Field Trip!

Today we were set loose on east Freetown but for a real purpose.  There is only one main road leading into Freetown, the country’s capital, and all of us will be taking it when we come from our sites back to Peace Corps Headquarters for sickness, a free weekend, or to pick up a guest visitor.  Transport from site to that end of the city is only available to us by bus, university shuttle, or taxi (which is NOTHING like in the United States.  Taxis here are sub-compacts cars with drivers who jam two people (or more) in the front seat and three or four in the back seat and drive at incredible speed over very dangerous roads.  Sound like fun?  Oh, and there are no seat belts!).  Those conveyances then drop their riders at one of a series of stops on the east side of Freetown where we need to take other similar dangerous modes of transportation to the PC HQ.  So, after receiving a briefing last week on the joys of that side of the city we were dropped at one of the typical stops and charged to find our way back.

Keep in mind, we had been warned throughout the trip there to “watch out for that street, you are sure to get pick-pocketed there” and “never take that street, it is too dangerous for you” so by the time we jumped out of the PC van I was just a little bit nervous about our ever returning.  Within only ten minutes, though, we were able to find a poda-poda (small van for hire) and we all squeezed aboard.  These vehicles, the size and shape of a VW mini-bus, have three bench seats not including the driver’s and shotgun seat and since we only pay 1000 Leones (which is about a quarter) it is incumbent on the driver to wedge as many into the back as possible since he lives on the proceeds he pockets.  These aren’t certified, state-inspected vans, for sure.  You can always tell a poda-poda by the fact that it is riding on its axles and it has nifty epigraphs plastered on the front and back; ours had God Saves…I sure hoped!

We four were last to board so we squeezed into the back seat though I had to lean forward since the seat had previously been broken and a 10 penny nail poked through the back and, though it was bent over, was scraping me.  The walls and ceiling of the inside were stripped right to the rusty, reinforcing beams and the side door only stayed shut by virtue of a screen door handle that had been attached by mismatched machine screws.  Fortunately, the windows were open (it gets a bit close with that many people in a small space even on a cool day)and as we progressed west and the passengers dispersed we got a bit of breathing room.  A very nice Salone woman who was sitting in front of us helped make sure we got off at our stop at Congo Cross Junction.  We were almost home.

We did some shopping at a couple of the little markets along the way for supplies.  I bought six bars of laundry soap and a brush to scrub the tough stains, along with a clothes line and pins.  We also bought some food to eat today since we are on our own for all meals.  After bumping into a couple of the two-year Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), we made our way up the mile-long, steep hill to the compound via taxi.  I had to take a picture of this market just for the spelling of “Quality”.  In no time we were back and ready for the evening’s activities.