"Saturday..."

For the first time on foot, my friend Sharon and I decided to venture out into the town today.  After a really crazy week preparing for the medical screenings on Monday and Tuesday, getting out and going on an adventure seemed like a good idea.

We had arranged earlier in the week to get some Leones, the local currency-when you look at the money, it makes a person feel really wealthy-then you learn the exchange rate.

10 000 Leones is equivalent to about $2.50 US...

The first thing we did was exit the port area and then head into the market area.  As I described in an earlier post, it was wall to wall people selling everything possible-piles of homemade shampoo (it looked like a tub of lard), raw chicken legs, pig's feet, pig's skin, fresh fish, smoked fish, vegetables, bras (which you just try on in the street), shoes, clothes on and on and on.  Basically everything that a person needs you can find in the market.  The sounds of the market were like an harmonious symphony.  People were yelling the prices of the goods they were trying to sell, horns of vehicles were blasting to warn people to get out of the way, kids were crying and laughing, with under tones of people talking and yelling.  The smells ranged from raw fish, to vehicle exhaust, to dust, and stale water/waste that had accumulated in the gutters on the sides of the roads.

 As we walked back to the port, we saw these pictures of the Anastasis, painted on the wall, from one of the previous visits Mercy Ships was here.

Then these people saw me taking pictures and wanted their pictures taken also. 

We have found the people of Freetown to be very friendly and welcoming.  The sad part is that everywhere you look you see the effects of the war-people with amputated limbs-arms, legs, hands, and feet.  People have done the best they could with the buildings, but you still see the scars of war. 

(Hopefully the pictures turned out, we are having issues again)