-Bill Bryson-
I had an amazing sleep last night and I feel a million
bucks and even the blast of the heat when we left the hotel didn’t dampen my
spirits this morning. We had a border
crossing today into Senegal and the 2nd last country of the
trip. Breakfast was a simple fare of
bread, honey and jam and a coffee and juice.
While we were in the small air-conditioned room there were 2 young blond
girls also having breakfast, that everyone happened to see around town
yesterday and you could miss them with their hair and skimpy clothes, but they
approached us and asked if they could use Ian and Suzanne’s tablet to check
their emails. We got talking to them and
they were from Germany and they are travelling for 5 weeks, on their own,
hoping to reach Ghana if they can get that visa on route and what we had done
in 8 weeks, they hoped to do in 5 and all on public transport not being able to
speak French or Portuguese and they mentioned how hard they have found that
here in Guinea Bissau. They seemed very
nice and we wished them luck in their travels and I have yet to decide if they
are incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.
We had to be back at the group hotel by 9am, so we were
ready and packed to leave ours at 8.30am.
The reception guy found us a taxi back and walked us over with our bags
and we tipped him well as he had been nothing but friendly, helpful and went
out of his way for us, so the 2000 tip was totally worth it, which is a lot for
him and not that much for us showed that we were grateful. There was a little traffic this morning and
we got back at 8.45am, perfect timing as the others were still at breakfast, so
with Lord Byron telling us where Madge had been moved to, we walked down to the
truck to pop all our things on. I opened
the main truck door and shoved 2 bags of things on the step and handed Ian the
T key and then when I turned back around to climb the steps there was a MASSIVE
spider hanging in the door way that was at my eye height level and seriously,
no exaggeration it was as big as my hand.
He was hanging from a single web from the roof and I totally freaked
out. Luckily I had Ian, the Spiderman,
handy and he just came over and picked up the single string of web and with the
spider attached carried it to a nearby bush to let him free. He was apparently called a Golden Orb and
although he is not a dangerous spider he has a bite to him if unhappy. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Imagine if I
had of climbed onto the truck and not seen him, he would have climbed on me and
I would of really had a fit of some sort.
And to think that I didn’t see him the first time I put things on the
step, UGHHHHHHHHHHH. I shudder at the
thought.
I have decided to have a seat roster to stick to for the
remaining truck days myself and I am going to move in a clockwise
direction. This was it keeps it fair for
me and if anyone wants to sit next to me they are more than welcome, I just
want a window seat, which maybe a little selfish and I know that just because I
am a single traveler, doesn’t mean I am entitled to a single seat, as I am sure
there are days that the couples would want to spread out from each other for
some space, so I am going to make a bigger effort on keeping the seat next to me
spare so that there is a chance for people to move around. So I have started with the 2 front seats
directly behind Zoe this morning and it is funny after 56 days that this is the
very first time I have sat in these seats at all. We had to wait for the last of the laundry to
be finished this morning, hence the later start and we were all locked and
loaded at 9.10am. There were a few
people feeling a little dicey this morning and we think it may have been from
their breakfast, so with a few loose stomachs we left the old quarter of Bissau
and travelled through what seemed to be the busier side of town and where it
was more of a hive of activity, local stall and shops and lots more
traffic. I saw some material here in
this suburb, but it was a way from where we were and I don’t think I would come
all this way anyway. I wasn’t that
keen.
We were supposed to be bush camping tonight, but there
was a small rumor going around that we just may make Cap Skirring tonight if
all the stars were aligned and we all had our fingers crossed the right
way. The first bit of good news we got
was that what was thought to be a ferry crossing as a bridge was being constructed;
well the bridge was finished so instead of taking 1-1.5 hours to cross the
river, after a security check, we whipped across in 5 minutes!!! Weeeee haaaaaaaaaaaa. We are certainly owed a few good turns and we
will take them as they come our way. We
really needed the border crossings to go our way and I really think we could
make the beach tonight and this seemed to lift everyone on the truck and I
think it was a needed left after they had spent 2 nights in the dodgy hotel for
2 nights and some people feeling dodgy, it lifted morale no end. The roads were incredible and we were making
awesome progress. The scenery changed to
wetlands, and at one point the road was in the middle of a massive wetland and
there were birds flying and crabs coming out of their holes as we drove past
skittering along the flats.
