SAGA PART 3 - Air Maybe? Definitely!!!

But the eclipse did not only save Tintin from getting burned at the stake. It also saved me from a whole day of work….

At noon on the 30^th of March, I landed in Abidjan, only to find out that Air Ivoire had forgotten to mention that our flight had been cancelled.

I must say that flying with any airline in West Africa is folkloric at best. First, on arrival, one has to board the plane by walking on the tarmac and walking on these:

Second, (and this is where Air Ivoire’s reputation is made true) flights get cancelled ALL THE TIME.

Lucky for me, there was a flight the next morning, and Air Ivoire was sweet enough to accommodate the other cancelled travelers and myself at the very lofty Hotel Ibis Plateau.

I did not visit Abidjan though. In fact, I made arrangements with the hotel’s driver to visit, but he cancelled… because he had to go pick up more cancelled passengers!

I nevertheless had the pleasure to see the skyline of Abidjan, and to observe the city during the 30 minute drive.

Despite Cote-d’Ivoire’s troubled events of last year, the city appeared unscathed and relatively peaceful. Nevertheless, I was not inclined to tempt my fate and go around. The troubles of 2004-5 were a recent memory, and I had no intention of being another casualty on the already long list of expats that got hurt in this violent town.

That night, I had dinner and got tipsy on account of Air Ivoire, in the gracious company of my petulant American colleague, a cynical and amusing Croatian doctor, and a warm and funny businesswoman from Cameroon.

The Beaver


Thank you Emmanuel.K.Bensah II in Accra, GHANA, for posting on my guest map!

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

PAC MAN

Once again, I am ready to embark on a new journey.

In fact, a conversation with SFTC has made realize how hectic the weeks to come are going to be. Tonight, I am packing because tomorrow morning I am flying out.

I will be flying on SLOK AIR.

My colleague says it sounds like something nasty in a bucket, which it does.

My cousin, who has been in the flying business says it might stand for Sometimes Lands OK.

Me? I don't care, man. It's getting me where I need to go.

It'll be my 3rd flight with them so I know what to expect: an overbooked flight, a stampede at boarding, bad food and lousy service. What ever. The flight is only one hour anyway.

First, I'm flying to Accra in Ghana. I'll spend tomorrow's night there and then take a flight to Abidjan in Cote-d'Ivoire where I will sit and rot for 10 hours until my flight on Air Ivoire, SLOK's distant cousin, , also referred to by the locals are : Air Peut-Etre (Air Maybe) to Cotonou, in Benin.

I'll work 11 days in Cotonou and then fly to Paris in France (duh) where I'll be meeting up at last with my only love.

10 days and 2 buckets of tears later, I'll fly out again to Miami where I'll spend an overnight before my flight to Port-au-Prince, in Haiti, where i'll be working 6 weeks before I go home to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for 2 weeks of rest (and then it's back out again - but let's not go there yet).

I calculate that I will pack and unpack another 6 times before I get home 2 months from now. That means I go through this about every 2 weeks.

And even after I get home, I'll have to pack again 2 weeks later.

(Maybe I just just start living in my suitcase.)

Oh boy. I need to get real. I'm way too big.

I'm getting pretty good at this though.

1. For example, I know to always have a spare change in my hand luggage in case my main stuff gets lots by the morons at the airport company.
2. I have those cool anti-air bags to make sure I don't lose any space in my luggage.
3. I know not to unpack too much.
4. I know exactly what goes where in my suitcase.

Nevertheless, whenever I pack up, I always have the same comment:

"! Good grief, I carry way too much crap ! "

The Beaver

Thanks, Chris in Puebla and Ryan in Madison for posting on my guestmap!

