Follow The Gruddas

Yep, despite a brand new unmarked “speed mountain’s” best attempt to bust our axles and send us into the ditch, we drove the old potholed airport runway to our overgrown driveway. After arriving in Kankan we were reunited with the hospitality and caring that surrounds the mission community here. Getting in Sunday evening there was not a lot of time to think of preparing food and definitely no quick, pre-packaged food to buy or eat, so we were extremely pleased when we heard that different missionaries would be providing 5 meals for us this first week! So thoughtful and kind!

Despite having to leave our passports with a stranger and sneak through Senegalese immigration to recheck our bags, have our overweight fees (for the transfer airline) waived, and being taken into the airplane underbelly to verify that nothing was being smuggled in the soccer balls, all four bags survived the plane rides and “speed mountain”.

It turns out when you take 200 + pounds of luggage with you there is a lot of unpacking to be done! The printer, cheese powder and fans all made it safely. We’ve already re-wired the 12v fans we purchased in Elkhart (huge advantage to living near the RV capital of the world). Although the heat is not nearly as intense as you may remember us writing about in March. Still warm but we’ve been heading to bed at about 84 degrees and waking up at 79. 

We’ve mostly established ourselves in the same house we were in last time. We arranged bathmats, made beds, moved furniture built a spice rack, and found a home for our stuff. We were expecting to be sharing it with two Korean girls, but it turns out we’ll have it to ourselves for a while. 

As we prepared to rinse the traveling dust off our bodies and head to bed, we received our true “Bonne Arrivee”: no water. It seemed a much easier pill to swallow this time around as we bucket-bathed ourselves clean and headed to bed. The problem was easily solved the next morning. With the help of some gifts from friends and the Mishawaka hardware, we've got a solar heated shower now

We’re struggling to work out some internet kinks. It seems our Mac software was updated too much to be compatible with the best USB internet available here. The older company doesn’t require a download but the connection is poor so we may be walking to a nearby SIM office to buy some of their internet every few days.

We are definitely taking advantage of the fantastic French bread available here (as well as adopting Guinea’s high-carb diet): We’ve had sandwiches every day since the plane landed!

-Brandon