50 hours later, with still no definate end to our drive in sight, but with tempers reaching a critical point, emotions running high, a driver ready to abandon us, hundreds of kilometers of never-ending craters...generously called a road, and a group of 6 young travelers ready to abandon the driver, --- the journey had certainly become what I like to call, simply, memorable.
In respect to you, my devout readers, I will not delve into what could be the equivalent of a 25-page, day-to-day play-by-play of what was truly an adventure, full of random twists and turns, and enough 11th hour revelations to fill a John Grisham book. But it is worth pointing out the more lively points of our memorable "vacation." (Come to think of it, even traveling with the Griswalds coundn't have been more interesting.)
(DISCLAIMER: To all those wishing or planning to visit Guinea, your vacation does NOT have to be like this. No no. This trip was certainly unique...in so many respects. Yet unfortunately not all THAT unique...since, after all, this is West Africa. So then again, maybe this disclaimer doesn't really have any merit to it after all.)
*We get off to a great start, leaving the parking lot with the wind (and dust) in our faces!
*2 hours in we had our first (of many) break-downs.
*Immigration officials are great a wasting time and power-tripping.
*The first day in the car goes by really well. We are all fresh, excited and think the driver knows where he is supposed to be taking us. (That assumption, that just because the driver SAID they knew where we wanted to go and how to get there, and we believed him, was our first great mistake.)
*We try sleeping as the driver pushes through the night, but on a "road" with more craters than the moon. Sleeping is met unsuccessfully.
*Surprise! The car is infested with cockroaches!
*The sun rises to reveal we are at a ferry crossing. After a cup of roadside coffee, we are excited to keep moving. "Hiking by sunset" is on our minds.
*We enter Guinea and it's GORGEOUS!! The first forests, and yes, even mountains we have seen in over a year!
*We stop to refuel (our stomachs and the gas tank) in the city of Labe. It's fun to get to speak Pulaar outside Gambia. There's a definate dialect, but we get by alright for our own needs.
*While in Labe, an elderly woman who was either extremely enthusiastic or, well... anyway, she was covered in small placards and buttons with pictures of Barack Obama and she gave us all multiple hugs... before begging us for money.
*As the sun is setting and we approach our FIRST 28 hours in the car, the forested mountains turn into rolling plains.
*At about 10pm the driver told us we were there... to Tugay. Too bad we should habe been to DUKEY about 4 hours ago.
*We somehow manage to come across Robert, the one man in Tugay who can speak English enough to help us convey to the driver our problem of Tugay vs. Dukey.
*Spent the night in a random hotel. No light, water or food. But don't worry, plenty of cockroaches to cuddle with.
*Off to another good start, sure that THIS TIME the driver knew where to take us. We were so naieve...
*2pm rolls around and we reach the PROVINCE/DISTRICT of DUNKEY. Again, NOT the TOWN of DUKEY.
*Somehow this too is "peacefully" resolved and we reach Dukey that evening around 8, after a mere 56 (yes, fifty-six) hours on the road. (Not that we were counting by then any more. It just wasn't fun to keep adding hours after 28 of them had already passed...apparently in the wrong direction.)
*The lodge, run by a great guy named Hassan Bah, is awesome and gorgeous! Truly postcard picturesque.
*Short hikes. Long hikes. Absolutely gorgeous hikes!
*Great Guinean food!
*Good times with friends surrounded by truly awesome scenery.
*Swimming under waterfalls in fresh water springs.
*Relaxing in natural whirlpools.
*Picking and eating oranges right off the trees.
*Oh yeah, one of the tour guides tries hitting on two of the young women in our group. (You can escape Gambia, but not West Africa.)
*Nice, lazy afternoons lounging, reading and sleeping in hammocks.
*Good weather.
*Good health.
*Great hikes!
*Push my limits with my fear of heights.
*Fear of heights NOT successfully overcome.
*Rock climbing.
*Vine swinging.
*Dropped my camera in the stream while vine swinging on our last hike. Memory card is alright. Might be time for a new camera though... (one where you can't hear sand moving around when you bring the zoom in and out)
*Met some fun, recently completed Peace Corps Volunteers from Togo and Morocco.
*Decided not to follow in their footsteps of backpacking West Africa upon completion of my two years of service.
*Our drive ACTUALLY came back to get us at the scheduled time! (We had been wondering over the days if he would actually come back and spend another 28... or 56 hours with us.)
*Another bumpy ride.
*Immigration officials still power-tripping.
But a mere 28 hours later we were back in Basse, Gambia! (Boy does time fly by when it's not 56!) (Over an entire "work-week" spent sitting in a car... just on the way there.)
It truly was a great trip. Not everything went according to plan, but really, what does in West Africa? Surely we could have planned better. Maybe we could have/ should have even brought along a map of Guinea to refrence. (Yeah, my dad and aunt Janis are going to literally rake me over the coals for not having a map of the hundreds of kilometers of roads we were traveling.)
But it was fun and memorable! A truly "once-in-a-lifetime" adventure. Except of course for next summer when I plan to take a similar trip for backpacking and hiking in Mali...with a map of Mali. I know, I'm just asking for it.
But for the record, I never lost my temper or composure on the trip. I'm not saying anyone did, just that I, personally, did not. On the contrary, I was the perpetual optimist! (not always appreciated) But I was well stocked with candy, pixie-sticks, fruit-roll-ups, gummy candies and countdown-callendar "Bush-isms" to help keep the mood light, tempers at bay, and a mellowing sugar coma all around.
So the trip wasn't exactly smooth (quite literally!), or even slightly predictable. But it really was a ALOT of fun. But oddly enough, I was glad to be back in Gambia when it was over. Flat, bland, "give me mintie" Gambia. It's somehow refreshing to be back. To be back "home." I guess my heart is really in it here.
