Roadtrip Guinea 2022 Day 4
August 6th, day 15 - started the day at a leisurely pace in Mamou town. For once didn't have to visit anyone's relatives but we (only Bialo, Ibro and i now) did stop to buy something in the town market. I asked what, since the purchase was happening behind the car and having not gotten out i couldn't see. "Eggplants" i was told. "I thought we already bought eggplants??" I inquired incredulously but didn't get a response. So I don't know if my question was misunderstood or if after already getting a bag of eggplants in Faranah we were now getting yet more eggplants. Naturally I'll assume the latter as it's funnier.
Then around 10 we were off.
At one point the road split, with a barricade across one side, but we honked our horn at it and the people manning it lowered the rope across it so we could cross. The road beyond was in good condition and there was little traffic but the occasional other car. After a few kilometers we passed through another barricade and rejoined the other road.
"Why were there just barricades that we were able to cross through?" I asked Ibro.
"Oh that road is perfectly fine but they want to redirect people through the town the other road goes through so they'll buy stuff. But if you know about it you just honk and go through"
We stopped at one village's roadside market booths to buy some limes. And in another village where they have kapok trees, that makes a fluffy fiber used for stuffing pillows and things, we bought some pillows.
Personally I'd have chosen the blue ones but he chose the gray ones.
Arrived at Kindia town around 12:30. Proceeded immediately to the building where the other volunteer was just concluding his drip irrigation project. He was in a conference room of some agriculture extension society or group, with about 20-25 participants. He was your typical professorial volunteer. Tall and lanky, white haired with a Midwestern accent. Possibly the first American I've encountered in three years.
There were conclusionary speeches, then the presenting of certificates and taking of lots of photos. I thought it wag funny that a lot of participants wanted pictures with me and I'd had nothing to do with the training. Then lunch was served -- rice with sauce and chicken. Every angle i tried to bite at my lump of chicken seemed to hit bone though. And i got a small cup of some strong homemade ginger drink which was delicious and I longed for more but no luck.
Then we proceeded to the hotel, which seems very nice. The rooms are a bunch of nice looking detached cottages in a compound with a nice atmosphere. Room looks nice and the bathroom is friggen huge.
But i have to bend over to half my height to see myself in that mirror
Once settled, and it still very early in the day (14:20), i settled on a couch by the front office with my books. Most of the Winrock team also ended up hanging out there for awhile.
It sounds like the potential beekeeping project with Faranah University is definitely a go but can only be done in November (well, has to be done before next March but November is the least bad time for me in that time). November is still busy for me and i hadn't planned on a hole in my income there, but i think training the university staff to get their beekeeping program up and running would be a cool project.
Then later i went with Ousman down to the hotel restaurant where he was gonna work on his laptop. He's a swell fellow, i wish he'd stayed my translator.
Later the other volunteer came and joined us and i finally got to talk to him a bit. He works for Texas A&M university. This is his first time in Guinea but he's done a lot of projects in other places in the world. I was unsuccessful at gleaning any juicy bits of the gnostic secrets of drip irrigation wisdom. He seemed like a nice and likable fella.
And thus ends one of the more uneventful days.
Then around 10 we were off.
At one point the road split, with a barricade across one side, but we honked our horn at it and the people manning it lowered the rope across it so we could cross. The road beyond was in good condition and there was little traffic but the occasional other car. After a few kilometers we passed through another barricade and rejoined the other road.
"Why were there just barricades that we were able to cross through?" I asked Ibro.
"Oh that road is perfectly fine but they want to redirect people through the town the other road goes through so they'll buy stuff. But if you know about it you just honk and go through"
We stopped at one village's roadside market booths to buy some limes. And in another village where they have kapok trees, that makes a fluffy fiber used for stuffing pillows and things, we bought some pillows.
Personally I'd have chosen the blue ones but he chose the gray ones.
Arrived at Kindia town around 12:30. Proceeded immediately to the building where the other volunteer was just concluding his drip irrigation project. He was in a conference room of some agriculture extension society or group, with about 20-25 participants. He was your typical professorial volunteer. Tall and lanky, white haired with a Midwestern accent. Possibly the first American I've encountered in three years.
There were conclusionary speeches, then the presenting of certificates and taking of lots of photos. I thought it wag funny that a lot of participants wanted pictures with me and I'd had nothing to do with the training. Then lunch was served -- rice with sauce and chicken. Every angle i tried to bite at my lump of chicken seemed to hit bone though. And i got a small cup of some strong homemade ginger drink which was delicious and I longed for more but no luck.
Then we proceeded to the hotel, which seems very nice. The rooms are a bunch of nice looking detached cottages in a compound with a nice atmosphere. Room looks nice and the bathroom is friggen huge.
But i have to bend over to half my height to see myself in that mirror
Once settled, and it still very early in the day (14:20), i settled on a couch by the front office with my books. Most of the Winrock team also ended up hanging out there for awhile.
It sounds like the potential beekeeping project with Faranah University is definitely a go but can only be done in November (well, has to be done before next March but November is the least bad time for me in that time). November is still busy for me and i hadn't planned on a hole in my income there, but i think training the university staff to get their beekeeping program up and running would be a cool project.
Then later i went with Ousman down to the hotel restaurant where he was gonna work on his laptop. He's a swell fellow, i wish he'd stayed my translator.
Later the other volunteer came and joined us and i finally got to talk to him a bit. He works for Texas A&M university. This is his first time in Guinea but he's done a lot of projects in other places in the world. I was unsuccessful at gleaning any juicy bits of the gnostic secrets of drip irrigation wisdom. He seemed like a nice and likable fella.
And thus ends one of the more uneventful days.