Last Stop….Cote D’Ivoire

Ah! J’aime la Cote D’Ivoire… I guess this blog post is supposed to be in english so I shall translate. I love Ivory Coast. On a second thought, maybe i don’t need to translate as romantic comedies and Beyonce songs have taught us a tad bit of French, and by that i mean; if you have listened to “Partition” by B, you have a pretty good idea of what “j’aime” means. Let me digress before i get carried away.

Prior to my attempt at putting together a few cohesive sentences, I would like to point out a very small insignificant fact, or a disclaimer if you will; I hate blogging, or more diplomatically put, i really hate blogging. So join me on this wild adventure --.--

One thing I do love doing however, is talking about the amazing journey I embarked on with a small fraction of my Peace Corps family. From Guinea where we loaded our bags on top of the Grey Goose and bid home as we knew it farewell all the way to Ivory Coast where we each embarked into our new individual realities.

I guess it makes sense that I am writing this blog post, as I have been obsessed with Cote D’Ivoire for a very long time. For some reason unknown to man, I have felt such a pull towards that country. I remember how I would huddle up in a corner of my hut where I had good internet reception (reseau) and do endless research on my phone until it ran out of battery, only to take it to the charging center and do it all over again the following day. I would read every article in Worldview on Economic and Agricultural growth pertaining to Cote D’Ivoire and fantasize about walking down the streets of Abidjan in a business suite and a cute pair of Tory Burch flats. But that is beside the point. The point here is, I was seduced by a people and place before I even set foot in it.

As we drove into the city of Abidjan, my jaws dropped to the floor like you would imagine an animé character's  expression of awe. First, let me give you a little background about Cote D’Ivoire. Located on the Western Coast of Africa between Ghana and Liberia, she is shaped like a square. Once recognized as a model of stability during the first decade of the 21st Century, Ivory Coast was recently plagued by international conflict like its counterparts all over Africa. In 2002, an armed rebellion split the nation in 2 fractions.

For more than 3 decades, after independence, the leadership of Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Ivory Coast’s President was commended for its thriving economy and religious-ethnic harmony. All these milestones came to a halt  when the late Robert Guei led a coup which toppled President Houphouet-Boigny’s successor Henri Bedie in 1999. The chaos that swept the nation destroying lives and cities, is a memory that will remain engraved in the minds of many for decades to come. 10 years ago the tension and tragedy was palpable but today, the people of Ivory Coast have put it all behind them. Today, they are focused on rebuilding the thriving economy and country they have always been proud of.

We came into the country through Ghana stopping to spend the night in Grand Bassam, a
  beautiful beach town and former French colonial capital east of Abidjan. Yes it was very sketch and yes, there were blue and red mood lights and yes, it might have been a brothel but the service was great! The following day, bright and early, we drove into Abidjan where we stayed at a chouette (neat) little hotel in le Plateau “Le Sport”. The rooms were nothing short of quaint! The management was very helpful with directions and everything else we needed. They even helped us sell the famous Grey Goose Gaggle, sad, sad day it was. Later that night, we had Vietnamese food and played way too many games of pool at a mix club that replayed Drunk in Love at least 6 times. We danced like we just didn’t care, whipped our hair back and forth, pretended to be Rihanna singing to Diamonds and met the Montinique sisters…*side eye*, that is a story for another day lol. The Following day, we explored the Treichville  market, visited the St. Paul’s cathedral where we enjoyed an amazing panoramic view of the city, got bottle service at a fancy night club and came really close to seeing P square. 

The view from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral

As we danced in a circle  to more Beyonce, Coupe Decale, old school Jay Z and random pop songs, I realized that these moments are what some people search for a lifetime and may never get to experience. I looked around me, and everything was perfect! I would give up anything to experience that feeling again.

Huge warning: Do not eat 5 mangos at a competitive pace or in what some may call an Ultimate Mango-Beer Contest! It really isn’t worth it, solid poo is to be cherished my friends.

