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Category Archives: Cote D’Ivoire

Côte D’Ivoire Part III – Ridiculously expensive churches, poor chickens and hungry crocodiles

23 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by Anita in Africa, Cote D'Ivoire

≈ 2 Comments

The former president of Cote D’Ivoire, Felix Houphouet-Boigny had an ego problem. In 1985, he decided to spend an inordinate sum of government money building a colossal catholic church in his newly formed capital of Yamassoukro, built on the site of his ancestral village. This Basilica is larger than the Vatican’s St. Peter’s (which is the basis for its design) and is the largest church in the world.It was quite a stunning sight for two reasons. One, just the scope of the building itself, its lavish stained glass windows, and the architecture itself is incredibly impressive. And, more importantly, in an impoverished and struggling country where 3-700 million 1985-dollars could have built infrastructure, and hundreds of schools, universities, clinics, hospitals, and communication facilities to better the lives of it’s people (half of whom are Muslim anyway), it was the grossest and most disturbing misappropriation of financial resources I’ve ever come across.

I took some less-than-totally-respectful photos in front of the basilica to illustrate how I felt about this. And Catholicism in general (apologies for offending any sensitive sensibilities here…)

We took a few hours to rest from the heat of the day at the hotel before re-boarding the truck to visit the Presidential Palace and its famed crocodiles that get fed each day at around 5pm – supposedly to entertain the local tourists as much as to keep the crocs alive themselves.

On arrival, we were approached by armed guards who informed us that the driveway leading to the entrance of the palace was off-limits. Also, the caretaker of the crocodiles was off work on the weekend and so there was no feeding for us to view.

Poor crocs!

Someone in the group immediately suggested that we buy some chickens and feed the crocs ourselves, as is described in our lonely planets. The group came together and it was decided that Mathias would go to the local market and purchase a couple of chickens with our pooled funds. However, on learning that these chickens were going to be fed to the crocodiles ALIVE, a few members of the group started to get very upset and express themselves loudly in protest of how “cruel” and “inhumane” such an act would be.

Explanation of the fact that crocodiles would not eat an already-dead chicken as well as pointing out that having one’s head cut off to be eaten by a human or being crunched instantaneously by the powerful jaws of these ancient beasts are literally one-and-the-same was not helping to alleviate the situation and their vehement protests got louder.

I found the whole thing to be quite funny and an altogether entertaining insight into both crocodiles and human psychology. Eventually, the few folks who objected were told to remove themselves from the area and we all anxiously awaited Mathias’ return with the doomed birds.

Jodie threw the first chicken in and it managed to swim for a few seconds before it was promptly chomped in one enormous bite, feathers and all. It was over in an instant.

The second chicken was not as lucky and ended up traumatized just from being thrown up in the air instead of laterally into the water, resulting in it coming right back to the gate where we were standing like a boomerang! The guards then threw it in one more time and it was all over in a split second.

Seven crocodiles and two of them got to eat that Saturday.

Yamassoukro reminded me very much of Warsaw, Poland during the communist era. Large soviet-style concrete buildings devoid of art in their architecture, wide tree-less streets with broadly spaced urban design. And then there is the famed Presidential Hotel which reminded me of the state-ran Orbis’ hotels that we often had stayed in when I was a kid – with its red carpeted walls and enormous 80’s decorated lobby and monstrosity of an oversized concrete “block” on top of the hotel giving it the appearance of a giant mushroom.

To my delight, a group of us stopped here on our way back from the chicken massacre. Even more thrilling was the fact that I could order a gin and tonic WITH ice at their bar while we waited for the aforementioned mushroom-like restaurant to open. The hotel had a gigantic pool in the back and I sort of wished I’d come here earlier and crashed it.

Dinner that night was extra fabulous. We ordered perhaps our most expensive meal yet (around $10-15 each) and I had Rotisserie Chicken with vegetables and mashed potatoes followed by chocolate cake and real coffee. In case I haven’t mentioned it, “coffee” at breakfast was always Nescafe instant…so this was a lovely treat.

It was also a really good group dynamic and I will have very fond memories laughing with Sinead, Mike, Jack, and Mike (the driver) from that evening.

