Kindia Once again....

Last weekend (April 12th-4th) 18 of us embarked on another adventure upcountry to Kindia! Through a series of Facebook messages, phone calls in broken English, and lists, we coordinated our travel up to Kindia in 4 different groups. I was in the first group with Nina and Jillian. We were lucky enough to have the day off fro work and got an early 10am start! We took the bus to Madina Market and found a public Taxi, I climbed in the back as I am not bothered to sit in back crammed seat with minimal air flow! Nina and Jillian stood outside and watched as they rolled the car around in the market and sold the remaining seats. Of course there were arguments and men yelling at us, and people pinching my arm. It is always a chaotic mess at Madina Market!

Once on the road we made our way upcountry towards Kindia. We arrived at the truck stop and walked 10 min up the road to Hotel Masobi. It was a lovely hotel with a whitewashed exterior and a wonderful garden area with tables and a dinning room. We were entertained by a shady character of a man talking about his smuggling history and time in Jail while we waited for our room keys.
 



Dinner at Sunset

Lovely courtyard

 The rooms were clean. water was running, and there was AC wall units in every room, what more can a girl ask for! Only a couple of the rooms had a mouse or fire ants, but they didn't cause much harm. The three of us made our way out to dinner and enjoyed the sunset. Once we made our way back to the Hotel the 2nd group of 4 girls arrived. After playing games and enjoying the evening in the garden the 3rd car of 7 arrived at the hotel after their long journey. Everyone was happy to find their rooms and settle into the evening sitting in the garden. As the night went on people turned in. Four of us stayed up waiting for the 4th and final group of people to arrive, Amy, Michael, Prithvi and Jeremiah had left the boat at 5:30pm. At midnight we begain to worry and by 1:45am when they arrived we were so relieved that they were safe and had found the Hotel in the dark of night after their long 8 hour Trip. (Africa traffic is insane, a drive that takes 4 or 5 or 8 hour is not a surprise!)

Taking a break on a rock over
looking the valley

   After a restfull night we ate a lovely breakfast and split up into smaller, more manageable groups for the day. Six of us headed out for Mount Gangan to the illusive Banana Village. We got dropped off at the base and made our way along the well worn paths. A man came and offered to be our guide. We refused, saying that we would find our own way, however he continued to lead us. We made our way quickly up to the Platue where we had turned around three weeks prior. We continued climbing up the mountain towards the backside and found a rock that jetted out from the cliff to have a nice break. From there we saw some children collecting fruit from the trees, they shared some with us, it was a hard shell that cracked open, a liquid spilled out and you were left with a seed with flesh around the outside that you sucked off.

 


Mystery Fruit



Lamb



Lindsay with local kids



Lunch!


  We made our way into the village. The man brought us to his Mothers hut and introduced us. We greeted her and sat down. Now a quick back story, through the course of the day we had bought bread and Laughing Cow Cheese to make sandwiches, we had searched for Avocados with no luck. After greeting us the mother went into her hut and emerged with 3 glorious Avocados. Trudi was thrilled! after the mother saw our faces she went to find more avocados for us! We spread out a skirt I was carrying in my bag and put together lunch. Prithvi played a quick game of soccer with the kids and after Lunch Kari and Lindsay watched the kids dance and sing different songs. After lunch our guy lead us on to the next village where the elusive Bananas grew! We were presented with bunches of Bananas, with the first bite we knew we had found what we had been searching for! The magical taste of fruit, we all know Bananas are a fruit, but these tasted like fleshy ripe, rich Bananas! The walk had been worth it! We packed a few bunches into my backpack and made our way back down the other side of the mountain, towards Kindia.

That evening we all made our way back to the hotel, washed up and headed out for dinner. Saturday evening we enjoyed in the garden under the tree and umbrella of stars in the sky listening to music and enjoying the wonderful company of 17 friends. 
     

     

Kelssi Waterfalls

  Sunday found us spliting up once again. 6 of us made our way into Kindia via motorcycle taxis to buy fabric and hire a minibus for the drive back down to Conakry. After what felt like an hour we hired the same minibus that had brought the 3 guys and Amy up Friday night on the 8 hour trip! Prithvi was excited to end the journey in the same fashion as starting it. The 6 of us loaded in the bus while two men pushed it down the narrow street as the driver tried to turn over the motor again and again. We  stopped at the hotel to pick up the other 6 left behind and then made our way to The Kelssi Waterfalls. It was there where we ate lunch and had a lovely swim in the waterfalls. As we were leaving the we posed for a group shot infront of the bus, but as we were about to snap the picture the bus started rolling away, again trying to get a rolling start to be able to turn over the motor. From my seat I was next to a foiled window covering with a tiny hole for a veiw of the road and world passing by. The drive down to Conakry was entertaining and this time we had space! 12 of us in a mini bus that would regularly seat 20!

  

Sad about our flat tire


 


The Boys helping out!

     One flat tire and after karaoke to Spice Girls, Lion King, and other fan favorites we all placed bets on our arrival time to the gate of our port, the stakes were high, 20 000 GF! I missed the bet by 1 min. We had called the ship ahead and had our dinner set aside, the 12 of us recapped our exciting weekend over a meal finally back home on board!