More Exploring Guinea

The Road Chose Me Volume 2 OUT NOW!!
The Road Chose Me Volume 2: Three years and 54,000 miles around Africa

While hiking through a rice field at the base of a small mountain overlooking a nearby town a local man spots a snake. It turns out to be a cobra, a bite from which I am told is deadly. Many local farmers are killed by these snakes, and everyone is clearly terrified and keeps their distance until it moves off the path of it’s own accord. It did stand up and frill out it’s neck, though I was too slow with my camera to get that. Sorry

Cobra on the path

I continue to find beautiful waterfalls around every turn, and mercifully the nights continue to be cool thanks to the elevation. The rain has not let up one bit, though at some point I just gave up and lived to learn with the perpetual state of drenched I find myself in. My camera keeps getting damp, I really hope the lenses do not get moldy.

Spectacular mountain views

Yet another waterfall

Everywhere I go people are extremely friendly, smiling widely and inviting me in for tea or coffee. Tea is regular black tea as we think of it, served in a tiny cup with about 10 spoonfuls of sugar and optimally powdered milk.
Coffee is all instant (some people just call the drink “Nescafe”), very strong and is also served extremely sweet. It’s strange to drink a few steaming hot cups of coffee at 11am when the temperature is already 90 or 95F, though the locals seem to think it’s perfectly normal. I often leave a village with a coffee buzz.

Kids, as always love to see who I am and what I’m doing

I am mostly cooking my own breakfasts and dinner to save money and buying lunches wherever I find myself around midday. Breakfast is usually egg sandwiches with egg and tomato and dinner is often a stir-fry of whatever vegetables I have served with rice or pasta. I rarely buy meat to cook, though it’s always available.

Camping in a village is always a great experience, but means zero piece and quiet

Buying lunch in Guinea for under one dollar is virtually always “Rice with sauce” – the sauce usually being some extremely flavorful concoction from ground up cassava leaves or similar. Sometimes it’s extremely spicy (great!) and often if I pay an extra fifty cents or so I can get chunks of meat thrown in – almost like a stew. I’m never sure, but I suspect the meat is mostly the goats I see everywhere, and occasionally beef. Buying lunches has been a great excuse to walk around and talk to people on the streets – and to sit for 30 minutes and chit-chat with other locals. I have learned my lesson to buy early, they often have nothing left by about 1:30pm.

I saw some guys working on this Jeep TJ – and was shocked to find it identical to the one I drove to Argentina. Same year, same engine. No idea what they were doing to it.

After a fantastic time around the Fouta Djallon mountainous region of central Guinea I am finally starting to move on, and my time in Guinea is coming to a close.

Cool caterpillar I spotted

My BFG KO2 All Terrains have been fantastic in every condition Guinea has thrown at them

If you can’t tell, I really like it here!

-Dan