Yup. I'm home. Internet blogging in Conakry,Guinea didn't so much happen, 'eh? But- I'm gonna spend the next week or so posting the Guinea stories and picts I wanted to post while I was there... We'll start with some dancing clips:
Alseny Bangoura teaching dance class
A little stretchin' before dance class
Performance outside our maison
Mari Bangoura teaching class (don't look for me; I'm filming :))
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Conakry
Where do I start?
1. Transport in Conakry:
It takes a five minute walk on a dusty rocky road to get to a bigger, dirtier road. Then you'll stand on the side of that road and wait for a taxi that doesn't already have 7 people in it. When you find that taxi, it will have one working door: that's the one you'll use to smush in next to the other passengers. It will have no working windows: the dusty, smokey air will permeate your head hair, your nose hair, your cilia, and the last corners of any open alveoli. Your sweat will blend with the sweat of your fellow travelers for the next 15 or 20 minutes until you reach your destination ...
2. Dance class in Conakry:
You thought you could dance. You were wrong.
You will watch your teacher move his body in front of you, demonstrating the movement you should replicate. On cue, your body will move at half-speed and in a completely different manner. You JUST saw the movement. He shows you again. And again. And again. Day six and you can ALmost do one of the seven dances he has taught you.
3. Showering after dance class in Conakry:
You are soaked in sweat from class. There is a fine film of the everpresent airborne dust that is stuck on top of that sweat. You get into the tiny room where the shower is. It is cold. That is the only temperature option. That's ok because you're hot and the cold feels good. You soap up and then the water stops. For a minute. Or ten. The shower knows when you are soapy and really need to rinse. It does. I swear.
There are mosquitoes in the shower. They know that when you are standing there, naked, waiting for the water to run again, you are perfectly ripe for the biting. That's when you remember that you forgot to take your malaria medicine today.
4. Charging your camera battery in Conakry:
There is only electricity at night. There is no electricity during the day. When night comes, the lights come on and you now know that you can plug in your charger. Then the lights go off. The electricity knows to go off right when you put the battery in the charger. It does. I swear. So you look for your nerdy headlamp that you are so thankful you purchased at REI right before you left. But it is not where you left it and you dig around in your suitcase in the darkness until you find it. Then the lights come back on - and you see the mosquito that has just made a silent landing on your forearm...
5. Communication in Conakry:
There are primarily two languages in Guinea: sous sous and french. Your sous sous is weak. You took french in high school but usually spent the hour joking around with your best friend who was in the same class. You remember a few basic verbs and a couple nouns, so you try to ask the dance teacher something simple like: "could you please repeat those steps?" Later, your friend tells you that you said: "I would like if you again one rehearse you feet?"
After class, the teacher says he understands why you are struggling with the dance steps: it's because you are "retard."
Later, your friend explains "retard" means "late"---- you missed the first ten days of the workshop traveling in Morocco.......
Oh. OK. Yeah. I'm retard a LOT.
1. Transport in Conakry:
It takes a five minute walk on a dusty rocky road to get to a bigger, dirtier road. Then you'll stand on the side of that road and wait for a taxi that doesn't already have 7 people in it. When you find that taxi, it will have one working door: that's the one you'll use to smush in next to the other passengers. It will have no working windows: the dusty, smokey air will permeate your head hair, your nose hair, your cilia, and the last corners of any open alveoli. Your sweat will blend with the sweat of your fellow travelers for the next 15 or 20 minutes until you reach your destination ...
2. Dance class in Conakry:
You thought you could dance. You were wrong.
You will watch your teacher move his body in front of you, demonstrating the movement you should replicate. On cue, your body will move at half-speed and in a completely different manner. You JUST saw the movement. He shows you again. And again. And again. Day six and you can ALmost do one of the seven dances he has taught you.
3. Showering after dance class in Conakry:
You are soaked in sweat from class. There is a fine film of the everpresent airborne dust that is stuck on top of that sweat. You get into the tiny room where the shower is. It is cold. That is the only temperature option. That's ok because you're hot and the cold feels good. You soap up and then the water stops. For a minute. Or ten. The shower knows when you are soapy and really need to rinse. It does. I swear.
There are mosquitoes in the shower. They know that when you are standing there, naked, waiting for the water to run again, you are perfectly ripe for the biting. That's when you remember that you forgot to take your malaria medicine today.
4. Charging your camera battery in Conakry:
There is only electricity at night. There is no electricity during the day. When night comes, the lights come on and you now know that you can plug in your charger. Then the lights go off. The electricity knows to go off right when you put the battery in the charger. It does. I swear. So you look for your nerdy headlamp that you are so thankful you purchased at REI right before you left. But it is not where you left it and you dig around in your suitcase in the darkness until you find it. Then the lights come back on - and you see the mosquito that has just made a silent landing on your forearm...
5. Communication in Conakry:
There are primarily two languages in Guinea: sous sous and french. Your sous sous is weak. You took french in high school but usually spent the hour joking around with your best friend who was in the same class. You remember a few basic verbs and a couple nouns, so you try to ask the dance teacher something simple like: "could you please repeat those steps?" Later, your friend tells you that you said: "I would like if you again one rehearse you feet?"
After class, the teacher says he understands why you are struggling with the dance steps: it's because you are "retard."
Later, your friend explains "retard" means "late"---- you missed the first ten days of the workshop traveling in Morocco.......
Oh. OK. Yeah. I'm retard a LOT.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
M3a Salama Moroc
Finding a decent WC has probably been the biggest challenge so far. And I'm not that picky. Really. But trying to get into the tiny room with the hole in the floor while at the same time avoiding physical contact with ANY surfaces takes all the yogi maneuvering one can muster...
