Tamara Tatautauuuu

We arrived to Guinea on New Year’s Eve, in the morning. Sylla’s mom was at the airport to pick us up. Apparently she has mad contacts because there was a man with her who filled out our paperwork and ushered us through all the lines. No one even opened our bags since we were with him. So that was quick and easy. A friend of Sylla’s who lives in Italy was also there, as well as a family friend. They both had cars so we loaded up and went to the house. I pretty much spent the rest of the day sleeping. The guys went out to dance to celebrate the New Year but their car broke down and after waiting four hours for someone to repair it, they got into a fender bender with a drunk driver and had to go to the police station. So they just came back home.

The next day we decided to go to Tamara, an island about 45 minutes in motor canoe from Conakry. Lancé, Sylla’s friend who lives in Italy, was in Guinea to give a dance and drum seminar with students from Italy. They were in Tamara so we went to visit Lancé and see a bit more of Guinea. When we got to the port, it was insanely chaotic as everyone wanted to go to the islands to celebrate the New Year. No boats were going to Tamara so we had to rent one for ourselves for the steep price of US$30. Of course all of this involved lots of negotiating and fending off people trying to sell us phone cards. We bought some water and bread and oranges and got into the boat. After a nice ride we arrived in Tamara where Sylla’s sister was waiting for him; she was cooking for the workshop.

Tamara is a beautiful island, with tropical jungle-like flora and fauna. The side we came up to has a tranquil beach and the other side of the island has huge rocks and waves. The best part about it is there are no mosquitos! There were always lots of curious kids around and the people were very friendly. We spent the night there and were supposed to go back the next day but I liked it so much I jokingly told Sylla he could just leave me there, and he said ok. I would stay until Sunday and head back with his sister.

Friday I participated in the dance classes of the seminar taught by a woman named Aisha. She is a great dancer and teacher and will be giving me private lessons starting tomorrow (Jan 12). We danced in the morning, then went to the beach, then danced in the evening, ate dinner, and I went to bed. I was exhausted. The Italians were sleeping in a building near where we danced, I slept outside in front of it with some of them and some people from the island. On Saturday we went to an island called Room which was a bit more touristy. We spent the day there relaxing and at night a major ballet from Conakry came to perform for this other group of fotès (white people) who were also doing a dance/drum seminar. The ballet was amazing.
On Sunday we returned to Conakry where I, again, spent a lot of time sleeping.