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 Between
the villages and towns there was still considerable forest and frequent stream
(left). In general the terrain was flatter than further north. The
forest
were broken up by farms. The micro climate, soil, and /or agricultural
tradition must be a little different in this region because there was a little
more variety in the agriculture, including cassava, sorghum and millet (right) amidst the
rice farming.
Here we learn that there are a couple of different approaches to siesta:
1) take advantage of the down time and get your hair braided (photos left and
right),
  or
2) take advantage of the down time and literally get down (photos left and
right),
or 3) go for a walk
around the village and forest and take pictures of the trees, orchids and epiphytes.
  We had traveled from a Temne to a Mende area. Walking around the village the
people were equally welcoming but seemed more reserved in their manners and
voice -- the kids had stopped screaming "white man, white man" when we arrived
in villages.
After siesta we moved on again.
 Back
in the 1960's there was a railroad from Freetown to Blama. It carried
passengers and agricultural products like palm oil. The trains ceased
running decades ago but you can still
identify where the tracks came though town and there are still a few building that
were associated with the railroad.
More recently the undoing of the Blama economy was the civil war. The
are still a lot of buildings that are locked-up / boarded up, missing roofs
and generally in disrepair. But
there are also buildings actively under repair and a few buildings with a
fresh coat of paint.
 Gone
are the diamond buyers, but the competitive number coffee and cocoa buying offices
would indicate that these are primary income generators for the community.
As I chatted with a produce buyer a man walked into town with a bag on his head.
The produce buyer quickly approached the man with the bag and asked if he had
coffee or cocoa for sell. In this case the answer was "no".
One of the building under repair is suppose to become a computer / Internet
center, which indicates some entrepreneur expects an increase in disposable
income in the community.
 Still pretty low-key in the middle of the afternoon, the busiest business in
town was the "entertainment center" / bar / guest house. A crowd had gathered
to watch the television (mostly sports programming), but very few of the patrons had drinks on their tables.
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