Guinea-Bissau: A land of foreigners

We decided to go to Guinea-Bissau to take advantage of the culture and language affinities. However, in a country where only 14% of the people speak Portuguese, the story ended up being very different...

At the border, we met Forrest (his name is Berryl Forrester, but for me he will always be Forrest - blame Tom Hanks!). Two minutes of talk and he invited us to stay with him in Catel, 17km after São Domingos. Forrest, together with a team of volunteers, is installing a new cashew pressing system, proving medical care to the population, educating the children and spreading his faith (http://bissaumennos.blogspot.com/). A remarkable example of someone that decided to leave his home comfort to give to others. We were also given a shelter, a meal and friendship. Thanks!

Forrest

In the next morning we left Forrest, and took the road to Bissau.

Glimpses of the road to Bissau: Fishing

Glimpses of the road to Bissau: Giant Lizard

In a couple of hours we arrived to Bissau. After passing "The Institution", we spotted a white jeep with two white people: Lopes and Rui! The first is a Portuguese military living in Bissau and the other sells "Leite Mimosa", "Azeite Gallo" and other Portuguese products close to the UN headquarters. We ended up spending four great days with them and Viana, another military working in Bissau!

"The Institution": Casa do Benfica in Bissau

Portuguese Military Cooperation with Guinea Bissau

Bissau was also the place where we met Pinto, the Portuguese selling Moroccan watermelons in Mauritania, Jessica, the British girl living in Kenya that cycled along East Africa, Gerardo, the Italian producer with a house in Cape Verde, and Adrian, the Romanian eating at a Portuguese restaurant that made us change our plans to visit the Bijagos in November! Bissau was also the place where we met several people from Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. I guess that the several police we had to bribe were some of the few locals we met!

In fact, Guinea attracts so many foreigners, that now even Clark and Sweet Potato are residents in Guinea Bissau!

Morocco: Thoughts about Moroccans

Some weeks after leaving Morocco, it is time to write my opinion about Moroccans. We spent one month in Morocco and drove from more than 3000 km the very North (Tangier) to the extreme South (Gergarat) and were able to meet some people along the way. My general opinion is: “I love Moroccans!”

We had a police officer offering us money to go to a hotel, fishermen giving us raw fish, a police handing a pair of shoes and Morad opening us his house in Dakar! Always together with a constant smile and a warm “Bonjour”!

While we shared already the story where we were offered money for the hotel, the others just follow:

• In Bodjour, we decided to go the port to see the boats and take some photos. Some boats full of sardines had just arrived and we ended up leaving with a huge bag full of them. Once we reached the hotel, another fisherman cooked them for us, all free of charge!

• In Laayoune, after more than two weeks recovering from the accident, we headed out looking for some hard boots to protect us for the rest of the trip. We found Brahim, and ended up having a tea and receiving a very cool pair of used “All Star like” shoes!

• In Dakar, Senegal we were at the gas station, surfing the internet and procrastinating, when we noticed that two guys were curious about us. I went to the motorbike and Sweet Potato approached them. Shortly after, she exclaimed excited “They are Moroccans!!” The conversation flowed easily, and we ended up having dinner all together, going out to a nightclub, sleeping at Morad’s place, and having lunch all together again in the day after!

Everywhere in the world you can find good people, but in Morocco the proportion of good hearts, constant smiles and amazing people is very, very high!!!

Senegal: Rosso and the insurance scam

Crossing borders is always a moment of tension. In between Mauritania and Senegal, at Rosso is not an exception and it has an add-on: there is a river and no bridge. With hundreds of people crossing the border every day and many, many “helpers” it has a lot of adrenalin involved. 

We arrived to Rosso on the day before, but it was already late, so we decided to keep the crossing to the next day, ensuring daylight during the whole process. Once we arrived, among several helpers, David popped up immediately. We had met him several days before, entering Mauritania and he was there to help. I kept refusing, but ended up following him to the police (and paying 2 000 ouguias for two passports), customs (and paying 2 500 ouguias), to the ferry ticket counter (and paying 5 000 ouguias) and to the insurance office (and paying 15 000 ouguias for a month of insurance). Once we were ready to go, David asked for his “cadeaux”… I refused (he always said it was for free) and he left furious!

With a huge relief, I thought we were set to leave to the other margin! Until I saw the ferry… To reach it, Tear Drop had to enter the water and drive through, at least, 40 cm of water. As a result, I had to return the ferry ticket and arrange another boat to cross the river! Meanwhile, Johan, a David’s friend, had joined us to “help”. I warned him that I wouldn’t give him any money. He said “I just want to help”.

