Fodecariah to Siguri - Day 238

Date: April 13th, 2010
Distance: 75km
Country: Guinea
Song of the Day: St. Louise - Soul Coughing

Didn't sleep well again. Still not feeling well. It isn't like I can stay here though. I got up and packed my tent away with a w of kids watching. I said goodbye to Lamin, my host. He was actually going to bike to Kankan. I guess he attends the university there. It must be quite a commute. I don't know if he was going to come back later or what.

Just a hard push down the road most of the day. Another quick rush into the woods in the morning. I am not happy about that. Nothing amazing to look at either. I think I have the Niger river off to my right for the next day or two. Right now it is just a little blue band full of sandbars. The rest of the terrain is pretty dry and open. At least there are a few trees around that I can take shade under.

I did get to Siguri right at 2:00 PM. Well, not quite. Those damn road markers lied to me again. Instead of the city I found a big intersection. At least there was a truck and taxi stop there. I could get some bissap to drink, which I desperately needed. It was mushy frozen too. Perfect. (I wish I had bought two of them. Really, it is the difference between $0.15 and $0.30, so who cares?) I would need all the help I could get. The sun was just destroying me, and it was another 5km to town.

In Siguri I found a pretty nice place to stay. For the first time in Guinea, the place had power on during daylight hours. I was so impressed. It seemed to be the city power too. I think that turns off at 8:00 PM though for some reason. After that the hotel runs of a generator. I guess you can't have everything.

I walked into town to get some dinner. It took a while to find a place. I had spaghetti and two Fanta Cocktails. (I don't think they make that in the US for some reason. It is better than the regular Fanta though. Almost like real fruit.) The walk in and out of town wasn't that pleasant. Cars and motor bikes are zipping all around, and they expect you to move out of their way. On the way out I got to see the state of repair on the vehicles here first hand. A passing semi-truck dropped one of the lug nuts of its back tire. You might think that happens everywhere. But this one came with a wedge of metal about one fifth of the center of that wheel. Yee-haw. If something is going to get me over here, it isn't lions, bandits or warlords. It is going to be a wheel coming off a truck, or motorcycle falling off a taxi.

-Dravis