Gabon 2005
Port Gentil, Gabo
March 2008
Bon Jour from Port Gentil, a small town in Gabon, a former French colony in West Africa. “Port” is French for “Port” and “Gentil” is French for “of Floating Logs.” The bay next to the hotel is full of logs. Timber is a major industry here and the harbor is full of huge logs from the rain forests inland that are brought down and dumped in the bay behind a mile-long barricade of floating logs chained together. The Chinese provide the cash for the timber by the ton, no questions asked. It is very similar to my house, except we provide cash for the Chinese, who ask a ton of questions (Can we eat? Can I get one of those?...)
I once worked with a buddy that started a list of determining first rate and third rate hotels. Through the years, whenever we talked, we would update the list when recounting travels. When he started it, his first item was: Glass drinkware in the room instead of plastic indicates primo hotel. Later we added, due to real-life experiences: TV Remote provided at check-in desk = non-primo; TV Remote attached to nightstand = non-primo; towels with OTHER hotel names = non-primo, etc. I am now developing a primo/non-primo list for locations visited. Here are a few non-primo locations indicators noted here: daily malaria medication required to sustain life; proof of yellow fever vaccination required to exit immigration; armed guard outside restaurant at night.
I think it is cloudy here, but I can’t be certain. Even if the sun was out, it is the rainy season and the mosquitoes alone would block all sunlight. OK, that is an exaggeration, but there are a lot here and knowing they may carry malaria doesn’t help accept them. The malaria medication has about 50-100 side effects warnings including hallucinations, incoherency, loss of memory and…a lot of other things…I think. In addition, I bathe in 100% deet every morning to repel insects, and deet side effects can include growing a third ear, blindness, and pregnancy with an alien life form. Fortunately, effects problems and had side me no. ELVIS! In doing Port Gentil, YOU!?
It took three days here before we could make it though a whole day with an electrical outage lasting more than five hours. Watch the puddles. The storm drains are open here. When parking is needed in front of an establishment, they place fitted concrete blocks over the open storm drain. These storm drain cover-blocks crack, break and eventually fall into the sewer leaving a foot wide gap three feet deep. It is hard enough to try and maneuver the little Jeep into a parking place with traffic, pedestrians, and deep holes on a good day. (They let me drive here. No one asked about a license and I didn’t give any information.) When it rains hard, the sewer can’t handle the run-off and the blocks over the sewer are all covered by dirty water. Then, you have to ask yourself how lucky you feel before you park. And, let’s assume, just for the sake of argument, you happened to fit tires on the only two blocks that are still intact over a 40 foot section of sewer in front of a restaurant. Then, you open the door, so pleased with parking ability that you step into a puddle that doesn’t end until your belt. I’m talking theoretically only.
Don’t eat the fuzzy nuts. I have bought several packages of cashews at the store where the kids try to mug you when exit. All of them have had moldy nuts. The cashews, not the mugging kids. But if you perform some quality checks by shaking the nuts around and picking out the black ones (still talking about the cashews), you can eat with comfort. My coworker popped a handful of my cashews in her mouth before I could warn her about the fuzzy ones, and nearly spewed them across the table at me when she was hit by the foul taste. Hey, they may not taste that great, but I figure you’re immune from most bacterial infections after eating a few. In Gabon, that can’t hurt!
In my travels, laundry is frequently marked in some way to segregate it out of the washer and dryer. I have had super-strong stickers that almost tear the cloth when they come off and I have had a laundry pen mark my room number on the inside. Here they tie a colored thread somewhere – on a belt loop, a button hole, or punch a small hole in a sock or drawers. Evidently, room 305 is “green”. The doors on the restrooms in the office are clouded glass. But not that clouded, and only the…seated facilities…have any privacy barriers. You can tell all activity occurring otherwise. I feel I’d have more privacy if I just went outside and found a tree. Which is actually pretty common in downtown.
The primary language in Gabon is French. I was very surprised to learn that since Gabon is not spelled Geaughbeauxn. The French, evidently, get paid per letter written, not syllable said. I pick up languages pretty quick. Some typical French phrases would be: bon jour (what is the soup?); oui, oui (I have to use the restroom); polly vu France’ (Polly is from France). I’ll probably have even more phrases by the time I get home!
Au Revoir (“In Reverse,” a French military term)
-Keith