Freetown

Freetown is probably my favorite West-African city so far. It's in a beautiful area, situated by the see, at the mouth of a river. In a (distant) way it reminds me of Rio de Janeiro, because you can climb up the hill and have spectacular views of the different parts of the city and the sea.

[Insert photo of views]

I'm not sure what makes me think so, but Freetown seems to be more developed than Conakry. It still has unpaved streets and no electricity or running water in many areas, but there's something about it that just feels 'more advanced'. I noticed, for instance, that even outside of downtown the great majority of buildings are made of bricks, except those of Krio people, which by choice are made of wood. That generalization excludes, of course, the slums.

[Insert photos of krio houses]

Traffic is horrible. All day. Pretty much everywhere. It makes me not want to move from the place we're staying at...