Hey guys. I’m safely in Conakry, after a nerve wracking fligt on SLAK air. My fears of slackness on their part were unfounded it seems.

 Immediately on arrival in the airport we were ripped off changing money and then on a taxi to Famoudou’s. There was nearly a fight over us and all as a undercover security guy over heard the price we were being charged and as we were driving away was screaming at the guy to stop and they shouted and argued.

I was about to get out the car, when he insisted on coming with us. He brought the taxi men (2) into Famoudou’s compound, where Famoudou gave them a boloking and gave all the money to the security guy to distribute.

Later that day I nearly got taken for a ride again on some local clothes. Long story short I neary paid 100000francs 12. euro for something and the tailor was only getting 6000 and the mediator 94000, only I thought the mediator was the tailor and blah blah blah.

It’s difficult to get used to being in a compound with so many people. There’s no space really and after being nearly burnt on the clothes, I have an underlying feeling that everyones out for my money.

Hopefully it’s just taking some time to adjust and things will improve.

We’ve been drumming 2 days learning Dundunbe, which is from the region in Guinea where Famoudou is from. He is very knowledgeable and such a character. He’s so much nicer than I expected even though I had no expectations… A legend!

The buzz here in Conakry is very different to Gambia. This is definitely real Africa. Life is hard for people here and everything has a look of decline on it.

Banking is impossible here. I learnt another lesson this week. Cash is king. I though I could get a visa advance here because it was a bank holiday when I left Gambia… no. Not the case. I can only draw 70 euro a day from the ATM which is not enough for what I want.

There’s some amazing djembe’s for sale in Famoudou’s house, but they’re about 75 euro each. I may look around town today to see if I can find somewhere without Famoudou Tax.

Anyway… live long and prosper!

So in typical fasion our lift to Conakry fell through. Not his fault but again we learn to assume and rely on nothing or nobody…
So now we’re flying it predictably took all day to get the flights sorted. We got a local taxi to Banjul from Serekunda, only to realise that the office we wanted was back in Serekunda when we got there..
I naively assumed I could pay in the offic with Visa and I couldn’t. I went to 2 banks close by and neither of them took visa, so I got a taxi to the ATM which wasn’t working. The bank connected to the atm closes every day from 1-4 so that was a no go.

So I had to convert euro that Iwas keeping for my course in Guinea to Dalisise only to have to draw dalasise on my visa today and convert them back to euro again from Guinea.

So is life…hahaha…

So we waited at the office for and hour. Then got to the dsk and from there it took 45 minute to get the tickets because they ran out of ticet paper.

So we’re sitting there and I asked the girl, where the ticket paper we’re waiting on is coming from. She says the office. I say which office thinking there may be one in Banjul after all.

She says no this office. They have to go through the procedure to get the paper which is what was taking so long.

This is where we are though. Life is so slow and I love it. I’m so chilled out I could fall over! I’m far better form the last 2 days and am enjoying myself.

We went to watch our teachers troupe perform 2 nights ago and he invited us up to play with them which was a bit mad, butr very cool… They play so fast it’s nuts. I was barely hanging on with basic accompaniments…

We trained again with Akassa today and have been invited to reherse with them 5, so I must run….

Hey guys.

Latest update. We decided to get out of Kerserin, where we’d been staying and head to Tuman Tenda which is a vilage that runs a camp for tourists. All the money goes to the village and it was a welcome relief for the lack of hassle from our friends the rastas.

I can’t rate this place enough…
There was a wedding there that night too and we were invited. Will post picture when I’m home. I was dragged in to dance a solo which happens a lot. It was madder than any outdoors party I’ve ever been to. Mad Sabar and bougarabou drumming and clapping with sticks…

The next day we went to Brikama to see a master Kora player there. We had a bit of a nightmare and got stiffed slightly due to many things I won’t get into. Anyway…expensive lesson number 1. Feeling a little raw today but hopefully I’ll get over that.

