Ok so… this is a bit out of order, since some of happened before we got to Bissau, but it made more sense to me to keep the photos of the smaller towns and countryside together. This starts with our experience in the town right on the other side of the border with Senegal, where we refueled, made sure we had enough cash, and got to wander around a little to meet some of the locals.
Also, we saw more of the critically endangered vultures! I’m happy to see that they’re thriving somewhere, since apparently this is the only place they aren’t in population decline.
Across West Africa, the soil has a high iron content, so the soil is this amazing rich reddish color. It leads to some absolutely stunning landscapes, especially where it contrasts with the verdant green of the plants on the side of the road. Most of the roads we were on in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau were dirt roads, which… had its downsides, but was very beautiful when we would stop and take it all in. Or, you know, change a flat tire.
We spent a lot of time in small towns in Guinea-Bissau as well. One of the coolest experiences we had was going to this village for to watch them dance. This was our first of this kind of experience across the trip, but not the only one, and every time, it was amazing how welcoming the locals were. They were happy to see us, especially the children, and share their culture with us!
I think it’s easy, in today’s day and age, to focus on the overtourism. The locals in Barcelona de-listing their buses off of Google maps and using water guns on tourists; Venice adding extra taxes to try to keep their city from literally sinking; New York deregistering every single Airbnb in the city in one fell swoop. But that isn’t everywhere. In some places, the impact of tourism can be really positive. It’s nice to have that experience.
In one of the towns, we stopped and played soccer with the locals. It felt like every kid in the region showed up to play!
We also headed to Bafatá, which is the second largest city in Guinea-Bissau. And by second largest, I would say it still isn’t very large – Wikipedia tells me there are about 22,000 people who live in Bafatá. It was quiet when we arrived, and we didn’t really see anyone walking around during our visit.
Bafatá was the birthplace of Amílcar Cabral, who was very important in the African anti-colonial movement. He helped to free both Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde from Portuguese rule. There’s a small museum, which I believe is the house where he was born and/or grew up in when he lived there. It’s mostly photos, so it was helpful to search out more information on the internet to supplement what we were looking at.
Guinea-Bissau surprised me. Its colorful architecture, even where it was run down, was beautiful and the people were some of the friendliest I’ve met across all my travels. In the moment, when I was on the trip, it was overwhelming – Senegal, by comparison, is much more developed, and so the switch into dirt roads and the confusion around where our cars were taking us made for a bit of a strange introduction. As I look back across the whole trip, Guinea-Bissau didn’t have the “flashy” moments like some of the other countries we visited. We saw no sites that I would expect anyone to recognize and visited towns that most of my friends have never heard of, and that was its charm. Guinea-Bissau isn’t trying to be anything – unlike so many countries that are actively trying to put their best foot forward, the Bissau-Guineans simply are that friendly and open to foreigners. I thoroughly enjoyed it.