Practical life in Libreville and how the people helped us:
One of the tropes of life in Gabon is that Libreville, the big capital city, is not a friendly place. Maybe people say that about any large city or gathering of people, but the intense animosity sometimes expressed about the capital is surprising here. Thus it was with heavy, somewhat anxious hearts that Annie and I set out to accomplish practical life matters Monday morning. We had been appropriately warned about how bad things can be here. But it was nothing like that for us! Annie was welcomed and attended to heartily at the Guinean embassy. And though I was passed from one tourist agency to another, when I finally found out where to buy train tickets, an older woman actually took me in a taxi, paid the taxi for us, and walked me to the street of the train ticket office. I got a little lost on the way back home and a newspaper salesperson walked me to the taxi stand. Our experience of the big city was actually quite welcoming, a pleasant surprise.
Sweethearts:
Along our travels we have managed to make some very kind friends in Gabon. One of them is a young female university student who we met at her parent's hotel at Cap Esterias. We hung out with her during our time in LBV and she was a darling showing us her city and friends. The other is a French military officer, friend of a friend, who also took us under his wing, showed us the city and offered to help with anything that was tough or going wrong here. Total darlings. When you are traveling having kind people as your friends makes a world of difference.
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