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Bouffe Locale / Local Food

Guineans eat rice (local rice which to me looks very ordinary), if possible, 3 times per day. They have it with a variety of sauces which include :

Les Guinéens mangent, si possible 3 fois par jour, du riz local, qui me semble très ordinaire. Ils le mangent avec diverses sauces, dont :

Fish (with tomato sauce and veggies) - my favorite ;
Poisson (avec sauce tomate et legume) - mon choix personnel ;

• Yassa (onions, lemon and pepper sauce) and grilled chicken - the chicken is dreadful - barely any meat onthere, which is too bad because the sauce is otherwise quite good ;
• Yassa (sauce aux oignons, aux citrons et au poivre) et poulet grille - soit-dit en passant, le poulet est affreux, maigre a faire peur, ce qui dommage cas la sauce est autrement tres bonne ;
• Leaf sauce (green and goowy - kinda scary and not very good) ;
• Sauce feuille (verte et gluante - un peu effrayante et pas terrible) ;

• Okra sauce (also green and goowy with string like bits) ;
• Sauce Gombo (aussi verte et gluante avec une tendance filandreuse).

• Meat sauce (with suspicious unidentified bits of food) ;
• Sauce viande (avec morceaux de nourriture suspects) ;
• Peanut sauce (the smell is quite strong).
• Sauce arachide (l'odeur est tres forte).

When rice is unavailable - because it's very costly, they have back up solutions :

Quand le riz n'est pas disponible, parce que trop dispendieux, il y a d'autres solutions :

Attieke

Cassava (Manioc)

• attieke (cassava semolina) - which they have in abundance, in Forested Guinea particularly. It's frowned upon like the poor's food, but nevertheless it is a common find in Conakry. Attieke is quite appreciated in Burkina, Ivory Coast and some parts of Ghana.
• l'attieke (semoule de manioc) est abondante en Guinee, surtout en Guinee Forestiere. Elle est meprisee et consideree comme la nourriture du pauvre, mais on peut en trouver facilement a Conakry. L'attieke est tres appreciee au Burkina et en Cote d'Ivoire, et dans certaines regions du Ghana.
• toh (plantain dough or millet dough) is as well common, but not as popular as rice. To is the main dish in Burkina Faso.
• le toh (pate de bananes plantain ou de mil) est aussi commun, mais pas aussi populaire que le riz. Le to est le plat principal du Burkina Faso.

Nevertheless, it's possible to find pizza, pasta, french and chinese cuisine in Conakry at a reasonable, if not ridiculously low price (for North-American standards). Of course, the quality will range from awful to awesome - actually, bad chinese and bad pizza have been redefined in Conakry. It's also common to find burgers and shawarmas (lebanese sandwiches with beef and hummus in a pita).

Tout de meme, il est possible de trouver de la pizza, des pates, et de la cuisine francaise ou chinoise a Conakry pour un prix raisonnable ou meme ridiculement peu eleve (pour les standards Nord-Americains). Bien sur, la qualite varie de merveilleuse a horrible - en fait, le mauvais chinois et la mauvaise pizza on ete re-inventes a Conakry. Il est aussi facile de trouver des burgers et des shawarmas (sandwiches libanais avec du boeuf et du homos dans un pita).

When not eating local or at a restaurant, it's possible to shop at a regular grocery store (held by Lebanese or Indian businessmen) and to find blue cheese and other luxury items - I've already had blue cheese twice here in Conakry, it's kind of a comfort food for me. For the more adventurous, it's also possible to go haggle over veggies and meat at the local market, and bread can be bought at the side of the street.

Quand on ne mange pas local ou dans un restaurant, il est possible de s'approvisionner dans un magasin d'alimentation local (tenu par des hommes d'affaires libanais ou indiens) et d'y trouver du fromage bleu et autres marchandises de luxe - depuis mon arrivee, je me suis deja paye deux lunchs au fromage bleu, c'est une nourriture reconfortante pour moi. Pour les plus aventureux, il est aussi possible d'aller marchander des fruits et de la viande au marche local, et on peut acheter du pain dans la rue.

I want to conclude on the fact that Conakry is a sea-side city and has great grilled fish. With grilled alhoko, it's just great !

Je conclus avec ceci : comme Conakry est une ville maritime, on y trouve de l'excellent poisson grille. Avec de l'alhoko frite, c'est genial !

The Beaver

Merci, Pat et Sophie sur la Rive-Sud pour la tite pinouche !

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !