Why Travel?

What was my most interesting motivation for taking a trip? To find out whether my boyfriend was still alive.

Last summer I had planned a relaxing vacation in Guinea-Bissau (West Africa), the country where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer and where my boyfriend lives. He is a medical student and an officer in Guinea-Bissau's Air Force.

Right after I bought my plane ticket to Guinea-Bissau, war erupted. The only international airport in the country was closed, phone lines were cut, and mail service was halted. I had no way of finding out whether my boyfriend was taking part in the fighting or whether he was a rebel or a loyalist. As I read news reports of heavy shelling of the Air Force base, where I thought he would most likely be, I wondered whether he had been wounded, or even killed. I had to know. I decided to take my plane ticket as far as Dakar, Senegal, and then, somehow, make my way to Guinea-Bissau. After failed attempts to join a truck convoy of humanitarian aid and hitch a ride on a U.N. mission flight, I finally made it into Guinea-Bissau the Guinean way - by crossing the border at night, walking barefoot through rice paddies and villages.

Soon after I arrived, the first cease-fire of the war went into effect. Even better, on my fifth day in the country, I found my boyfriend alive and healthy! Because of the cease-fire, he was able to take a break from the rebel forces and spend vacation time with me. The few days we spent together were worth all the troubles and risks of my journey.

June 7th was the one year anniversary of the beginning of the war and the one month anniversary of the end of the war. Guinea-Bissau is not quite ready to welcome back tourists (the airport remains closed to commercial flights), but it shouldn't be too long before I can heartily recommend a post-war Guinean vacation to the adventurous.

Corona

 

 

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