Our island mini vacation

Well, we have finished our final major training session and are now free to really start working on our projects at our sites. We decided to head to Conakry first for a much needed vacation before heading back to our sites. Some other volunteers joined us for an early anniversary celebration on the Island of Roume just off the coast of Conakry. We stayed for two days and one night and had a great time. There was one crazy storm, lots of waves, and some excellent food. The second morning I was walking around the little village looking for some sort of food when I was invited to join the family of one of the hotel employees for an early lunch. It was rice with a spicy red sauce and a large chuck of freshly smoked shark. The mother was smoking three more large sharks over a fire of palm fronds and coconut husks. I ate under a mango tree as the rain started to fall and had one of those "how did I get here" moments. When I finished I offered to give a little money for the food and my host said, "when I come to America I will eat with your family". We agreed by handshake and I headed back to find the others to catch our boat home. It was a great trip with good company. Enjoy the pictures!

The port in Conakry. These boats or pirogues are both water taxis and fishing vessels.

Amy and Katie laughing because the chances of us actually making it to the island in this little boat seem slim. There are also some other volunteers and a few hitchhiking Guineans in the back.

Local boys putting on a show for us on the way out of the port.

This is one of the other larger islands we passed on the way out. We stopped here for a couple minutes so the captain could drop off a couple of groupers for his family.

This is the view from the deck of our "hotel". The view and the food was what made the experience fantastic.

Our Guinean host cooking us a lunch of grilled snapper, fried bananas, and french fries. It was probably the best thing I've eaten since being in Guinea.


This island is host to drum circles and traditional guitar (kora) lessons for musicians around the world.

The smiles are because we have just spent the last few hours playing in waves and breathing fresh ocean air.

One of the locals in the middle of his daily dance/workout routine.

Amy, Joseph, Katya, Ashley, Katie, and Jake all uncontrollably laughing as we try to avoid tipping the boat. We ran out of gas on the way back and Katya (our crazy Russian) was suggesting that if things go bad we can always write a book about it. The water is so filthy close to Conakry that we decided we would rather just continue to drift and wait than swim for shore. Katya further entertained us by starting to drink gin to calm the nerves.



Joseph looking a little disappointed as he is being splashed with each oncoming wave as we are towed into port.

Our Guinean boat captain graciously offered to carry the women into shore after noticing the look of fright on our faces when confronted with the prospect of putting even one foot in the water on the Conakry side.