At 10.15am, we reached what we thought was the Guinea
Bissau border!!!! It wasn’t the proper
border as such, but it was where we were stamped out of the country and where
Madge was also stamped. We were hit by
about 10 sellers while we waited in the truck all selling donuts, fried food
and goods out of large plastic containers, bananas out of baskets and a few
other items were also up for sale. The
donut ladies did a roaring trade as Clem and Ian bought a truck load, partly
because they were so cheap and partly because they don’t have a lot of change
on them. Clem, as always shared his
around and I have to say the donuts were delicious and I have an inkling it may
have something to do with them coated in sugar. I called it the fake border crossing and only
after 10 minutes later we were on our way to the border proper where we were
required to hop off the truck as our passports were written into a ledger book,
we were checked and able to get back on the truck. The security weren’t in any form of uniform and
this is where all the checkpoints come into play. There are so many units of security, but most
of them are in some form of uniform, from the police to the army to immigration
to customs to the narcotics division and then these guys who weren’t in a uniform
at all. After a few of us were back on
the truck we noticed that there were 2 of the ‘security’ people videoing us,
which we normally don’t mind people taking pictures, but videoing was a little
weird and the guy was a little dodgy looking which made us a little mad, but
not really knowing what the role these guys were and important in some shape,
so we kept quiet but we weren’t happy.
40 minutes later we were cleared officially out of Guinea
Bissau and in no-man’s land between there and Senegal. We stopped 1km further for some more paper
work and then drove for another hour and a bit to finally arrive at the Senegal
border at 1.30pm. By this time the
weather seemed to have changed the second we stopped and it was SO HOT and
HUMID it was unbearable. We had to all
get out of the truck anyway as we had to be checked by the military police to
make sure we had a visa and then we were passed on to the guys with the stamps
to officially stamp us in the country.
This is where the fun and games began, as half of us had presented
ourselves to an actual consulate and got the visa into our passports (with a
lot of time and cost) and half of the group applied for the visa online and had
to then go through the process of getting the visa applied into theirs. So the non-trouble children were all done
first and then the trouble children were taken to another building down the
road where they had to submit a photo and finger prints and then a sticky visa
was issued for their passports. Who
would have thought that they would have had that technology on site, but they
did and being Africa, this of course entailed time. So the NT children had time on our hands and
decided then that we would do lunch while we waited, make the others theirs and
take it to them while they waited. Due
to lack of shade, we made the tuna sandwiches in the shade of the truck with
the least amount of fuss. It was so HOT
that the padlocks on the truck burned and there would be no way we could sit in
her, as it would have easily been over 45C in there. It was a scorcher. An army convoy turned up the military post
during our wait and they were ready, locked and loaded. They were in full combat clothing, flap
jackets, helmets and guns at the ready and they even had the belt of bullets in
their hands. It was a little surreal and
even on an exercise I don’t think you see them ‘that ready’. They all looked great, with their tall frames
and muscly arms, so it helped kill some time having a perv on the Senegalese
soldiers. One of them spoke to me as he
passed at one stage and asked if I liked guns and if I wanted to be a soldier. Maybe we were getting out of Guinea Bissau at
the nick of time!!! Just shy of 2 hours
later, the last person rocked back to the truck at 3.25pm and we were all
cleared to hit the road.
WELCOME TO SENEGAL.
We had literally only travelled 5 minutes and we were
pulled over by drug enforcement and were asked to turn off the engine and an
officer came aboard and checked about 4 bags in earnest and then waved us on
after he got off the truck. 20 minutes later
there was another form of security check which only held us up for a few
minutes and then finally we then drove for about another 5 minutes and were
pulled over again for the third time since leaving the border. Again it just shows that there are different
arms of law enforcement, it is just crappy that they are all located not far
from each other on this section of the highway.
By this time we were all HOT and SWEATY and we were all getting a little
tired. Even though you do jack shit on
these truck days, the heat just drains all your energy and you just have to
make sure that you keep up your fluids or you will eventually run into some
form of heat stress. I would have to say
it was even hotter than the hottest day we had in Benin, in Pendjari National
Park- but only just and to take a guess at the temperature I would have to say
the high 30’s minimum.
From here we travelled around another hour getting us to
a dusty town called Ziguinchor where we would be coming back to in 3 days’
time. There didn’t seem to be a lot the
town could offer and it begged the question on why we would be coming back here
for 2 nights. I haven’t looked at the
itinerary, but I am sure that Sam would be all over it and other people would
be asking the same question as me. From
Ziguinchor we drove a further 1.5 hours into the Cap Skirring area and after a
police check at the T junction we finally arrived to our beachside hotel at 6.00pm. We had officially made it to Cap Skirring
without a bush camp and we were now officially a day ahead of our
itinerary. It just goes to show how
quickly things can change and only a few weeks ago we were a day behind on the
itinerary and now we were a day in front.
