Bintumani Hotel Freetown

I'm sitting on the porch of a bungalow at River No. 2 outside of Freetown, Sierra Leone. It's a Monday so my 3 friends and I are the only ones here. The sand is white and the ocean is dark blue, not the crystal blue of the Caribbean but a much darker color that promises deep water right off shore. The sun is about to set behind a palm covered point that juts into the water. It is absolute bliss save for the most extreme sunburn that never quite stops hurting. A ...

i got back onto the smooth roads of Freetown yesterday evening, no worse for wear, actually if anything, maybe a bit fitter, considering my attempts to tame the wild bronc that is The Bush. it felt good to have my feet back on the ground, in fact, real good; real, real good. my eye began to twitch. my bruised toe nails began to ache. my runner senses began to tingle. from the bottom of my suitcase my running shoes began to flutter, and my bandanas began to ...

... we had in Freetown was on one Saturday morning when I left VSO to walk to the street market, to buy some eggs for breakfast. Lots of people started shouting at me in Krio. Not understanding what was being said, I carried on walking until a couple of men stopped me and told me, in English, That I was breaking the "street cleaning curfew".and that they were calling the police to have me arrested. Not wishing to spend the weekend in gaol, we did without ...

... zum Bierchenzischen und Schwatzen. Heute waren wir ausserdem in der University of Sierra Leone und haben mit ein paar Studenten geredet, darunter einem, der in Siegen (NRW) aufgewachsen ist und perfekt Deutsch sprach. Heute schauen wir uns noch ein bisschen das Staedtchen an und morgen gehts zum Abschluss auf eine Rundfahrt um die Halbinsel, sprich: In den Busch! Und danach vielleicht nochmal an meinen geliebten No.2... Viele Gruesse aus dem Paradies, Brisko

HOW DA BO-DY?  DA BO-DY NO FINE!* (* Sierra Leonean Krio - general greeting.  Usual response: DA BO-DY FINE) "The journey from Guinea-Bissau to Guinea** is one of the most arduous   international crossings in Africa."  So says our guidebook. (** Known in this part of the world as Guinea (Conakry) to distinguish   it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau.) We knew we were in trouble when we were at the bus park in Gabu (last   major town in Guinea ...

... Freetown at 7.00. Thankfully, copious hits of Imodium keep the stomach problems under control for the journey but nothing to eat for the day (One of my personal objectives for this year was to lose weight and I seem to be well on track so far). The drive through the town is something else! Considering SL, according to the UN, is the world's second poorest country, it sure has a lot of cars. After around 2 hours we leave the environs of Freetown and hit ...

... parents in the war. He was using crutches because of a diseased left foot and leg. He has been told that he has a tumor of his left lower limb that requires an above the knee amputation. He cannot afford the $200.00 for the operation! Dr. Bayouh agreed to take him on as a patient and promised to see him the next day if we could arrange transportation (we did). Ironically, surgical amputation of his leg will allow him to potentially join the amputee soccer team and ...

... are in the process of identifying those who may be interested. We had a tour of the main government hospital but were unable to complete our planned meeting with the head surgeon - will meet him on Friday. We are trying to arrange for this physician to consider performing an operation on a friend of one of the soccer players who has a sarcoma of his left leg and also to evaluate the daughter of one ...

... Women carried every food and product imaginable being carried on their head in baskets. They ranged from large fish, to buckets of crab, casava, toothpaste, bananas, and Jim's famous slipper purchase! They were hideous but he made a young peddler very happy and Anne-Marie almsot peed her pants laughing...and still is!!! As kids gathered to see the silly "white" people, Lynn had a great idea to start a game of baseball! We ...

... tree. A lot of the Am**ican slave trade began in Si**ra Leone in 1560 at which time the now 500 year old cotton tree was witness and probably provided a bit of shade to the initial slaves sold und** its' branches. A couple if hundred years lat**, still standing, it was present when the departed descends returned as freed slaved in 1792 and formed what is now Freetown. In 1808 Si**ra Leone became a British Crown Colony and then gained independence in 1961. It all ...