Walking by Faith: Traveling North

Recently I took a trip up North for a weekend away. It was a wonderful trip that allowed me time with friends, a chance to relax, and to see more of what Mercy Ships is involved in.

The trip took 5 hours by car to arrive at our destination. We stayed at a small hotel in Kindia. The drive was filled with lots of traffic, pot holes that could swallow a small car, and the love and laughter of good friends.

As we left the city and the traffic one would expect to be able to drive faster and enjoy the freedom of the open road. However, here in Guinea as you leave the city the roads become peppered with large potholes that make travel slow, bumpy and sometimes dangerous. I was thankful for the skills and caution of our hired driver who skillfully avoided many of the hazards. This often included vehicles traveling towards you on the wrong side of the road as they attempted to avoid potholes on their side of the road. In the end we arrived quite safe and sound and with good stories of the sites along the way.

Main lanes of highway leaving town

Suffice to say things are quite different here in Africa. It was not uncommon to see motorcycles driving down the road, weaving in and out of traffic with only inches to spare. Most often the drivers do not have helmets and often carrying multiple passengers. I think the record here is 5 adults on one motorcycle. It is very common to see families travel this way, including mom and dad a several small children. Sometimes even infants in moms arms. Child seats are pretty much non existent here. Like I said quite different.

Photo by Marina Schimd

Photo by Marina Schmid

Another thing you see is animals. Lots of animals. By the road and in the road, and you better not hit them. It is understood that fences do not really happen here and livestock can wander to wherever the next grazing spot might be found. So, the road will often contain goats, sheep, or cattle. They may or may not be accompanied by young shepherds.There is also the occasional chicken or duck in the road. So they become yet another obstacle in the road to be avoided. Most of them seem to know that the cars and motorcycles are dangerous and mostly stay out of the way, mostly.

There are also very few rules for driving. Lane markers are really not there and if they are they are really more of a suggestion. It is not uncommon for cars and motorcycles to be traveling the wrong way and headed at you on your side of the road in an attempt to avoid heavy traffic on their side of the road. All of this together adds up slow driving. So our trip north which is 133 kilometers (82 miles) took 5 hours. This is Africa.

I hope I don't sound like I am complaining. Just trying to give you a picture of what it is like here. The trip was well worth it . The reward was 2 days in a nice, quiet, inexpensive hotel. It was inside a walled compound so reasonably safe, and had a restaurant on premises. I shared a room with a friend from the ship, which turned out to mean we also shared a bed. We were thankful that it was a King size and we had plenty of room for both of us. Our room was quite spacious and we had a mosquito net so we slept quite soundly without fear of little visitors in the night.

comfy sleep

roomy bathroom

headed to my room

Our meals were quite nice. Very affordable, delicious and I was even able to order my own meal in French. Learning French has proved to be quite difficult for me but I continue to try and am learning a little. I was please when I got my food and it was actually what I thought I had ordered. Success! Dinner was filet de poisson and palm fritte ( fish and chips.)
Breakfast was Cafe' Ole, Pan and omelette. ( Coffee with milk, bread and omelette. All quite delicious.

a nice place to eat at the end of the day

The next two days were spent exploring the local area. There are several different waterfalls in the area and we were able to visit two of them. The first one had a pool at the bottom that was very shallow, but the falls were quite lovely. We spent several hours there enjoying the sound of the water, the jungle and soaking in some sunshine.

Bride's veil falls Kindia

Bride's Veil Falls

Me at Bride's Veil falls

Shallow enough to walk all the way across

The second waterfall was much larger and had several pools large enough for swimming. The water was quite cool and a bit of shock when you first jumped in. We had a lot of fun swimming and splashing around. It was nice to get away from our responsibilities for a while and just relax. Lunch followed at a little local restaurant nestled in the trees next to the river. We had more fish and cold drinks and great conversation with our driver. He spoke great English and talked to us about his country, his family and we shared about the ship. It was a really great day.


My onboarding buddies and me in the pools

a little lunch in the trees?

A peaceful lunch next to the river

He leads me beside still waters

We returned to the ship in the same way traffic, potholes and livestock oh my...This time we made it in four hours which was pretty amazing as we traveled back on New years eve. The traffic in town was really crazy but our driver delivered us safely back. We had one more day to rest as the New Year was wrung in on the ship. We had open mic night in the cafe and a dance party in between acts. The new year came with fireworks in town that could be seen from deck 8. At least that is what I heard, as I was in my bed by 10pm bringing the new year in deep in sleep. :)