The following day’s journey (Jan 7) would take us back to the beach at the former capital of Ivory Coast – Grand Bassam with a stop for lunch on the way in the country’s largest and most modern city Abidjan. As we drove in, Peter and I contemplated what we really wanted to eat and we both agreed that Crepes would be amazing – and within seconds we saw a sign for a Creperie!!

We quickly availed ourselves with a small group to the Crepe restaurant which was ran by a French guy. I split a savory and a sweet crepe with Wayne and they tasted so good they brought tears to my eyes. We also both licked our plates – the food was that good.

On arrival at our beach hotel, we jumped into the pool with cold beers to alleviate the heat of the day and the long drive in the truck. Thousand of locals were playing, swimming, and socializing on the beach and I had quite an enthusiastic welcome from many of them when I decided to take a walk later that afternoon in my bikini and sarong.

It’s amazing to me how women here come in all shapes and sizes but it is so very rare to see a man with an ounce of body fat or sans six-pack abs. Men here are so athletic it is ridiculous. And it makes for very lovely people-watching.

Enough said.

The day’s culinary delights continued that evening as Danny and I led a group of hungry lesser spotted Dragos to the Vietnamese restaurant we had read about and had what then became the best meal of the last few days. Which even included a velvety creamy chocolate mousse to finish it off. I was super stuffed and happy when I hit my pillow that night.

The next day was relatively uneventful except for my TIA diarrhea which came back again with a vengeance in the middle of an art gallery that we were looking at. Thank God there were restaurants within a 50 meter run that had decent toilet facilities!

Since Grand Bassam was the capital in the late 1800’s – there were a number of older buildings from that era worth a visit, some of which had been converted into museums, others that had trees and vines growing out of and around them. It made for a pleasant stroll, if not interrupted by my growing bathroom requirements which led me to stay close to my room for the remainder of the afternoon.

On our last night in Ivory Coast, we ate at a beachside restaurant where I think we broke records for how long we waited to be served food…2 hours and 15 minutes – at which time the server brought bread ALONG with all of our main dishes!!! Why, oh why can’t Africa realize that a) if food is going to take that long to prepare because of a lack of staff – simply inform guests of this ahead of time and b) if it is going to be more than 2 hours before guests get food…bring the bread out FIRST….

So frustrating! This. Is. Africa!

Squid on the beachHaving said that, along with almost all of our meals in Ivory Coast, the food was delicious and the giant prawns I’d ordered were extremely tasty and had an incredible buttery/garlic sauce on them which almost made up for the pain in my belly from waiting in hunger for so long.

Côte D’Ivoire Part II – Korhogo artists and culinary delight

22 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by Anita in Africa, Cote D'Ivoire

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Art, Artisans

Korhogo Textiles

Thursday, January 4.

It was a treat to stay at our lovely and high standard accommodation of La Rose Blanche Hotel, where we enjoyed our first internet connectivity since we departed on the 19th of December.  Having been offline for that long, I was nervous to check my email, messages, bank accounts – by this point, I don’t want to be reminded about anything that has to do with home.

I am here, being present, and not futurizing/worrying.

Luckily, upon checking, everything seemed to be in order and I happily uploaded some blog posts!

The hotel even boasted air conditioning where you could actually SET the temperature you wanted to achieve in the room, as opposed to the a/c simply progressively making the room colder and colder and colder until you wake up with ice on your nipples and get up grumbling to turn the damn thing off.  Yay!  Plus, there were hot showers, separate beds, BBC World news, a good restaurant, AND Wifi!!!  It was too good to be true and I was super grateful!

Wood Carving artist in Korhogo

The shopping day actually turned out much better than I expected it to.  We first saw demonstration from an artist who painted woven cloth with symbols and characters from Cote D’Ivoire’s folklore – and these pieces, somewhat like Batik, are designed to be hung up as artwork.  I bought a few tiny, colorful designs with the intent to frame them for my house.

We then went to a mask making/wood carving center where more Ivorian Coast MEN were making art (women cannot make art in this particular tribe and I couldn’t get an intelligible let alone compelling explanation as to why the vagina quells all artistic endeavors) out of various soft woods (ha! Get it?) and then drove further out of the city to a village where the men make beads out of clay and then hand paint them with naturally produced dyes.  I did buy several necklace/earring sets here as they were vibrant and unique.

