Going to Boke and Riz Gras Gift Cards

So this morning I decided to finally get around to cleaning up my house in preparation for Tim's visit. I was in the middle of this when I got a call from Jarrad, letting me know that the following day there was an embassy car going from Boke to Conakry, and that I should try to come along to get a free comfortable ride down. I decided to clean as quickly as I could to do this, since it would make my life that much easier, and I could spend a little time in Boke getting my secret gift-card mission taken care of (details on this come later).

Around 5pm I was done with the clean-up and packing for Conakry and so I went out and started my usual method of getting to the main road - walking the 12k until someone passes by and gives me a lift (this has variable success, especially later in the day). I hadn't made it very far before someone called out to me and asked if I was going to the main road. When I said I was they told me they were driving there as soon as their meeting was over. I went over and sat with them, played snake on my phone, and waited for the meeting to end.

Of course, I should have known better than to expect a quick ride. When the guy asked me if I was going to Conakry and I said that I was going to Boke, he said "ok, good, you can probably get a ride to Boke even at 8pm". I took this to be an exaggeration giving the latest probably time of finding a car, but it turned out to be hopeful guess. Indeed, after more of the meeting happened, including ending with speeches all around and sharing a plate of rice and sauce (I was given a spoon and ordered to join in) I found myself waiting until about 7:30 to leave the village, and was looking for a Boke car around 8pm at the main road.

Luckily I got there just in time to find the last Kamsar-bound car leaving the gare (there were no Boke cars at that time), and so I got a ride as far as Kolaboui, the crossroads between Conakry, Boke and Kamsar. Here I got off and found a Boke car and only had to wait about 20 minutes for it to fill up, and we were on our way. I thus made it into Boke around 9pm or so.

At this point, I went on my gift-card mission that I'd been scheming for a while. See, for my birthday, my friend Jarrad gave me a bottle of liquor and told me he had thought of getting me a gift-card to the attieke (ivorian manioc based delicious street food) lady in Boke - this would have involved explaining the concept of gift cards to the lady - but he didn't have time/the french skills to pull this off in time. Now, I don't think it's very original of me to have taken his idea, but he does like food and never cooks when he's in Boke, so I took the idea and ran with it. In my village I made 2 gift cards, one for the attieke lady, and one for the riz gras lady (a senegalese rice dish) that he usually goes to. I planned on buying him 10 plates of each to last him a few months of meals here in Boke. However, last time I was in Boke, I was never alone in the market, he was always with me (despite my attempts to lose him a couple of times).

This time however, I was alone and on my way to the restaurant anyway to get my own dinner, so I managed to talk to the riz-gras lady and explained the concept of "I pay now, he comes later with this piece of cardboard and gets food". It was surprisingly easy to explain, and I know she understood because she then showed her daughter (who sometimes runs the place in her absence) the card and explained the system to her in susu (I understood just enough to know she got the point correct). The nice thing is that she knows both of us pretty well, so I know she'll remember when he comes back. He's the "giant black-american" and I'm "the giant black-american's friend, with a beard" (Jarrad frequents the place more than I do, so they know him better, though I suspect she likes me more since I speak some Susu and Jarrad doesn't).

I still haven't managed to get the attieke lady onboard, and I don't expect to have time before leaving Boke, so I'm going to add a mediocre quality bottle of liquor to the gift as well. I feel pretty awesome at having managed this transaction though.

By the way, I explained this on the phone to my Mom, and she basically told me I was just making people's lives difficuly and should just give Jarrad the money to buy his own rice if that's the present I wanted to give him. But the thing is - it's not the riz gras itself that makes this a good present, it's the fact that nowhere else in Guinea is any sort of gift-card system/credit system in place for street food, and it's something of a reminder of the ridiculous consumer culture in the states. Also, Jarrad will know that the effort of making the cards and especially of explaining the concept to the merchants was more so important than the money value of the food (though riz-gras isn't cheap). Even if (and I hope this doesn't happen) the lady forgets, or refuses to honor the card, etc - the effort was the important part.

But yeah, so that's that. After this escapade, I came up to the house, watched "Pirates of the Caribbean III" with people, and made plans for tomorrow morning's Conakry trip. Since I wasn't sleepy I took advantage of the free internet (Boke power is on!) in the adjacent office, and will soon now be going to bed. Next stop, Conakry