But that'll do for now.
Done with the photos
That's it for the photo-a-day. There were many more obviously. Dublin clearly had much more to see than just signs on walls. London included the requisite photos in a bright red phone booth, in front of Big Ben, Tower Bridge, etc. Sierra Leone was bigger than photos can show.
Photo: More street art
Some more street art from Dublin. "I'd rather trust a dealer on a badly lit street corner than a criminal in a three piece suit." Nice and anti-capitalist.
Photo: Dublin
The last stop on my trip home was Dublin. I really loved the city and the countryside that I got to see. This was on an unassuming wall in a quiet part of the city.
Photo: Art
Some Warhol art from the Tate Modern in London. The space (in an old factory right on the Thames) is as cool as everyone says.
Photo: Stadium apartements
I saw friends Kim and Rob in London. They live in an apartment at the old Arsenal soccer stadium. The apartments are literally built into the old stands. So cool. The slope of the old stands can be seen in the picture. There's red trim because that's the team's color. The new (amazing) stadium is down the street.
Photo: Railway memorial
Two livestock railway cars and a stone monument at the train station in Compiegne, France commemorating 50,000 Jews who were deported from the town and sent to concentration camps outside the country. The cars are just beside the platforms where commuters wait for the trains to Paris each morning.
Photo: A French town hall
I had a couple days in France with friends Danielle and Michel. Here's the hotel de ville of Pierrefonds, too quaint not to get a photo. We checked out the beautiful fairytale-like castle the town is known for. Apparently Michael Jackson wanted to buy it at some point (the castle).
Photo: Ads in Brussels
After Africa, I had a few days in Europe. Here are two ads from a very brief stopover in Brussels. They both feature the Manneken Pis, a tourist attraction in Brussels that's a statue of a little boy peeing. Dumb and cute, but no big deal. But it strikes me as bizarre that Coke has decided to associated the peeing boy with it's beverages by using it on the front of a Coke machine and in a Vitamin Water ad (one of its brands).
Doesn't make me want a drink.
Photo: Stop in Dakar
I think that's it for photos from SL. Here are a few photos from my long trip back to the states.
The flight out of Africa included an unexpected layover in Dakar when the plane had technical problems. The upside was that I had a day in Dakar and briefly got to check out the city. This is a recently completed statue (some would say boondoggle) that the president of Senegal commissioned. It was built by a North Korean company, perhaps because they have experience with massive bronze statues...
Photo: Stove
This is the stove used to prepare dinner each night at the home where I lived. It's made from two metal pails lined with clay. Meals were generally rice with a stew. Everything was made on this one stove, which was fed with wood charcoal. The plastic bucket on the right has the greens (cassava leaves on this day) that will be cooked.
Photo: Treats
A sampling of my favorite snacks from street vendors. All were very good and very cheap (usually 2 cents). From left to right:
- kanya - made with peanuts, rice, and sugar
- peanuts with honey
- benni cakes - sesame
- peanut brittle
Photo: Connaught Hospital
A plaque from Connaught Hospital in downtown Freetown. It's dated 1817 and reads "Royal Hospital and Asylum for Africans rescued from slavery by British valour and philanthropy." OK...
Photo: Imports
Rice is a staple in local cooking. It's eaten at every meal and was once grown in huge quantities in the provinces. Somehow the industry collapsed in the past thirty years and now it's imported from India, Thailand, and Vietnam. Here are 100 pound bags. Multiple times I saw a mama carrying a baby on her back and one of these balanced on her head.
Photo: More smoke
Freetown's dump. It was smoldering on most days. Better not to think about what you might be breathing in. You can just make out some people in the smoke. Those are people who scavenged for things of value.
Photo: Sleepy town
In downtown Makeni, after a rain. The town saw serious fighting during the civil war. Visited some borrowers there.
Photo: Cloth market
A hazy day at one of the cloth markets in town. I heard some expats call Freetown "the Big Smoke" though apparently that name generally refers to London.
Photo: I'm on a boat
Riding the ferry across the bay to the airport. It took about two hours and cost $1.25. As the boat pulls away from the dock, the hills above Freetown are clearly visible in the background, crowded with houses.
Photo: My room
This was my place for three months. I truly loved my accomodations (and it only leaked when it rained!)
Photo: Ice truck
The biggest and maybe only ice company I saw in Freetown. Nice pop culture reference, guys.
Photo: Goods for sale
Goods sold at a food stand by one of the clients I went to visit during a loan audit. Stacks of dried pasta are in the back, garlic and bags of spices are on the right, bullion packets are in the center. The women who owns the stand is reaching in to grab an item.
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