Men making beads from clay in Korhogo

After our shopping cardio, we thankfully found a lovely pizza joint and indulged our cheese-deprived bellies with some deliciousness before heading back to the hotel for personal time.  I spent the evening blogging and then ordered a chocolate crepe with Jackie as we were still so full from lunch that ordering a full meal just didn’t make any sense.

Friday the 5th was going to be taking us to Yamassoukro or “Yakro” as its affectionately called – the official capital of Cote D’Ivoire.  This was also a very long, hot day on the truck but it was enormously helped by the fact that Sinead had agreed to let some of us “rebels” who wanted music play a selection of road trip songs from Spotify in the back of the bus.  It was a lot of fun and many passengers joined in and sang along to some great covers that spanned a few decades.  Gotta love Spotify.

Masks for sale in Korhogo

We stopped for lunch in Boukare and enjoyed our first red meat of the trip in the form of a Schwarma – a pita wrapped around steak and veggies.  It was delicious!  Food was definitely a highlight in Cote D’Ivoire.  We even got ice cream to go for the truck as we pressed on, only stopping briefly to watch a set of rural workers weaving cloth in the forest.  It is fascinating to watch as these men (yep, again) spun and ran their weaving machines manually at such a pace that it was hard to actually discern the precise nature of what made it work.  It was intoxicating and confounding to watch.

Best thing I’ve seen on a bike yet…sewing machines! For on-the-go mending entrepreneurs!!

We arrived at our accommodation in Yakro relatively late and after a quick meal of salad, I happily chilled with another passenger watching half of the movie “Blood Diamond” in the lovely air conditioning.  It was quite an experience re-watching that film, 12 years after it was first released, and AFTER having been to Freetown now in person.  Disturbing scenes capturing the civil conflict of Sierra Leone in 1998 reminded me of the horrific stories Charlie told me about the RUF chopping off people’s hands when they took over the city, occupying it for 3 terrifying months.

Even though I don’t believe the movie was made in Sierra Leone, they did a great job capturing its essence and vibe I think.

In the morning, we would be visiting the Basilica – the largest church in the whole world which was estimated to have cost a whopping 3-700 Million Dollars to build.

Cote D’Ivoire Part I – Bamboo Forests and Roof Surfing

19 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by Anita in Africa, Cote D'Ivoire

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Travel Days, Villages, Waterfalls

Roof Surfing on the truck

January 1, 2018 turned into the best transit day I’d had yet on the truck.  We had been warned that it would be excruciatingly slow going due to the fact that the road from Nzekore to the border with Cote D’Ivoire had taken almost ten hours the last time the truck had made the journey.  Lucky for us – the dirt road had been worked on somewhat and although not tarmac’ed yet, we made amazingly good time allowing us to cross the border a day ahead of schedule.  Since this was a very rural border crossing, we were able to use the “Roof seats” on the truck.  They are amazing and sitting up there on the top of the truck gives you an incredible vantage point as well as the sense, sometimes, that you’re riding a literal rollercoaster.

We journeyed through a hauntingly beautiful bamboo forest, and through some really lush tropical forests, interspersed with lively villages where the children and adults inevitably came running out to wave at the truck and us sitting on its roof!

Beautiful Bamboo Forest as we left Guinea

Getting a bit too close to the local flora

We kept on driving after the formalities of the border were fulfilled (a humorous moment was when Sinead was told that all the passengers who had listed their occupations on their entry forms as “retired” had to list their actual former occupations, and we all had a good laugh shouting out absurd careers for each individual.  “Wayne?  Exotic dancer!  Andreas?  Oh oh!  Beautician!  Graham?  MI6!!”…

You get the idea.

That night we bush camped close to a village that Sinead had arranged for us to have a tour of in the morning.  The villagers had recently had to move each and every home, being promised 200,000 CFA’s (about $400 USD) per person if they moved to allow for the Chinese construction of the new highway which engulfed their former village.  It was sad to learn that so far, the villagers had not received any payment, and whether it was the Chinese construction company or the government that owed them the money was unclear.

Another night, another bush camp with village spectators!

