It’s Alison and I’s second day together cruising around Freetown, and today has been a productive and fun day for sure. In the morning, we met a few friends: Samuel and Mabinty. Mabinty showed up in her newly repaired car, so that instantly made the rest of the day very easy. First stop was the bank to get a little money out of there – er wait, was it lunch… what did I eat for lunch? Hmmm Ah, first stop: look up a party acquaintance at the Special Court, then the bank, then a nice little cafe called Bliss. I think the owners of this place, Bliss, are certainly from a different country and had the idea for ambiance, menu, and amenities dialed out for Americans, Europeans and rich westerners. For us, it certainly was a blissful experience. Except for a little mild indigestion I got from my chicken wrap (which was superb and toasted) the place is nice. Tables, chairs, air conditioning, bakery with tasty homemade junk food, latte, cappuccino, mocha, it was wonderful. Oh they had doughnuts too! We bought a box of their delicious baked goodies to bring back to the boat.
The Special Court was a pretty neat place. The dude that we met there, Peter Anderson, was very informative, and gave a wonderful talk question and answer about the history of the special court and some of the people tried and convicted there. I’m sorry I’m such crap about remembering names and places, I don’t think I remember a single one right now… anyways, the campus was nice – holding cells – 18 in total, they were holding 8 at the time we visited. The courthouse is supposed to resemble large scales, but to me it looked more like an open book. Pretty place, nicely terraced lawn leading up to the two main courthouses. They also had this large, humvee war vehicle looking thing. It had a line of four large knobby wheels on each side, armor and guns all around.
After the Special Court, we went to Bliss (see above), then for a little shopping to two markets.I got two cool items: a string of glass beads of different colors for 40,000 Le ($13) and a africana outfit (pants and shirt) made in China but very classy with some linen in it for 80,000 Le ($26). It’s a sweet looking getup, all I need now is a little round hat to top it off – or a bald head. Alison said I looked like some sort of guru in it.
In our near future, we have to look. So there you have an exciting day in the life of Drew and Alison in Sierra Leone Africa. Forward to a possible ride with Amistad from here to Dakar. After that, we hope to ride the train or bus to Dogon Country in Mali for trekking, then to Morocco to see some sights, and catch a $5 plane flight on Ryan Air up to Europe.
On a personal note, I’m extremely happy that Alison has been able to join me here. Since April I’d been trying to get her along with me on Amistad’s ticket, but they have jerked me around the entire time. Not pleased with them. But I am pleased that Alison as taken matters into her own hands: gotten all the vaccinations, all the visas, picked up the plane tickets on her own, and been able to join Amistad – despite their lack of organization or interest – as a volunteer. I feel like I’ve sorta been holding back for her to get here before I really start having fun. Certainly not the way to be, but it was sorta the truth for me. In fact, Eve said that she felt there was some sort of little string that kept me from going off the deep end. I had hoped that Alison would soon be with me. Ah yes, and my perseverance has paid off in spades.
mr Drew The pictures will keep flowing, and the blogs trickling. Hope everyone is well, drop me a line if you’d like. It’s always nice to hear from old and new friends.