The overland Gods were with us today and we needed to catch that break,
we had done some hard yards and now we were finally rewarded with a positive
outcome. Finally. We waited patiently for what seemed like an
eternity (more like 30 minutes) for Sam and Zoe to come back and then they then
filled us in. As we were supposed to
bush camp tonight, tonight was going to be at our own cost, which was fair
enough, and then we could upgrade from what was supposed to be camping to rooms
at the hotel. I have a MASSIVE issue
with the way Dragoman run their kitty and how it all works, but that is for a
different blog to go through the pros and cons, but for the 2 nights it was
going to cost 36,000 each (70AUD) which we all agreed to without even seeing
the rooms, the guys were desperate for a good room after the last 2 nights debacle
and after unloading the bags we were shown to the reception and bar area as our
rooms were prepared and this is when we realized we had lucked out on the
accommodation finally as well. We had
basically warped into a 5th dimension. A dimension that had a pool, a bar, a beach,
a gift shop and that was without having seen the rooms yet. WE WERE IN NIRVANA. And add to all that, while we were waiting we
received a WELCOME DRINK!!!! Can you believe it!? I have said before that we have gone from
rags to riches with accommodation before but this takes the cake and we were
going to have 2 nights, possibly 3 here and you could not wipe the smiles off
our faces if you tried.
We were finally shown to our rooms just after 7pm and we
had to make a quick turnaround as at 7.30pm on Wednesday and Saturday nights
they have a free cocktail for guests at the beach restaurant from 7.30pm. We were shown to our room which was amazing
at first look. The air-con was on and it
was new looking and had a great bathroom.
The guy that had walked us to our room was still there when we checked
the taps and there was no water to be had and he said to give him 5 minutes and
he would get it fixed. True to his word
the water came on and we were able to shower, properly, with a shower head we
didn’t have to hold, but no hot water, which didn’t matter at the time. Helen then jumped into the shower and I
hadn’t been out more than 2 minutes and I was starting to sweat profusely again
and realized that the air-con was not blowing cold air and we were literally in
a sauna. We checked with Clem and Lord
Byron next door and they had a bigger room and it was cold as Antarctica in
there, it was beautiful. So when we
headed to dinner, we asked if someone could check the air-con for us and we
would check back later. The free cocktails
were open to all the people staying at the resort and sister property just down
the lane from us and it was busy. Zoe
had made friends with one of the restaurant managers and we were set up nicely
with chairs and drinks were bought to us which were an option of Hibiscus juice
or Hibiscus juice and rum.
Dinner was set up beside the pool, and there were tables
all set up with table clothes, the pool lights were on and the pool deck lit up
and it was like we had stepped straight out of a hotel brochure. Some of the tables were occupied with people
and we had a table that had been set for our group. Seriously, were we still in Africa? After getting seated and having a look around
there was one thing that stood out.
There was one table of 3 foreign men and a local lady (who looked the
part I think she was) and there was a table with an older foreign lady with a
young local man, and another table of 2 foreign women and 2 local men. Do you see a pattern here? I think it was the Phuket equivalent of dirty
old men picking up young Thai women.
Here it was dirty old French women picking up handsome young Senegalese
men. I guess it happens all over the
world, but it would be the last place you would have though for it to
happen. But I do have to say, good on
the old ducks!!!!! It was a set meal,
with a choice of 2 options from entrée, main and dessert for a total of 10,000
(20AUD) and the menu was like a 5 star restaurant. I even ordered a wine with dinner as I think
it was rightly earned. What an awesome
place and looking around the group I don’t think anyone would have guessed that
this is where we would have ended up tonight or that the accommodation would
have been this INCREDIBLE on the itinerary, especially following the Bissau
hotel. We were a little gob smacked to
be honest. Zoe was running around for us
getting the information on the tours that we could do tomorrow. Sam had come down with an illness and that had
knocked him around, so he was resting up and Zoe did the leg work for
everything, which will work in her favor as she is bringing the new group back
here in 3 weeks as the guide and Sam as the co-driver and she will certainly be
more knowledgeable upon the return. There
was a bevy of options for things to do here including a day trip to some
islands, quad biking, bicycle rentals and fishing. There was a lot of faffing about of what
people wanted to do, but we all did agree unanimously that we all wanted to
spend our spare night here, to make it 3 glorious nights and 2 full days in
this little patch of heaven in Senegal and after Zoe checking the availability
for the additional night we were at least confirmed for that.
Between courses I went and checked on our room to see if
the air-con had been fixed and it was still hot as ever, so I headed back to
reception where Zoe was still getting information and with her chat chat
chatting in French the guy said that the air-con was broken and we were given a
new room. Awesome. There was no way that I would have been able
to sleep in one of the bungalows without the air-con and that is not me being
precious at all. I told Helen the story
and she went and moved her stuff into the new room straight away, while I
waited till after dinner to do the transfer and return the old key in the
morning before 9am.
So we had finally hit the accommodation jackpot on the
trip. It took 8.5 weeks, some pretty
dodgy accommodation, bush camps and ordinary guest houses, but we have been
rewarded with some luxury finally and we were going to make the most of the
next 2 days. Would I have upgraded in
Bissau if I had of known this accommodation was coming? I’m not sure and that is the downside of not
knowing and also Sam and Zoe not knowing what was coming, and I am getting a
little jaded on the workings of the trip and also how the kitty is working, but
again I will touch upon that in another blog.
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