Its been a great week and its been fun to discover new places and rediscover old places and watch someone experience everything for the first time as I did 2.5 months ago. Lenora has handled everything pretty well, actually she's appeared comfortable in basically every situation and scenario. This is quite a positive statement on her, but it also reflects the massive tourism potential that this country has if developed appropriately.
Although poverty is everywhere in Freetown, its not quarantined in the same way that it is in a place like South Africa where informal settlements or townships exist housing millions of people who lack jobs, food, electricity and basis supply. And thus, everything sort of blends together and thus, feels less poor (if that makes any sense). This is so much the case that Lenora commented about how things didn't seem perfect, but also didn't as poor or as drastic as we are typically led to believe in the West. Specifically she made the following comment, "People's spirits don't seem impoverished. They may lack money and have little opportunity to improve a very low quality of life, but they don't look starving and don't look truly miserable. They look happy in some way, and more than anything, they seem poised and focused on enjoying whatever little bits they have, which I guess makes them seem richer than they are in some way."
In many ways, I fully agreed with her view. But it also helped that we went to some of the most beautiful and 'developed' places that the country has to offer...
We hit the Senagalese Restaurant (yes thats the name) for arguably some of the best fish and chicken in the country, Beach Number 2 (one of the prettiest beaches in West Africa), Sussex Beach (another incredibly cool spot where you have to wait for the low tide to cross a bay that empties out to get to the beach), stayed in the Treehouse at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Reserve (the treehouse literally is a bedroom up in the trees), took a boat to and stayed on Banana Island and ait at least 1 lobster per day over the last 5 days. There are no 5 star accomodations and no expensive restaurants, yet we managed to catch a lot of sun on a lot of gorgeous beaches and eat a lot of fresh seafood.
And thus, feeling that this country is not poor, is in fact a reflection of the trip you can still have here despite the lack of basic infrastructure, electricity and running water. With the right investors and the right government support, there is massive potential to develop a number of eco-friendly and high-end resorts, hotels, etc.
Overall it was a great trip and Lenora didn't get food poisoning, didn't get robbed, didn't fall down or trip in the disgusting statehouse bathrooms, etc. And to make matters even better, Lenora lost a few pounds (via an age-old Sierra Leonean secret) and is going home with a tighter and firmer tummy which she's excited to show off in the Hamptons...
What is this age-old Sierra Leonean secret? Mosquitoes! Or as they are affectionately known by Lenora "Fucking Mosquitoes"!! Seriously, she got bit everywhere we went. She got bit by Mosquitoes on every major beach, at the airport, at the swimming pool, in my flat, everywhere!! She even tried using various levels of bug spray, which provided absolutely no reprieve from the onslaught. But she did lose a few pounds of blood and thus a few pounds of weight which is never a bad thing... unless ofcourse she develops malaria in a weeks time at which point this age-old Sierra Leonean secret will become an age-old Sierra Leonean curse...
Although, a friend of mine who's had Malaria did have this to say: "Getting malaria was not so bad. Both times I just found myself tired and a little fluish, so I'd stay at home and paint my finger and toe nails. Seriously its really not so bad. It's a lot like when I got Typhoid where I also stayed home and painted my finger and toe nails...."
Happy Easter, Happy Passover, and Happy Tuesday...
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