Cissela to Koroussa - Day 235

Date: April 10th, 2010
Distance: 91km
Country: Guinea
Song of the Day: Near Wild Heaven - R.E.M.

Everything that was wrong about yesterday seemed to go right today. I didn't get on the road amazingly early, but it worked. I was hoping to do 60km before the hot part of the day. I was back into more forested areas, so things got better. It was cooler and I could find more shade along the road. It was up and down a lot. The downhills are a great way to cool off though. Also, there was a wind, but it didn't seem to be affecting me. Even coming head on I was making pretty good time. So I really was having a good time rolling down the road.

The roads here aren't that great, by the way. I do spend a lot of time playing dodge the potholes. Also dodging cars and trucks playing that game. There are a ton of tanker trucks driving these roads. I guess they must be the only way to get fuel around. It is crazy to watch them drive onto one shoulder, zip across the road, drop onto the shoulder on the other side, and not tip over. Still, they are at least in good repair. The other trucks on the road look like they can fall apart at any time, and do. You see them along the side of the road, and the driver or someone is trying to fix the problem. The bush taxis aren't much better. Plus they are often overloaded with stuff. Often it appears that there is a whole other car of stuff on top. Plus a couple of guys hanging on for the ride. (I wonder if you pay less for that?) I will try and post some pictures when I get a better internet connection.

Anyway, I made my 60km well before the 2:00PM cutoff time. By that point it was cloudy. That was blocking out the sun. It still wasn't cool, but not meltingly hot was good enough for me. So I kept going. I ended up getting into Koroussa just after 4:00 PM. Great time today.

In town I found a place to stay, but I had to haggle for the price though. They wanted twice as much a the night before for a room that wasn't as nice. After that I had a chance to walk around the town and walk through the market. That was fun. I love local markets.

Then it was dinner and off to bed. That last part didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. The room was hot, and I had been sold on the air conditioner. The electricity turned on late, and when I tried the air conditioner, it didn't work. Fine, at least they had a fan, I could blow cool air in from the window. When I went to plug that in, I got a shock from the grounding pin. I don't think I got the full 220v, but it wasn't pleasant. Really, the electrical systems here are all jury-rigged solutions created mostly by people who don't know what they are doing. As people say here, "This is Africa."

-Dravis