A New Year adventure

On the 4th of January we had a nice little adventure. As some may know, the airport is at Lungi which is across the harbor from Freetown. In order to get to Freetown from Lungi, you will generally take the helicopter ($80 US) , the Water Pelican ($40 US) (which are motorboats), a new ferry ($40 US), the regular government ferry ($1-2 US--more if you take your car over), and the hovercraft ($60 US I think)(which just started up again after being down for more than 6 months). You can also drive to and from Lungi to Freetown, but it takes you some time on dirt roads. We decided to see what the roads were like. We were told by Markus (the local man here who works for the mission) that they had recently graded the road so it shouldn't be too bad. During the rainy season, it is not a road that you would be able to take.

We (the Jones and Squires) took off in the morning about 8 with our trusty map--which provides general directions but not totally accurate as far as the roads themselves are concerned. At one of the police barracades along the way, we asked if we were on the road to Lungi. The person responded that it was the road to Kambia. We looked on the map and there was a Kambia on the road to Lungi so we felt confident that we were headed the right direction. Later with a little closer inspection of the map, we found that there are actually 2 Kambia's--on different roads, in different directions. We came upon this beautiful river gorge. The pictures really don't do it justice.

After we crossed the bridge, we had another police barracade. We asked again if this was the way to Lungi. The policeman responded that we were on the way to Guinea--we were probably an hour or two from the Guinea border. We turned around and had to backtrack a few miles (about 40 minutes worth) to get back to the junction to make the correct turn to Lungi.

We finally made it to Lungi at about 1:30 or so. We had planned to take 2:00 government ferry back to Freetown since the next ferry isn't until 6:00. We decided to wait. We had a nice lunch at a hotel in Lungi, went to some local wood carving shops,



Saw this interesting vine that had taken over the tree.



talked to a church member at DHL at the airport, and went down to the beach.

We got to the ferry plenty early and spent time watching the locals marketing their wares to the people coming off the pan pan boats and to others waiting to take the ferry across to Lungi.




The people carrying their goods over to the pan pan boats

The pan pan boat arrives for disembarking and loading new passengers.

One pan pan boat leaving and the next one arriving.

The pan pan boats are so interesting. I'm not sure how much you pay for the trip. The interesting part is how you get in and out of the boat. There are men who are paid (either by the individual or by the boat owner--not sure who) to carry the passengers to and from the boat. There are some people who will just climb out of the boat and walk to the beach themselves. But many of them will wait to be carried. They will have their merchandise on their head while they are being carried the few yards to the beach by the men. The women will be carried in the arms while the men will ride on the man's shoulders. Watching the men put the women into the boat is the most interesting. It is almost like they kind of swing her and then gently throw her into the boat (because the sides of the boat are a little high).

We had a great time!!! Lots of interesting things to see.

In the past week or so, the monkeys have come back to the mission office area. The mangoes are ready to eat and the monkeys are in heaven!!!!

On Wednesdays, Elder Jones has a new assignment. If President Squires is out of town or is busy with other things, Elder Jones is responsible for attending the construction meeting held weekly for the new Kissy/Thunderhill Branch building. Things are done very different here. I will have to have him write about the construction methods they use here. Probably the most interesting thing is that there are no big cement trucks that come in to pour the cement. The cement is mixed by hand and carried by headpan full to the location.

We are continuing to grow and learn. Life is good!!!