Thursday in Freetown: with ambassador in State House

I left the guesthouse around 11am, went to Jeska Mac, had something called boil soup with rice. It was a stew, with both meat (beef I’d say) and fish pieces. Not too bad, 20,000le. I wanted to dress up for the interview: long trousers and shirt. I tried the African patent of not showing sweat […]

Wednesday in Freetown: beach no. 2

I stayed in bed as long as I could – till about 10am. I had manioc leaves and rice in Jeska Mac for breakfast, 12000le and a Guinness for 10000le. The breakfast was more like brunch, just before noon. I gave my clothes out to be washed. Towel – the so-called tourist towels are waste […]

Tuesday in Freetown: struggle will be real

There was power in SLARI guesthouse till the morning. I had the fan set up so close to bed that I woke up dry and not too hot. Things are possible. I filled up Nigerian visa form – all six pages of it – got the email from Amyn with the invitation and her passport […]

Monday in Freetown: the two embassies

I woke up all sweaty in my $17 apartment. Not good. Mornings are cool and I should be fresh and crispy and here I am, melting at 6am. At least there were no mosquitoes and in the room there was no mosquito net and the carpeted floor makes burning a coil risky. The plan for […]

Visa no. 8: Liberia in Freetown

Liberian visa is fairly straightforward. I took a 3,000le moto to the embassy. It’s an unmarked gate on Spur Road. The building quite a nice villa, a flag hanging (but invisible from outside, the walls are high and the ground steep). Inside I waited to be announced and I was led to the consul/ambassador’s office. […]

Bo to Freetown: sorry we’re full

The caretaker of my guesthouse in Bo said there are two government busses going to Freetown in the morning: at 5am and at 8am. If I miss them, there are other vehicles though. Bradt Guide says government busses are the best mode of transport because they’re the cheapest, fastest (!) and they have a beautiful […]

Kailahun to Bo in a land cruiser

The so-called transport park in Kailahun is a spot on the road, with drivers and other people waiting under a tree. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t know it’s a place to get transport. So maybe it was for the better that I asked a moto to take me there. That or I’m becoming more […]

Gueckedou to Kailahun: people are survivors

Again, I was failing to draw myself from bed. By the time I reached the transport park it was over 8am. Asking for Kailahun I was led to a shop. There the owner (or employee) asked me which border crossing I wanna use for Kailahun. I didn’t have an idea, I thought it could be […]

Nzérékoré to Gueckedou: here comes the green gang

Oh, I didn’t want to get up at 6am. I didn’t wanna get up at 6:30am. It was dark and gloomy, heavy clouds in the sky. I got back to bed and thought I could just stay another day in Nzérékoré. I lied down. I didn’t fall asleep. I got up. The rain started falling. […]

Nzérékoré: le café

Ah, to not to have to move anywhere today. What a bliss. And I did sleep until almost 9am. I did a bit of work on my mosquito net, I turned it kind of upside down so that it is wrapped around the poles on the bed corners, not between them. I don’t like mosquito […]