A Glimpse from my Hammock

36 hours free from work calls for a quick trip out to the island to kick it in a Hammock watching the world slide by.

Not far from the Port where our Ship is docked is the local Fish Market, it is here where locals can go to buy fish, and catch local taxis to the surrounding islands that are scattered just of the coast. We arrived to the local boat taxi in the early afternoon only to find that all the local taxis had left and we were left with only one option, an overpriced Privet Boat taxi! So we payed the "Forte" (white person) price of 65 000 GF each for a return trip to Kassa island. Here in the photos you can see the hand made wooden boat, it is always a good feeling when the driver is bailing out the boat while we cruise.

 

Here is Nadine and I and Kiley and Kristie sporting our fancy child sized, saturated in stale water life jackets.

We arrived on the island around from the main docks and made our way along the shoreline over the rocks and lava rocks that make up the coastline of Kassa Island. We had a vague idea of where we were heading and our requirements for a perfect spot was a short lists of must haves! We found a beach with no dog tracks, no signs of people, no roads, and a circle of trees where we could hang our four hammocks. In the distance we could see a building about 30 min or so along the coast. Once did we hear a car in the distance. There was an old shoe in a tree, stones built up from an old cooking fire, a doll pulled apart in the woods, and only two needles in the sand... TIA (this is Africa).

The islands in the area are crescent in shape with the odd small blob of an island in the center, the remains of old volcanoes.

After swimming in the Atlantic Ocean we enjoyed playing "Crazy American" a card game we have learned from the patients here on the ward, it is a little like Crazy 8 but with just a tab better!

We bought bread and avocados on the way to the island for make shift sandwiches as our evening feast.

As we sat on the beach, boats passed by coming and going from a day of fishing as the sun was setting over the ocean and islands that surrounded our little paradise. We listened to music and sat on the beach under the moon light before retiring to our hammocks.

Waking to the sound of waves lapping on the shoreline, and birds overhead was surreal. Watching fishermen passing by on their way out to Sea was a beautiful. I want to wake up to more mornings like this. I loved the time this night away from the boat gave me to think and pray and reflect on all that is happening here in Guinea in my life and in the lives of those around me. Its a blessing to be able to have moments of reflection. I am fearful of returning home and falling into the speed of life, and loosing grip on moments like these.

We rolled our mosquito nets and hammocks back up and packed our backpacks and headed back to our meeting spot with our boat driver to head back to the Port and back to what is my reality right now, on board the African Mercy in Guinea West Africa. This is life.