and denied our Malian money and we didn’t have enough in Guinean currency. So….

We went to Senegal!



Ate a wonderful meal at a Indo-chinese restaurant, slept like babies in a cold room, packed our stuff, and waited for the taxi strike to stop so we could get out of Guinea. Made it to the gare, got a car to Labé that ended up taking a full 12 hours because the car couldn’t get up the hills! Literally had to get out at every big incline and push the car up til it gained enough speed to leave us in the dark in which case we had to walk up the hill to catch up with him at the next level point. CRAZINESS! Arrive at the gare at 1am, sleep in the taxi, get to the next gare at 6am, wait til 1pm to leave for Senegal. Travel til 11pm to sleep at the border on hard cement out in the open. Get up and travel another two hours, get another car go to another point in Senegal, get another car, go another couple hours and finally we make it to our last gare, get a bus go to Cap Skirring, Senegal.



We get a hotel room at Chez M’Ballo that is located on the beach! Amazing and breathtaking is all I can say! We were awestruck by the beauty. Finally a place where we could stay for a long period of time! A whole week we spent laying on the beach, eating seafood, swimming, reading books, drinking beer with limes while watching the sunset over the ocean. Absolutely wonderful!



Then it was time to go home. Cap Skirring to Tambaconda. There was a peace corps house so we stayed there. We were sleeping on the roof when a sandstorm/rainstorm ran us off. So we slept inside = HOT!



Left the next morning after being “snuck” out to a neighboring village to wait for a bus b/c of some weird penalty the bus would have to pay inside the town, etc… stupidness! This time we travel for a straight 18 hours (all day, all night) to arrive in Bamako, Mali. We traveled through a sandstorm and crossed an irish bridge (a roadway that is covered by rushing water and marked with little posts sticking up to lead your way).



Finally we are home!