Labe rest

Hi BoBers,

Labe was a refreshing stop after a couple of gruelling riding weeks. It was also nice to have a bit of personal space after many nights staying in villages, always surrounded and interacting. The place was no-running-water cheap, but it was clean and the roof didn’t drip in the massive thunderstorms that shook the city nightly.

Getting the parts I needed was unbelievably easy by African standards. David from the market showed me to the bike shop. We stopped and ate a delicious fish and rice lunch with the owner who then sold me the exact tyre I needed.

After Labe, the first stop was the Saala waterfall, imposing, titanic, carved out of the rock by giant talons. We camped for two nights with some friends from Labe. It was mostly quiet but some teenagers dropped by at one point. After praying they cooked up a storm on a campfire. They threw some gang signs while taking photos with me topless. I hope their friends will be impressed.

Over a delicious campfire dinner, we were privileged enough to hear some absolutely brutal stories about the tough lives of women in the area, including child marriage, pregnancy and female circumcision. The women have unbelievably little autonomy. So hard to square with the generosity and kindness with which I’ve been treated so far.

Our souls heavy and bellies full, the next challenge was to cross the river. The water flowed fast but wasn’t terribly deep. We might have been overly cautious but we’d seen the waterfall less than 100m downstream and wanted to be absolutely certain to not take that deadly waterslide. A few crossings for the baggage (with Shisha stops for courage) were enough to get us across.

We’re now in a town called Aïguel. The area is unbelievably fecund. The village is fenced off and essentially one big lush green field, dotted with houses. We’ll head off hiking for a few days - more waterfalls - before finally making our way towards Conakry and the Sierra Leone border.

Soaked and happy,

J&BoB

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