MONDAY DECEMBER 24A downtown shopping trip took up most of my Christmas Eve day. Conakry, at 2 million, boasts a population about two-thirds that of Dakar, but is a much bigger city, stretched over a long, narrow peninsula. It took perhaps 45 minutes to get downtown despite almost no traffic.
Since West Africa is predominantly Muslim, there were understandably few indications in town that Christmas was near, even fewer than in Dakar. Nevertheless, the three I saw were rather large--two 6-foot Santas, and, in the middle of a major intersection, this leaning tower of a Christmas tree.
We went to a small artisan village, where I bought some rhythm instruments. In a larger market, I found some beautiful and unusual hand-dyed cloth, and purchased a few other items. Jim and I ate lunch at La Gondole--one of Dakar's nicer restaurant-ice cream parlors, which, I discovered, has a branch in Conakry.
We got home in the nick of time to leave for the outdoor, candlelight Christmas Eve service held at a local mission compound. I led the singing, and helped accompany a couple of songs on the hammered dulcimer I bought in Michigan last August, my public premier as a dulcimer player.
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