17:30 - We gathered in the reception of the ship, organized vehicles, scanned off the ship, got into the vehicles, and set out.
17:35 - The first thing we noticed, was our vehicle made a horrid sound when we turned on the air conditioning....that only means on thing...we do it the old fashion way. Roll down the windows, hope for a breeze and sweat! (Well, so much for the hair and smelling nice.)
17:36 - We leave the port area, drive up the hill (waving and smiling at all the kids on the side of the road)
17:40 - We get our first hint of traffic.
photo taken by Tim and Hannah on another trip...
Now let me explain to you the roads here. They are narrow...really narrow. A friend of mine aptly described the roads as being designed for a small Cornish town (Yes, he's from the UK) with the population of 4 million people. Basically, put two trucks side by side and there is no room to maneuver. There are open ditches on the side of each road that are easy to get stuck in or break an axle in. The side of the roads are lined with shops that basically open into the street (a sidewalk is an unknown amenity here). Motor bikes are everywhere going in every direction. On top of the narrow roads, motorbikes, and shops add people...LOTS of people-thousands of people-going every which way-on both sides of the street 5-6 deep and also walking randomly between the cars. Kids coming home from school, people talking, people looking for food, carrying things, pushing wheels barrows....basically chaos is a good word.
17:45 - We are surrounded by cars, motorbikes and people...our first hint it is going to be a long ride.17:50 - We now have gone a block. The road ahead of us is full of traffic and nothing is moving. So we sit, with our windows down, hoping for a breeze, smelling the unique smells of Freetown- a hint of smoke, fish, dust, urine, salt, and people/sweat.
Quite surprisingly, usually we don't drive with the windows down because being a westerner in West Africa can sometimes make you a target to steal from or be pestered to buy things. People were very polite. They kindly asked if we want to buy some dried plantains, fish, gum, or whatever they are selling. When we say no, to my surprise they continue on their way. Children wave and smile. Shop owners look at us out of curiosity. A couple people ask about the medial screenings that we are doing next week. They are told where to go and what time. They are also told they should not pay to have their name put on a list-we don't have a wait list of names.
So by 18:00 - we are stopped again - this time for about 20 mins. The land rover behind us decided to test to the radio in the vehicle to see if it is working. So one of our passengers, who is in the back, jumps out and starts shuttling information between the two "rovers". Just as we are finished testing the radios, traffic begins to move again. He jumps back in, closes the door...and we're off....sort of.
18:20 - we are moving again...now at the foot of the big hill - just narrowly missing having a large, what was once tour bus, now public transport bus, run into us.
18:25 - The large once was tour bus, now creeping along infront of us, decides it is going the wrong direction...So it stops and starts to turn around. Imagine this, large tour bus, NARROW road (full of traffic)...we sit back and watch. The bus is positioned perpendicual to the road. He cannot back up any more because his back end can't go up the hill behind him and cannot go forward too much because the road is far to narrow. He just start turning slowly creeping missing signs, people, buildings- keeps turning and turning-people are yelling and directing him, he keeps turning and then he's done. We all sat their in amazement and in awe of what we just witnessed!
18:35 - we turn down the way too narrow road to try to bypass some of the traffic. Coming out at the end of the street, the "rover"in from of us turns the police stop us and tell us to wait. At this point Mike (who has been driving all this time) starts to tell the officer we need to follow that vehicle that just turned. He is speaking Krio and Mike is speaking English. What a combination! Finally the officers (4 of them) understand and we wait for 15 mins and then they let us turn.
18:50 - we have now been driving over and hour and a half...we're about half way to where we need to go. Knowing the traffic is bad, the lead rover decides we need to go the back way around the mountain.
18:55 -we are now over looking Freetown. AMAZING. None of us had our camera, but I found this picture that resembles the view of Freetown the the mountain...
We were all in awe of the beauty of the town and the view. Pulled into a sense of "oh the worst is over, we can relax now we're almost there" feeling. Not knowing the biggest part of the adventure was yet to come.
19:00 - we get a call on the cell phone "we're going to go on some rough road." The pavement ends and we continue on. For the first 15 or so minutes we're thinking,"this is not so bad...the beach road in Benin was worse." Then it hits...
19:10 - We start hitting some really rough terrain, no vehicle should ever drive on. Craters, rocks, and bumps all push the "rover"to it's limits. Hills that stalled the vehicle (until we realized we needed to shift into low gear), and angles that make us feel like we're ready to tip over.
19:25 - After almost two hours we drive into a residence, only to find out we turned into the wrong place-missed it by one house...
19:30 - we all pile out after 2 hours on the road feeling disheveled and dirty to enjoy and evening with the High Commissioner.
22:00 - After a lovely evening we head home...it takes 20 minutes to get back to the port...(there was no traffic!)
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