Getting to know the neigborhood

I opened the window to air my room and a strong breeze came in. As I was getting dressed after the first shower of the day, the sound of big drops begun to hit the roof, turning quickly into a rain that lasted a couple of minutes at the most. The air cleaned up and I envisioned a nice day ahead of me :)

The only breakfast I had this morning was a mango and instant coffee with powder milk and sugar. So when I learned, at around 1pm, that the girl who is preparing food for us was still at the market, I devoured 3 bananas and thought of ways to keep myself busy, figuring that our first meal of the day would only be coming for dinner. I asked Mohamed to show me the area whenever he was available. As soon as he was free, we headed into the intense midday sun, Mohammed with a nice shirt on, me carrying the compact camera and my brand new hat.

Sorry for the poor quality of the images but the connection doesn't allow for any better. Likewise, I can't manage to upload any more pictures now.

Our home in Freetown

Since the university didn't offer a place to stay for Tucker when we first arrived, he arranged alternative accommodation with his friends in town. Tucker stayed with Taziff and his family for a couple of nights and then moved to Alie's as soon as I arrived, Taziff's place being too cramped already.

[Insert photo of house]

Alie's house, still under construction, is in the Texaco junction area, a long ways east of downtown. We're just behind the buzzing Central lorry park (bus terminal to most destinations throughout the country), but one would never guess so: with views to the open sea, surrounded by trees, unpaved paths (can't really call them streets), birds singing, sea breeze, the sound of the tide moving in and out... can't ask for a better place to stay in such a big city.

[Insert photo of surroundings of house]

We don't have running water or electricity, except for the occasional generator time we use to charge up our laptops.

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...