Marché Noir

In accordance with the Posh Corps/Peace Corps contradiction, I spent the majority of my day yesterday dealing in the Black Markets of Conakry to purchase a working cell phone. Let me tell the short version of the story: With 5 people in tow, we were dropped off in downtown Conakry, right across from the BiCiGui, the main bank here in Guinea. Now, this is not a place of orderly lines, and let me put it this way - there are none of those numbered ticket dispensers as there are at deli counters back in the States. When we entered the office of the bank man, there was already a crowd of people, and more kept filing in. Luckily, this bank man likes to help the foreigners, so we didn't have to wait tooooo long. Then, out by the teller, the five of us stood in blocking formation, much like defensive football players, spread out and pushing forward, so no Guinean could cut in front of us, and so we could one day be at the front. The teller lady clearly didn't like us, and she called for those behind us to step ahead of us for service. This was all Rasa's fault (sorry, hun!), as she had been there the day before and had a tiny altercation with this teller lady. As soon as the teller lady saw her in line, we knew we were screwed. Anyway, eventually, we got to the front of the line and received our money, our last chance to withdraw cash before the strike that may commence on Monday.

At this point, it was time to step outside, into the Conakry heat of midday, to hunt down some SIM cards. Let me explain why this is so difficult: It is not easy in Guinea to get a cell phone. Hence, why I have not bought one yet. There are no Verizon or T-Mobile stores in strip malls here, where one could go in, sign up for a plan, get a free phone, and walk out a happy customer. In fact, there is nowhere to go to get a cell phone number because there simply aren't any available. Sotelgui, the main mobil phone company here does not have enough numbers to meet demand across the country, so buying a phone number is nearly impossible. However, the day before yesterday, Sotelgui released thousands of new numbers across the nation and lines formed in all cities, as people waited (impatiently) to get their hands on a SIM card. So, back to the story... Jan and I left the bank before the rest of our entourage in search of the as-valuable-as-diamonds SIM cards. We wandered the main street in Conakry, asking street vendors where we could get our foreign hands on them. We found one man selling them on the street (illegally), but he only had a single card left, and we needed 3. Upon understanding that we need more than 1 SIM card, a street vendor in a white shirt and shiny green track pants offered to take us (for a charge of 5,000 guinean francs) to where we could buy them. "Biensur!" Jan and I exclaimed. Paying the equivalent of $1 was defintely worth it! So, he quickly led us down a street, hopping over puddles and curbs, turning corners, and we end up outside the Sotelgui office, where hundreds of people were in line tying to legally buy phone cards. We asked if there was any other way, and our shiny-green-pants-man took off again, stopping at another street vendor, asking if he is selling numbers. The entire interaction was incredibly shady, sketchy, strange, and mysterious. But, alas, there were 3 SIM cards, and the man had only marked up the price by 30,000 guinean francs. 6 extra bucks.... worth it to me! So, we spent the next hour testing them all, putting them in a phone to see if they work, calling other phones to find the number - and all of this is difficult in Guinea, as the network is often so busy, calls take many tries to go through (forcing 0ne to ask why they are selling more numbers). Eventually, it all got done, and we just had to finish filling out "paperwork," which didn't even ask for our names. We were handed falsified receipts, stating that we paid the legal price for the cards, not the black market price, I guess to make the transaction look legitimate...?

The whole process took hours in the midday Conakry heat, and Jan and I had not had breakfast, and we did not have enough water. I was a bit cranky and lightheaded when the ordeal was over, but we met up with Reid, Murph, and Rasa, and had an American lunch of pizza and burgers at La Gondole. Overall, it was my most productive day in Conakry. In fact, it may have been my most productive day in country. And now I have a cell phone! Who knows how well it will work in Siguiri (the network isn't very good out there), but at least I will look cool, carrying around a clunky Nokia everywhere I go.

My mom asked (while I was recently talking to her on my shiny new cell phone), "how do you plan to charge the phone, Aim?" Good question - even though I don't have electricity a home in Siguiri, innovative Guineans have solved the problem. I can pay a man on the street to seel me electricity. He will just plug it into a looooong extension cord attached to a generator, and let it sit on the street for an hour or so until it's all good and charged.