Dabola - Siguiri (GIN) : Mango country
N 10°43.643' W 011°06.604' - N 11°25.739' W 009°09.293'
Whilst doing the puzzle of getting everything in its place on the bike we blessed with a few drops of rain after two months without a cloud in the sky. As our next leg was a tar road, with only a few surprise potholes to keep you from enjoying the ride too much, we set off anyway and appreciated the cool air. As in Guinea-Bissau there was very little traffic, with the difference that here we saw quite a number of vehicles from the UN food programme and other aid organisations. Though certainly the interior of Guinea is poor, the channels of international and local aid seem in place and operating. Decending down to the plains the temperature rose steadily and so too the density of mango trees. Huge trees overloaded with fruit and groups of children 'fishing' the tasty mangoes with long bamboo poles were a common sight en route. We had lunch in Kan-Kan, Guinea's second largest town, and although we are already used to being an attraction because of 'la nave', the crowd of more than 100 onlookers young and old which had gathered while filling uphad us flattered. We felt a bit relieved once we had worked our way through the crowd and were on the impressively wide, run-way like road cutting through the red earth. Much hotter than in the highlands, mangoes were already on sale everywhere and we indulged in what might be the world’s cheapest mangoes : 10 mangoes for CFA 100, with 1 Euro=CFA 650)
Whilst doing the puzzle of getting everything in its place on the bike we blessed with a few drops of rain after two months without a cloud in the sky. As our next leg was a tar road, with only a few surprise potholes to keep you from enjoying the ride too much, we set off anyway and appreciated the cool air. As in Guinea-Bissau there was very little traffic, with the difference that here we saw quite a number of vehicles from the UN food programme and other aid organisations. Though certainly the interior of Guinea is poor, the channels of international and local aid seem in place and operating. Decending down to the plains the temperature rose steadily and so too the density of mango trees. Huge trees overloaded with fruit and groups of children 'fishing' the tasty mangoes with long bamboo poles were a common sight en route. We had lunch in Kan-Kan, Guinea's second largest town, and although we are already used to being an attraction because of 'la nave', the crowd of more than 100 onlookers young and old which had gathered while filling uphad us flattered. We felt a bit relieved once we had worked our way through the crowd and were on the impressively wide, run-way like road cutting through the red earth. Much hotter than in the highlands, mangoes were already on sale everywhere and we indulged in what might be the world’s cheapest mangoes : 10 mangoes for CFA 100, with 1 Euro=CFA 650)
posted by Retobados at 6:47 AM
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