guinea print

Funny stories

FIXING THE RADIATOR

FIXING THE RADIATOR

To take public means of transport in Guinea is an adventure, and it can happen to see drivers being half way between a mechanic and a wizard.
I was on a crowdy minibus getting from Conakry to Freetown. The travel had already had its surprises: request of bribes at the check points, smashed chickens attempting to cross the road (really!), but its best happened when I noticed the driver was slowing down. He seemed worried about something , so, instead to running like hell on the bumpy dusty road, he was going like a normal sane driver: in Africa this is impossible, that's why I was sure something was wrong. The minibus stopped for a moment. A young guy lied down sliding under it. He fumbled for ten minutes, but at the end he didn't' seemed satisfied of the result. The minibus left , then it stopped leaving again but just for few hundreds meters. The problem seemed to be at the transmission of the steering wheel, and consequently it couldn't follow the sharp bends. The driver and few guys spoke a little bit. They seemed to have found the solution. The minibus speed up, till the first curve, then it slowed down something like 10km/h, one of the guy got off running aside the vehicle and with fast and repetitive knocks BY HAND he was turning one of the wheels. Obviously he had to be very fast to avoid the hand got crushed between the wheel and the road. Once the bend was done, the guy got on again till the next one.

I was a little pissed off on the way from Mamou to Conakry, since after having sweatly conquered the front row of a shared taxi, I realised there were three people (adults, not kids!!!) sharing the seat with me!! It should have been a 5 hours journey but it took 8!!
Almost immediately after leaving Mamou I understood something was wrong with the car. The driver was stopping frequently, looking around for a house, asking for some water and filling the overheated radiator. It was clear there was a leakage in that shitty radiator.
Almost half way from Conakry we had to surrender it wasn't possible to proceed in such conditions. The driver decided he had to fix it, but I was wondering how??
The car stopped in front of a stall, and the guy bought a 'super-attack glue'. Then he took the only two keys he had: a screwdriver and a monkey wrench. I thought there was no way to dismount the radiator (with the fan, all the piping, and the front cover of the car) only by such tools, but I was wrong and after 40min, the radiator, which all the other parts, were on the ground. Amazingly he unscrewed all the nuts, that didn't fit with the monkey wrench he had (almost all!!), just hitting them with the screw driver!
"Now he his going to weld the radiator" one of the passengers told me.
The driver took the glue and mixed it with the sand. Then he 'welded' the damaged fins of the radiator just coating them by such mixture.
He remounted everything again (I've no clue how he could tighten the nuts) and after 2 hours the car was ready to leave.
Great job man!!

Tips

VISA
MONEY
HEALTH
GENERAL TIPS

Bottle water

Generators
Guide and info
Bribes
On taxi de brousse

VISA

You cannot get directly at the airport, but anyway providing the yellow fever certifiacte and the copy of the flight tickets I got a 3 months multiple entry visa for 150euro from the Italian consulate in 3 days.

MONEY

The Guinea Francis the local currency and the chance ratio at the time of the travel (Dec07) was:
1 USD= 4100 GNF. (buying GNF)
1 EURO= 6100 GNF (buying GNF)
You can change money almost everywhere and you can pay bigger amounts (ie accommodation) directly in $, but you risk to be cheated with the change ratio

HEALTH

The yellow fever certificate is mandatory to get the visa. I had it attached to the passport so I cannot say if they border guards really require it. Anyway I wouldnt' see the point to take the risk to travel without being vaccinatinated.
I took Lariam against Malaria. Be aware that it's a risky country as concerns Malaria, on the other hands if you travel in the dry season (Nov- April), having a mosquito net, wearing long pants, long sleeve shirts and abounding with insect repellent you can avoid the famigerated Lariam profilassys.
Take into consideration to buy Malarone instead of Lariam, although it's a daily dose (Lariam weekly) and more expensive, it doesn't give Lariam side effects.
If you r gonna staying for a long period in the country, obviously you have to do your counts among risks, money and side-effects!

Morevover I had the usual vaccinations: Ephatite A, B, Typhus, Tetanus, Meningitis.
I hadn't any problem with the food or the drinks, never drinking tap water, obviously.

GENERAL TIPS

Bottle water
Always check if the bottle is well sealed. Twice it happened to me to get an already opened bottle, I guess they refill with normal water.

Generators
If you r sensitive to the night noises, take into account the position of the generator choising your room. Nertheless your window can probably be next to the neighbour generators, so ear plugs could be the only solution

Guide and info
The best source of info I found is the Sierra Leone section of the West Africa 6th edition, 2006 Lonely Planet; it's 30 well done pages. Also the 14 pages of the Africa 2007 Lonely Planet are concentrated but fundamental. Then it comes the TT forum, essential to be updated about the safety in the country

Bribes
Bribes from soldiers at the check points turned out to be not so bad as I thought. For sure border points are the shittest places from this point of view (from every point of view) but keep always some change with you. Corrupted soldiers don't give change :-)

On taxi de brousse
Avoid seating in the front row, since it means both to be packed with other 4 people (4 NOT 3!) and in case of car crash (probable!), you will be the first to be shot outside the car, passing trought the windshield.