You won't believe what just happened

 You won't believe what just happened

Since arriving in Guinea, the majority of my conversations have begun this way. Even though I should be used to the ridiculous, things here continue to shock me on a daily basis. The most recent bunch of ridiculous events happened this weekend in a series of taxi rides which were...particularly disturbing.

I was leaving my site for my monthly visit in Boké and it started out really well. The car was in decent shape and even the speedometer worked...a fact I regretted later when I could see how fast we were actually going. About half way there, we came across a barrage with gendarmes trying to get us to pull over, but our driver decided that he didn't want to and instead began shouting at them. So, what choice did the gendarme have but to hop on his moto and pull us over. Usually at these roadblocks, they check the id and papers of the driver and passengers (especially white ones) and if everything is in order, they let you continue on your way. Well, because our driver had ticked them off, we sat on the side of the road for half an hour listening to them argue in Susu about bribing them to let us go. Finally, they decided they'd had enough and they let us go. A little ways down the road we stopped for gas. After putting gas in the tank, the driver opened the hood and what he did next was quite shocking. He took a big swig of gasoline, leaned down under the hood, and spit the gas into a pipe leading down into the engine. This happened several times as Kelly and I sat there, jaws on the floor. Done with this appalling task, the driver hopped back into the car and we were on our way. After several minutes we stopped at a bar and the driver went inside. Kelly jokingly said “I bet he is going to pound a beer and then come back” to which I could only laugh. Several minutes later he was back and we continued down the road. It was then that I started to notice the unmistakable smell of beer. Turns out the driver HAD pounded a beer after all and so were were trusting our lives to a drunk taxi driver! Finally, we arrived in Boké. Stressed and emotionally damaged, but all in one piece.

Transportation here is such a joke. All those pictures you see of crap piled sky high, animals and people hanging off the side, it's all true and sadly it's completely impossible to avoid. In fact, on the return trip I was in a 5 seat car with 11 other people! They weren't all adults thankfully, but uncomfortable none-the-less. I don't know what I'll do when I actually have my own seat and am not being squashed between women with professionally child-bearing hips! I'm beginning to see why people in my village only travel when necessary. “We are plain, quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner. I can't think what anybody sees in them.” Although this is taken from the Hobbit, I can just as easily hear it coming from the mouth of my neighbors.

Well, in other news, I've finished two months at site and it's hard to belive it's almost Thanksgiving considering I arrived here the fourth of July. Soon it will be Christmas and after that a brand new year. So even though life here can stink, at least things are moving along.