A small country, Guinea-Bissau still made a huge impression on us. Once again we felt the immediate cultural shift as we crossed the border. People lived in more traditional settings, villages were smaller with houses lined up along the ubiquitous red dirt roads.
Outside of of Bissau we never saw an ATM, an indoor market or another tourist. People in the country obviously worked hard, washing clothes in the rivers, hand grinding grain, cooking over charcoal fires and carrying daily water in buckets from the communal wells.
Communication was difficult for us. Gone were the crowds of curious children and teenagers seeking conversation. People stared but kept away, trying to figure out who these strangers were driving by their homes.
As always, our first challenge was the border crossing. It was our most remote border crossing to date, just a few buildings. No insurance office, no sim cards, no change makers. No other tourists. Just onlookers resting in the shade smiling and pointing to each consecutive office for us. Police building to check out of Senegal side of border.
First check-in building on Guinea-Bissau side: stop at the rope barricade, one door to check passports, next door to check vehicle. Then we were directed to another building to pay a CFA road tax we got a receipt and were told police would ask for it later but no one ever did.
