An upcountry adventure---To Kindia!!

This past weekend we headed upcountry for an adventure. We went to the city of Kindia, which is about 85 miles North East of Conakry. We headed out early Saturday morning with our fearless guide, Chico. 10 ladies, Chico and our 2 drivers all piled into our van and we set off for one of the bumpiest rides of our lives. The journey took about 4 hours including two “stretch breaks” to let the car cool down, one stop because the van was mysteriously smoking, and 4 stops for the checkpoints. Had we not had Chico the checkpoints would have been rough. He has made friends with a lot of the guards and brings them cigarettes in order to prevent us from having to pay the bribes simply because we are white. 

Leaving the busy, dusty city of Conakry

Not too far out of the city the landscape transforms to a beautiful green

The view on our first "stretch break"

Two wonderful New Zealand ladies and I

My backbench mate Ann during the bumpy 4 hour ride

Some kiddos in the village who came out to play (and stare at the white people)

Our second "stretch break" at a river

Our leader for the weekend Chico!

Just walking through the jungle

This little one stole all the attention at the djembe concert. There were at least 10 half naked African men putting on a show and this little one got the attention of 14 women.  

Our palace where we stayed the night. 

The ridiculous furniture

This little one just wanted to hold my friend Jen's hand out of the bus window. I gave them all Life Saver candies---some loved them, others gave them away. At least they all got eaten :)

The Waterfall! We took this picture standing on an extremely rickety bridge of sorts

Chico gave us a fantastic tour of his agriculture center with which Mercy Ships is partnering. His family owns hundreds of acres and has huge plans for the land. Chico has started by bringing men from the cities out to the bush to change their lives. He encourages them to change their lives, teaches them a trade and gives them the resources to sustain it. He really loves empowering people, and I have no doubt this model will succeed. He has donated a portion of the land to Mercy Ships to begin teaching farming practices to the “teachers” who will then master it and take it back to their communities. It’s a beautiful model, and one that really could change the way people live here. 

I had no idea this is how pineapple grew!

Grass at the farm

A beautifully crafted bridge

Chico helping everyone to cross the "broken bridge". Only one girl went in! He called it his "team building" part of the tour.

Compost pile on the farm. This picture is for Emily and Sarah Barks---I think your compost pile is better :)

Our second day there we decided to make the climb up Mount Gangan. We took about a 4 hour round trip hike which our leader Keto said was about 9kilometers. Keto is the West African champion for the 800m run and was proud to show us pictures with his medals. Each year he organizes a race up the mountain to promote athleticism. He said the winner is typically a teen who lives atop the mountain who is used to making the trek. As we huffed and puffed both up and down the mountain we saw people making the journey barefoot while carrying sacks of bananas or nuts on their heads. Even the cows who live on the mountainside we far more graceful then us.  Part way into the journey we started calling Keto “Jack”. This name came from how nimble and quick he was. The saying evolved into “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack climbs mountains in flip flops”. At one point we needed to cross a small creek that was about knee deep. A few brave souls kicked off their shoes and socks, then my dear friend Ann looked at Keto and said “Bumba?” Which is what mothers do to carry children on their backs. He laughed and said yes, and began carrying each one of us across the water. What a champion! The trek definitely tested all of our balance, and we each wiped out at least once. I brought home a nice elbow bruise as a souvenir. 

The mountain view before we began the hike

Heading up the mountain

Crossing the stream 

All the sweat is worth the view!

Us in one of the villages at the top of the mountain

Insanely sweaty girls at the top~ 

Look at the waterfall! There were two that we could see on the hike

This view just made us all stand for a moment and think. There we were--representing 5 nations, hiking in West Africa. Crazy right? Can you see the two waterfalls?

Favorite sites not captured:

The amount of stuff that can be piled on top of vehicles is amazing. Every single car/truck/bus had a pile of goods strapped to the top almost as big as the car itself. Sometimes it was bag of produce, others was wooden boxes, and twice we saw live goats strapped on bundled up with all the stuff. Basically every taxi had at least 4 chickens tied upside down by their feet on the back window. I believed these chickens to be dead, until we stopped once and they all started moving their heads......

It was a fantastic weekend, and on the way back we talked for hours  with Chico about our dreams, and how we want to impact this world. He made us think, and I’m so thankful for him. I plan to go further upcountry with him in the coming months. Thanks for reading about our adventure--sorry its about a week late!