Johan immediately found another boat (3000 ouguias) and helped me returning the ferry’s ticket. 5 or 6 people loaded the mortobike into a small wooden boat, and a similar number unloaded it on the other margin. Despite their requests for money, no more money was involved in the river crossing!

Johan

Tear Drop on her way further South

It was time to enter Senegal. Johan told us the overall cost Senegal would be about 15 000 CFA (or 10 000 ouguias). Always with him around, I spent 800 CFA to get the entry stamps (for two people), 2 500 CFA to import Tear Drop, another 1 000 CFA as a “parking fee” to the motorbike and no money to Johan (despite his insistent requests for 5000 CFAs…).

While driving away from the port, further inside Senegal, I was happy that we had made it, and still “saved” some money on the crossing and did it for much less than 15 000 CFA on the Senegalese side (though we had just spent a lot!!). However, I found out some days later that the insurance is not valid for all the countries that they say! They just say that you need to have an insurance just right there to trick you…

A word of advice: if crossing in Rosso, firmly refuse all the help! It is easy to do all by yourself and you end up saving a lot of money!

Gambia: Pigs in a Muslim country

We decided to include Gambia (or The Gambia) in the plans at the last minute, a few days ago while in Dakar. This English speaking country inside a French speaking country is a somehow different country.

On top of the overloaded ferries...

there are the mud ponds in the middle of the capital, Banjul,...

the different outdoors related with the President, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh Naasiru Deen,...

the Arc de Triomphe, Gambian version (leading to a muddy road),...

some traces of Portugal, under the form of big gas stations,...

and pigs being transported on the street... in a country where 90% of the people don't eat pork!!

Mauritania: Sand, camels and police checkpoints

About 500 km separate Nouadhibou from Nouakchott, and not only…  There are also plenty of sand, camels and police checkpoints.

The way is very impressive and very pretty during the first 50 km, impressive and pretty in the following 50 km and highly tiring and desolating during the other 400 km!

On top of the sand, camels punctuate the landscape. During almost 500 km we saw plenty of them!

Mauritania is a place where kidnapping is a real danger, and most of the people just cross it as fast as possible. Just like we did, without a single stop in a gas station! If you cross it, just make sure you have plenty of “Les Fiches” to present at the very frequent police checkpoints. Le Fiche is a simple paper with your passport information (other details as address and occupation are also useful) and the vehicle information that can save you a lot of time. If you have them, you can just hand them to the police and keep moving in less than 5 minutes. If not… you will take much longer for sure! Don’t forget to bring them, and plenty… we handed over 20!!

Senegal: Crossing deep waters

The act of crossing a border always involves some excitement. In the case of the border crossing between Mauritania and Senegal, I will just let the photos speak by themselves:

Mauritania: The Chinese "house"

After the harsh cross from Dakhla to the border between Morocco and Mauritania, and driving 40 km between sand dunes, old cars and flying sand, finally we arrived at Nouadhibou, Mauritania. We had been warned it was an ugly town with old cars driving around. All of that was confirmed, and for our surprise we even found a Chinese restaurant! It had some red lanterns out, and it was located in what seemed to be a house working also as the owner's residence.

Tired of the long day, Sweet Potato went inside and, going straight to the point, asked if we could setup the tent on their yard. The lady promptly agreed and we were happy! We ordered some fish, and while waiting, Sweet Potato noticed that the house had plenty of rooms. Until we were done, no one else joined us in the restaurant despite of some people entering and leaving the house.

After the dinner, the hostess, already tipsy, started to call "babe" to Sweet Potato. Weird. Five minutes later, a costumer says "the girl is not happy with me!". The lady replied "It's already not your first time!". Other costumer asked "How much is it?". We started to be suspicious, even more when the restaurant stayed open till, at least, 00h30 and it was supposed to close at 10 pm...

Next morning, while improvising a funnel to change the engine's oil, the owner of the restaurant got us a piece of hard paper...

Yes, it is official: We slept in a Chinese brothel in Nouadhibou, Mauritania!!

Morocco: the accident recovery

Laayoune is not the funniest town, but the people are nice and between constant visits to the clinic, Sweet Potato is getting much better. She can walk now and soon we will be back to the road!

Thanks for all the ones that wished her recovery!

This picture has some days. Now, she can walk without the canes! :)