Bailing on SL, clubbing in Conakry

Day: 20
Location: Conakry, Guinea
Weather: raining
Kilometers: 300
Hours: 13
Health: Adam got bit about 60 times while sleeping on the minibus, but Guillaume escaped unscathed. A test of the efficacy of malarone in West Africa I guess. It still itches.
Accomodation: Chez Seko
Price, room: 35K FG courtesy
Price, water: 3K FG
Shower: yes
Morale: 2 before the border, 9 after
Total spend: 311K FG
Song of the day: Notorious BIG, "Hypnotize"

AW: We planned to wake up early and head for the more touristed Aberdeen and Lumley Beach areas west of the city. It was 11:30 by the time we finished wrestling with Rokel bank to make an expensive manual withdrawal from Guillaume's checking account over a phone link through Kenya. We finally had enough money, but the weather was crap and didn't look to be improving. It is the start of the rainy season and everyone we talked to said it could last for days, or not.

We had checked the flight situation, and there were no direct flights to Bamako, and the flights through Dakar were booked for 4 days into the future. We made an executive decision to cut and run, trying to make it to Bamako ASAP overland.

We were at the minibus by 12 and rolling by 1PM. There were problems with the police about 5 times, and the minibus broke down about 4 times, such that we made it to the border at 8, an hour after it officially closed. In fact, there were a contingent of officers working (and collecting) overtime, and we were through the Sierra Leone side quickly.. As an American, I was forced to purchase the deluxe multiple entry visa for Guinea (65K CFA) when we arranged in Dakar, but Guillaume slid through with a single entry for 20K CFA. It seems everyone can find a way to tastefully take pity on the French and cut them some slack. We didn't plan on coming back into Guinea, and were now entering with a used single entry visa. Of course we could have gone to the embassy in Freetown and taken care of it, but who has the patience anyway? Mitigating factors: they may not notice, a used visa is better than no visa, and they seemed super corrupt on the Guinea side before. I'm not convinced that the official did notice anything, even though he scrutinized every page of Guillaume's passport.

We paid him a little regardless, with the help of Seko, a charismatic 19 old from Conakry. We slept in his (kind of) apartment this evening. New technique: make it clear that you have money in your hand, but don't reveal how much. When the official finishes the paperwork, slap it into his hand and say "ton petit fils". Probably works best when you know the right amount.

Shortly after the border, the chauffeur, who had never before driven the route, badly botched a bribe to military blocking the road (protection from bandits...). Guillaume and Seko fetched a guy we had bribed in customs; he collected a bit more money from everyone and got us through.

At this point I passed out in the minibus, and we woke up in a particularly bandit infested area of Conakry around 1AM. The driver claimed it was too dangerous to continue, but we also happened to be parked in front of his guesthouse.....Seko was great, traveling with his 13 year old little sister, Aminata, back from a visit with his girlfriend in Freetown. Evidently a group of tough guys had gathered as we unloaded the minibus. While we were too groggy to notice the situation, Seko prevented them from mugging us by telling the minibus chauffeur we were with him, and we whisked into a cab towards the more secure center.

Our cabbie played it cool with one last military checkpoint (stopped 100 yards early, put on a shirt and his seatbelt, and turned off the blaring hip hop music), but revealed his anxiety by squealing his tires with the e-brake engaged as he was departing after passing the checkpoint.

We grabbed a deliciously huge portion of Guinean special fish curry for take away, went back to Seko's with Aminata, ate, showered (so necessary), and went out to see a Conakry boite de nuit around 2:30. We got a lot of attention at Timis club (Heineken 12K FG) which became clear after a chat with Seko on the walk home. The line between normal girls and prostitutes is indistinguishable in Conakry. Evidently, some payment is almost always expected, local guys no exception. As with most bargaining in Africa, the sound assumption is that foreigners will be less effective at breaking the price down (evidently 50K FG is standard for locals). One effect of this situation: the club was 70% women (% SIDA?).

As for Seko and Aminata, the plot thickens a little bit. Seko's girlfriend is married to a sleazy looking Italian dude. Seko dated her before the wedding and continues to see her. She lives in Freetown with the Italian, but that guy also has an apartment in central Conakry near the presidential palace. Nice for guinea, but not as fancy as it sounds. Anyway, Seko and Aminata squat in that apartment when the couple is in Sierra Leone. The wife gives Seko money and fair warning. Aminata is in fact an orphan adopted by the now deceased mother of the Italian's wife, but he didn't want her in the house, so Seko takes care of her. Or rather...

Seko claimed that she loved to work, and indeed she turned up for a couple bites of rice, after preparing the take out and some sliced mangos, before scampering off to the laundry. By the time we arrived back at the apartment at 5:30AM she had done all the laundry, scrubbed the floors, cleaned the kichen, made the bed, and cleaned the bathroom. We may be able to sell all of this to network television. It may be a little derivative (cinderella), but there should be enough sordid stuff to make it feel fresh.

Our hosts insisted that we take the bed (there was no couch), so I guess they slept on the floor in the living room. We were on high alert for signs of a scam all night, but it never happened.

GB: After Seko told us we had barely escaped a mugging, we were on high alert. The fact was this info could not be confirmed. In fact, Seko could be the one setting up an elaborate scam. But none of this turned out true. Seko and Aminata in the end were 2 youths watching out for each other. Hard to define what Aminata's situation was, but she always smiled a lot, even in the minibus before we got to know Seko.

The Timis was fun. Weird, but fun. I never thought I would refuse so many outright offers to "make love to", "have sex with", "come home with" the most beautiful girls I have ever seen. But too many questions remained unanswered: is she a hooker? Did she mean to speak to the guy behind me?

At some point Seko introduced me to the DJ. I clicked a bit on the crossfader, and as a result he spent the whole night praising the "giant" from New York. Ironical, considering my actual height...

FRENCH: Au vu du temps a Freetown, on a abandonne l'idee de la plage, et au contraire on a decide de tenter de faire Freetown - Conakry en un temps record. Objectif manque. On a pris le minibus pour Conakry le meme jour, arrivee a 2h30 du mat in a Conakry le lendemain matin. En boite de nuit jusqu'a 5h du matin, et on repart a 8h pour Bamako.