Telemeli to Doughol - Day 214

Date: March 20th, 2010
Distance: 73km
Country: Guinea

For breakfast I had a bean and spaghetti sandwich from the shop down the street. The shop is just and old metal shipping container with holes cut in it for doors and windows. Things around here tend to go through a couple of lives. Then again I can't imagine what truck brought the damn thing up here in the first place.

The road from Telemeli was surprisingly downhill for the first hour. I still wasn't going very fast, though. Just too rough. I feel like the bike is going to shake apart. It would be different if it was just me on a well tuned mountain bike. With all the extra weight I carry, I just can't bomb down the hill and hope for the best.

Things started to even out before noon. A bit of uphill followed by a bit of down. Like I said, the roads tend to be a little better in the flat areas. There was also a river to cross after 33 kilometers. They had an old looking cable ferry for cars and trucks. Since there weren't any four wheeled vehicles crossing, I went over in a dugout canoe.

Things started to get steeper from there. Lots of uphill. I was kind of waiting for that. This is the mountains after all. It just became a slog after that. I must admit there is some pretty amazing scenery up here. At the same time it is hard to enjoy it when you are crawling along uphill over awful roads. A mist had also come in. So it wasn't good for pictures.

I did have one bright spot of the day. I was zooming through one village when I noticed a woman on the side of the road fry up some dough. I hadn't seen anyone frying these things before. I couldn't resist a fresh one. So I stopped. Hot out of the oil, it was so good.

All afternoon I was waiting for the top. I kept thinking it was just one more kilometer. Just around the next bend. The road kept winding around. I was watching this one tower of rock getting closer. I thought I would go by on the left. Then the right. I ended up riding along right under the cliff face. Surely, that was the top.

Nope, after that it was still more of a climb. As it was getting dark I just wanted to find a village I could stay with. Then I was thinking I could set up my tent out in the bush if it came to it. How many lions are up here really?

I started to see buildings. Not round huts with thatched roofs. No these were real cement buildings with metal roofs. Some of them even had electricity. I had stumbled upon a real town. So I just kept climbing. Eventually just pushing my bike over the rocks in the dark. When I got to the crossroads at the center of town, I stopped and had a ice cold coke. Ice. Cold. Coke. After so many miles in the wilderness, it was almost sureal to find a town like this way up in the mountains.

After asking around for a place to stay, I was told to go to the "supervie". I hadn't a clue what that was, but found it eventually. It turns out that is a man. Or, I met the man whose job title is supervie. I sat with him for a few minutes and explained the journey I was on. That works every time. It seems to explain why I am there, and most people seem more than happy to help out. For which I am very grateful.

The supervie and a friend of his took me to a place they called the villa. I tried to explain that I could just set up my tent somewhere outside, but they seemed insistent. The villa was something like a hotel, but not. It had four rooms with beds in them. I don't know why people got to stay there, or if they payed for them. The rooms were all occupied when I got there though. There was the "salon". Just a room off the main living room area. Not much privacy, but better than sleeping outside.

Now that I had a place it was time to find dinner. The friend of the supervie said he would take me to the village for something to eat. He just wanted to know what I was looking for. I had heard they do a potato salad in Guinea, and I really wanted to try it. The guy knew a place, so that is where we went. I was not disappointed either.

The place was just a little shop with a patio. I gave the lady running the place my order. She then prepared everything right in front of me (the potatoes had already been boiled). A few potatoes, an egg, some onion, a couple of tomatoes. Top it all off and mix it together. It was great. I had two plates. Actually it was hard to get across that I wanted the second plate. They kept thinking I wanted more water. No, more food please. I had a hard day. I did leave the place very full.

Back at the villa I unrolled my sleeping pad and went right to bed.

-Dravis