Especially if said "one" is moi, with everpresent bag of can't-loseables. (jen: I still have your ipod. and mine. and camera, passport etcetcetc)
There is never any TP so you have to carry it with you. There is rarely a sink and if you are lucky enough to have one, there will be no soap. Germaphobes best stay home.
Unless, of course you stay at the Hotel Sofitel in Marrakesh which is where I am right now for the super fast connection;
I figure I'm building on my already tough immune system. Word from Whitney in Guinea tells me that it is about to get even tougher on my immune system; C'est bon. Bring it on.
Whitney also said that the dance workshop in Conakry has been a real eye-opener on the poverty that exists there. Internet blogging is not-so-much the activity du jour. So;;;; we'll see. Hope everyone's good. Enjoying the snow?.... I threw a couple snowballs at the summit of Tishka in your honor.
Salaam
Especially if said "one" is moi, with everpresent bag of can't-loseables. (jen: I still have your ipod. and mine. and camera, passport etcetcetc)
There is never any TP so you have to carry it with you. There is rarely a sink and if you are lucky enough to have one, there will be no soap. Germaphobes best stay home.
Unless, of course you stay at the Hotel Sofitel in Marrakesh which is where I am right now for the super fast connection;
I figure I'm building on my already tough immune system. Word from Whitney in Guinea tells me that it is about to get even tougher on my immune system; C'est bon. Bring it on.
Whitney also said that the dance workshop in Conakry has been a real eye-opener on the poverty that exists there. Internet blogging is not-so-much the activity du jour. So;;;; we'll see. Hope everyone's good. Enjoying the snow?.... I threw a couple snowballs at the summit of Tishka in your honor.
Salaam
Ouarzazate
King Mohamed VI- the streets in Ouarzazate were decorated for his visit
Market day Ouarzazate
Best oranges in the universe
spices at the market
view from the terrace at restaurant kasbah in Ouarzazate
Market day Ouarzazate
Best oranges in the universe
spices at the market
view from the terrace at restaurant kasbah in Ouarzazate
road trip pics
This one speaks for itself - if you click on thumbnail
who is this masked woman?
who is this masked woman?
Valley of the roses- rest stop
fossils at the summit- there's a vendor around every corner
Fossil near Ouarzazate
The Tichka mountains in the High Atlas from the car window :)
Fossil near Ouarzazate
The Tichka mountains in the High Atlas from the car window :)
Sunday, January 6, 2008
In Ouarzazat
I can't believe tomorrow is my last day in Morocco! It has gone way too fast....I'll definitely need to come back. I've been having quite the adventure so haven't taken the time to post much. I left Essaouira three days ago and have been on a road trip. Yep, I've been drivin' across Morocco with my new friends, Youssef and Abdallatef. We have a minivan, so we've also had room for some hitchikers one night: a couple traveling "around the world" having started in Bulgaria. The original plan was to go to the sahara, where Youssef and Abdallatef are from, but one thing I've learned about travel in Morocco is that the only certain thing is that nothing is certain. The first part of the trip, we were stopped by bad weather; the next day we were slowed ( actually all traffic on the mountain pass stopped) by either an accident or the king of Morocco traveling through - I'm not sure which; and today we landed right in the middle of a political sitch that has us turned around and heading back to Marrakesh tomorrow. I can say that the scenery is breathtaking. The mid and high atlas are beautiful mountainous regions with wide open space. The stars at night are awesome.
Today was kinda scarey.
The town, Boumaine du Dades, was packed with young men that had completely blocked the road. Because traffic kept coming, everyone got trapped in the mess of cars. If you tried to go forward or anything they would all stand in front of your car. They were protesting the poverty in their village that has taken place since a change in the highway system. This was their way of getting the government's attention.....which is what they needed to do, I geuss, but I was breathing a huge sigh of relief when my peeps got us the heck out of there before it got dark. Finally, about 4 hours later, when we were almost back to Ouarzazat, we saw trucks of police headed towards the Boumaine du Dades.
So, anyhoo :)
Hi Mom
Ummm
All's good.
Today was kinda scarey.
The town, Boumaine du Dades, was packed with young men that had completely blocked the road. Because traffic kept coming, everyone got trapped in the mess of cars. If you tried to go forward or anything they would all stand in front of your car. They were protesting the poverty in their village that has taken place since a change in the highway system. This was their way of getting the government's attention.....which is what they needed to do, I geuss, but I was breathing a huge sigh of relief when my peeps got us the heck out of there before it got dark. Finally, about 4 hours later, when we were almost back to Ouarzazat, we saw trucks of police headed towards the Boumaine du Dades.
So, anyhoo :)
Hi Mom
Ummm
All's good.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Essaouria
This place is great. I arrived by bus yesterday and have decided to stay another day. It's far more manageable than the hectic insanity of Marrakesh. Although, I do miss my new boyfriend. (once I can download the video clip you'll understand)
Yesterday was bright and windy. I hung out on the beach and watched the parasailers then walked to the harbor for sunset. Blue wooden boats, men in rubber boots, the smell of fresh fish, and the polyrhythmic clanking noise of docked boats as they bob with the tide.....
...sweet Essaouria.
Yesterday was bright and windy. I hung out on the beach and watched the parasailers then walked to the harbor for sunset. Blue wooden boats, men in rubber boots, the smell of fresh fish, and the polyrhythmic clanking noise of docked boats as they bob with the tide.....
...sweet Essaouria.
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