It seemed like a matter of minutes when we began rolling in the foothills before Oakland and suddenly reached a height and saw stretched out ahead of us the fabulous white city of San Francisco on her eleven mystic hills with the blue Pacific and its advancing wall of potato-patch fog beyond, and smoke and goldenness in the late afternoon of time. - Jack Kerouac

1-2 January 2020, Maneah to Conakry by share taxi
Motel Africa 250,000GNF (R375)

Happy New Year. Wishing you all 20/20 vision.
We had no idea whether the Guinea-Bissau embassy in Conakry would be open at this time of year, but it was and we were granted visas with no fuss at all, while we waited, in fact.
We arranged on the 1st to leave our bikes and bags at the Ben Ben, saying we were not sure when we would be back for them. We packed just one pannier with what we needed, and with the help of the security guard, flagged down a share-taxi on the street outside the hotel.
Our driver was a young man, a little too casual for my comfort, but he got us into the city safely. He managed to keep his small Nissan choc-a-bloc for almost the entire distance. Choc-a-bloc meaning four adults in the back and two adults sharing the front passenger seat. On occasion, a child sat on a lap in either the front or the back. Across the back seat, passengers alternate, one sitting forward, one back, making room for four adult butts. I spent much of the time with my knees pressed hard against the driver’s seatback and my forehead resting on his headrest. We felt it was a good thing we have lost 50kg between us or we would seriously have hampered the driver’s ability to make a decent profit by making it impossible for him to carry a fourth in the back.
We had not booked anywhere in Conakry, but had identified potential accommodation via Google Maps, somewhere close to the embassy. We could not find the advertised Residence, but were led to Motel Africa nearby and, having negotiated the price down from 400,000GNF to 250,000GNF, we put down roots in our black and white checkered aircon en suite.
Aside from drawing cash and getting the visa, we ate out, particularly enjoying pretty Le Patio. It is so rare to find somewhere aesthetically pleasing in Africa, that we get an inordinate amount of pleasure from a place with a good setting and pretty artwork.
Our motel host has lived and worked in the US, and in Italy and Spain. Again, as with others we have met, he is glad to be “home” in Africa. When Charl asked if he could see himself living permanently in the countries he worked in, he answered “No”, though he liked Italy a lot, saying it shared similarities with Africa. More laid back, an enjoyment of food, bigger families and a very real sense of the importance of family.