The tour of the village was well worth it and it was a great use of some of the time we had gained by not being stuck getting to Cote D’Ivoire in the first place.  We headed to Man (I know…what a strange name for a city, even in a country where they speak French!) and our cook group did some shopping and we all were feigning with excitement at finding a grocery store that had such variety of the foods and goods that had been absent in Guinea.

Crossing a treacherous wooden bridge…all passengers had to get off the truck while it was maneuvered across

Cote D’Ivoire has turned out to be a gastronomical delight and the meals I’ve had there were the best of the trip (so far!)  The supermarket even had fresh brie cheese and red wine for sale – and since I was going to be cooking that night for the group – I couldn’t help but buy a small wedge which I promptly ate on the bus as we continued on in the direction of Korhogo.

Before lunch we stopped at the waterfalls outside of man and took a swim.  Well, I should say a few of the ladies chose to take a swim and the men stayed dry and watched.  I was not about to pass up an opportunity to get the dust and grime off of my body…some people are just far more comfortable being dirty and smelling bad on this trip than me.

At the waterfall in Man

After our swim we made a potato salad in a field next to a school and ate in the basking hot sunshine.  As we headed out of town, I had a scary and shocking moment befall.

Sitting in the front row of the truck on the left side, I rolled the window all the way down as the truck got up to full speed to enjoy as stiff a breeze as possible due to the humidity and heat.  Since there was no oncoming traffic and we had barely even seen another vehicle these past 24 hours – I luxuriated in the cool sensation of the wind by sticking my left arm fully out of the window and “rode the air” with my hand letting it refresh me.

Then, almost immediately after I pulled my arm back into the truck, a bus overtook us, hurtling at breakneck speed from out of nowhere.  It was going so fast and so close to the truck that it actually smacked the left hand side mirror to where it snapped back and had to be manually pulled back – luckily it didn’t break.

I was stunned and just turned my head to look at Jack sitting on my right and she said “Oh, My God!  I’m so glad you pulled your arm in when you did!”

No shit.

Truck with the open window seat at the front being demo’ed by Jack!

For the next few hours, I was rattled just considering what might have happened should I have waited a few more seconds before retracting my beloved and vital appendage.  Thoughts of exactly how my arm would have broken, or whether it would have been swiped cleanly off leaving me to bleed out to my inevitable death were hard to put out of my head.

In any case, I was very lucky and I have avoided that seat on the truck ever since.  Miller, a passenger who had started the trip in Senegal came to me later and said that was the first time he could recall the truck being overtaken like that since the very start of the trip…so he understood my not giving a vehicle coming from behind on the opposite side of the road any weighty consideration.

Thankfully the rest of the drive passed without event and we arrived at our second Bush Camp location which was, for once, not within hearable distance of a village – and so we were able to make dinner without onlookers.

Village Life

I shared my red wine with my cook team while we worked away – I was also very excited to make custard from scratch and serve it hot for dessert with chopped bananas.  I used to make custard at home as a child, and while it isn’t very popular as a dessert in the States – It really is one of my favorites!  It turned out extremely well – smooth, no lumps, and just the right thickness.

I think with the Brie, wine and heaps of custard, I had really overdone things and once I’d finished dessert, I immediately abandoned my washing up, running into the tall grass in search of some private place where I might empty out the contents of my belly.

Which I did.  Another three times.  From both ends.  Oy vey!  And being sick, throwing up and having diarrhea is bad enough in a hotel room – but it is additionally challenging in the bush with no running water.  I went to my tent early and laid there, awake, much of the night waiting for further rumblings to attend to.

The kind of crazy-overloaded vehicles we see everyday on the roads

Luckily I felt fine by the morning and we had a long long and quite uneventful day driving all the way to the north to Korhogo – close to the border with Burkina Fasso.  Uneventful except for the fact that we got stopped at police checkpoints four times and once had to report to the local police station where Sinead was interrogated about our group’s “Purpose” for being in Cote D’Ivoire.  Apparently the road we were journeying on is frequently used to move drugs.

This journey eventually brought us to Korhogo – an important art/textile/handicraft center in Cote D’Ivoire and many of the passengers were very excited to go shopping.

I wasn’t one of them 😉

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anitagotravel

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