I tend to swing between being really happy here and disillusioned. This is definitely difficult going especially trying to descern who’s being friendly and who wants money. I’m beginning to find my openess waning.

I’m looking forward to Famoudou’s now so because I know we have an agreement and that’s it. It’s simple and no hidden costs… thank god…

Just spent ages getting rid of spam from djembefola.com and heads wrecked so later!

Hey guys.

So we arrived in Banjul last friday and was met at the airport by Nial. which was great because I had nothing to think about or worry about.

He already knew a few people and as such we slid straight into the buzz. It didn’t take me long to realise that soon enough everyone knows your name soon enough.

The names of people here are really different and difficult to remember but I’m getting the hang of it now. Some names are easy and even somewhat suspect like “shampoo” and “Jonnie the fixer”.

I’ve been training with Akassa Cissokho a Master drummer and griot. It turns out Seckou Keita’s (the guy I brought to Ireland) mother’s brother. Mad. We’ve been watching them perform nearly every night.

We eat with them every day (out of one big bowl) and watch them train and have little babies hanging out of us and such. So we are part of the family and they look out for us and we help them out too.

We know a lot of the people around where we live and I feel very comfortable. I’m not sure how naive it is but I do feel like we’re getting a great insight into life here because we hang out with people and live outside the touristy parts.

Thank god.

So far I haven’t been sick at all and have been eating local food at stalls etc. There are defo mosquitos about though and one of Akassa’s player had Malaria at the moment.

The food’s been wicked. I’ve been eating a lot of fish which I wouldn’t even normall do (not so much of a choice). I’m getting a taste for it though…

Life here is very hard for people. They have a trememdous capasity for generosity and really look out for each other. I also love the way they interact with each other too. Life is very communal and interactive. Comared with London the day before we arrived it’s a stark contrast.

There’s lot of hassles of the Rastas in the touristy parts but Nial and Dave and our friends dealing with it pretty well, while I find my feet.

We have found a guy who’s driving to Guinea in a few days so will travel
with him and his wife. I got a good buzz off him immediately and so did
everyone else so we’ll probably head down with him soonish…
Anyway I’m outta here it’s hot and sweaty and I really feel like being nowhere near a computer!

James

So here’s a map of the area.

I’ll be flying from London with Dave on friday (1st of December) to Banjul in Gambia. Also known as The Gambia, it lies along the Gambia River and is completely surrounded by Senegal. - More info on Gambia

The loose idea is to somehow get from there to Conakry, the capital of Guinea by the 14th of December. This is not a part of the journey I’m looking forward to as the guy who wrote the lonely planet, got stopped gunmen in Casamance on the way down there.

He was left to go on his merry way but it’s a bit of reminder that my ruby slippers not fitting me more.

I’ve had an offer of lift from Banjul to Casamance from Seckou Keita’s (www.seckoukeita.com) manager so that’s great. May take them up on that.

It’ll be great to break the journey up and I’m sure Seckou’d know someone to take us the rest of the way too..

Once we get to Guinea we’ll be spending a month with Famoudou Konate (www.Famoudoukonate.com), who’s one of the most famous djembefola’s on this cosmic spaceship.

Hi, well I managed to make it Birmingham, after nearly missing the plane last night.

After wrestling with the traffic from Landsdown after Ireland pumelled the Pacific Islanders, the Aircoach arrived at O’Connell street for me to realise that the guards had closed it and nobody had told me.

After running round like a blue arsed fly all day this did nothing for my blood pressue, but anyway at the end of the day there was no dramas and I got the check in desk with 10 minutes to spare…. yay!

So I’ve been pampered by my Mom since I got here
I began to feel sick last night too and woke up feeling dreadful this morning. I think it’s probably the yellow fever and Menengitis injections coupled with a stressful close to my getting my ass outta Ireland.

Well it should all be plain sailing from here on in….hopefully
So this’ll be my soap box for the next 2 months, tune in for your cleansing regularly and I’ll be sure you towel you off with top quality cotton apparel.