Conakry

Welcome to everything you need to know about the best COS trip of all time! 

While this blog serves a functional purpose, i.e. appeasing our anxious parents and letting them know that we’re still alive and how to contact us, it’s also a means of updating our friends and family on the places we go, the people we meet and the adventures we have.  Plus, if you ever plan on visiting West Africa or following in our COS footsteps we hope you can better plan your trip and learn from our mistakes. 

I swear we are responsible individuals.  We just couldn't resist.

The Car

Purchasing a car in Guinea is surprisingly similar to purchasing one in the US.  Ok, so I’ve never actually purchased a car from a dealer in the states, but I image it would be the same.  You prepare yourself to interface with an affable and energetic salesman.  One who wants you to think he is your best friend and the most honest source of information available.  This is where our experience after two years in Guinea comes in handy.  We knew where to locate the car dealers.  We knew reliable Guineans who can inform us on how much the car should actually cost.  We had enough resolve to get the price we wanted or to walk away from a bad deal. 

So after schmoozing and bargaining with the salesmen for the past week in French, Malinké and Pulaar, we finally have our car.  The one:  a gray, ’98 Peugeot 806 minivan.  With worn leather bucket seats and decent stereo system it was love at first sight.  Well, almost.  It wasn't the newest car in the lot.  Nor the fastest or flashiest.  But seeing as our sole means of transportation for the past two years have been cramming into weathered, five person sedans with up to eight other malodorous strangers, it seemed like a more than acceptable alternative.  The oil needed to be changed, the locks fixed and the air filter replaced, but in all honesty this was one fine looking car.  At the very least it is definitely nicer than the minivan I drove back in high school, so I’m going to count that as a win.

Other action items on our to-do list this past week have been purchasing our ECOWAS car insurance, license plates, Guinean car registration, laissez-passer, traveler’s insurance and return tickets*.

The Trip

From the very scientific measurements I took with some string and the legend of my Michelin map, our trip will total 3,865 kilometers or roughly 2,400 miles.  During this time we will travel through Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.  Breakdowns will happen.  Bribes are inevitable.  But hopefully we will come out of this trip fully intact and with some good stories to share. 

Here are the stats that we will continually update throughout our trip:

• Total kilometers traveled: 100
• Cheapest diesel: Conakry (10,000 GNF/liter)
• Most expensive diesel: Conakry (10,000 GNF/liter)
• Number of breakdowns: 0
• Longest border crossing: N/A
• Shortest border crossing: N/A
• Capitals visited: Conakry
• Number of doppelgangers sighted: 1 (Lebanese Sean Cochrane seen at Room, Conakry, Guinea)

Thursday morning we’ll drive to Kankan and then Friday we’ll head to Bamako. Parents, you can contact us at our normal Guinean phone numbers through Friday.  After that you will have to wait for us to purchase new SIM cards in Mali.  We will post them here as soon as we have them.

So that’s it for now.  Thanks for reading and we'll see you in Bamako!  

Chris (A)

* For those interested, here are more details on what we purchased:

• ’98 Peugeot 806 with about 110,000 miles – 4,062 USD – Because there are seven of us on this trip we had to buy a minivan, but smaller sedans will run you around 2,000 USD.  We purchased from Mamadou Oury Diallo – 664.40.68.70/ 628.11.96.08 located near Carrefour chien. 
• Carte grise and license plates – 450,000 GNF – your carte grise is the registration card that goes in the glove compartment and proves that the car belongs to you.  License plates need to be mounted to the car and requires a drill to install.
• Vignette – 250,000 GNF – you need to purchase and are expected to mount the most up-to-date vignette available on your car (the circular sticker you see slapped onto the back of the windshields here).   Unfortunately, the 2014 vignettes are still not available (the 2013’s came out this past June…).  Legally our carte grise will suffice in demonstrating the cars origin and registration, but hopefully we won’t get hassled too much outside of Guinea because of it. 
• Laissez-passer – 20,000 CFA - to be purchased in every country you drive through.
• ECOWAS car insurance – 380,000 GNF – the plan covers us in Guinea, Mali, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. NOT Burkina.  Yes, Burkina Faso is part of ECOWAS, but for some reason they're not part of our coverage.  We’ll need to find an alternative when we get there.
• Traveler’s insurance – 30-90 USD – your PC insurance lasts 30 days after you COS.  We will still be traveling after it expires so we needed something else to last us through the end of the trip.  Even if you have your own insurance or go back on your parents plan after PC, you still need to buy traveler’s insurance!!!  We’re going to try and stay as safe as possible, but you never know.  Medical evacuations could run you up to 200,000 USD and normal insurance plans don’t cover them.  Make sure your new one does.
• International driver’s license – 15 USD - order at AAA.  You don’t need to actually be present when you register so you can just have your parent buy it for you in the states and mail it to you.