- Clara

Trip stats:

• Total time in car: 108 hours
• Cheapest diesel: Benin (620 CFA/liter)
• Most expensive diesel: Conakry/ Siguiri (9,500 GNF/liter)
• Capitals visited: Conakry, Bamako, Ouagadougou, Contonou/ Porto-Novo, Lome, Accra
• Number of doppelgangers sighted: Lebanese Sean Cochrane seen at Room, Conakry, Guinea, Fred B at Amadine, Bamako, Julie in car in Ouaga, Tosten at De Niros, Ouaga, Dante Bugli at Oasis Beach Hotel
• Longest border crossing: 3 hours 30 minutes (Guinea - Mali)
• Shortest border crossing: 1 hours 05 minutes (Benin-Togo)
• Togo-Ghana boarder crossing debrief (1 hour 53 minutes):
• Stop 1 (Ghana) - Police stop - passports
• Stop 2 (Cote D'Ivoire) - show passports and visas, paperwork for the Goose
• Stop 3 (Cote D'Ivoire) - Cote D'Ivoire laissez-passer

Ghana

I'm Ghana make you work for it.

At first it seemed like Ghana didn't want us in their country. At the Ghanaian Embassy in Cotonou, we were matter of factly told we couldn't possibly get a visa there because we were not residents of Benin. If we wanted a Ghana visa, we should have gotten it in Guinea...but we assured the woman that we weren't technically residents of Guinea but rather the United Stated and we haven't been there for over 2 years. The secretary stressed that we could only get a 2 day transit visa to travel thru Ghana on the way to Cote d'Ivoire. We thought our dreams of visiting Ghana were crushed. But the gaggle caught a break yet again; later that day the Embassy called us to say they were giving us a specially-made 10-day visa. We were back in the game!

But Ghana had other hurtles for us. We foolishly crossed the Togo border into Ghana in the evening and therefore had to drive the couple hundred kilometers to Accra after dark. Note: Don't attempt that. It turned out to be the slowest, most frustrating drive ever. Once the sun goes down, Ghana's police sets up checkpoints every 20km or so, supposedly in an effort to "crack down on banditry." Instead it was never-ending test of whether we were following Ghana's many random driving laws. Sorry to burst your bubble, Wiatta, but it turns out Ghana's corruption is pretty appalling. We kept getting stopped and were at the mercy of the policeman present and his mood. The first major stop, the cop asked to see Zach's international driving license and once he had it, informed us that we were breaking Ghanaian laws because 1) Zach was wearing flip flops while driving and 2) our car didn't have reflective stickers on its front and back bumpers. He said he would keep Zach's license and give us a court date in Ghana to sort it out and get the license back. We were shocked at such an extreme punishment for both points because not a single official at the border has mentioned these laws AND we rectified both on the spot. But the police were having none of it from Zach and Chris M. By some miracle, Clara made headway by throwing a lot of crazy benedictions in her conversation with him, including some winners like "God bless you and your family." She managed to get Zach's license back in our hands and get off with a warning. What's gonna work? TEAMWORK! Team Oumi Zoumi lives on. The fun ( and by that I mean hell) didn't end there, however. We continued to get stopped to show our papers, open our trunk for inspection, etc. Not even Guinea's that bad for crying out loud. Then we had another police checkpoint among the very many where the cop asked where our fire extinguisher was and then asked how we'd put out a car fire without one. Water and blankets, maybe? ventured Zach. Again, no one at the border had told us we needed a fire extinguisher and now we were stuck at a police shack that obviously didn't sell them. And again, our license was taken hostage and we were threatened with court. Zach and Chris M were yet again desperately trying to argue the injustice of it with the police to little avail. I came in for moral support, but before I knew it I was saying things like "Thank you for informing us of the law" and "show us a little mercy and understanding." One cop finally caved, but brought me aside to explain that the other cop needed something for his troubles. Ha, his troubles. Ah yes, dipping in to our bribes fund! With a couple of Cedis and a fake smile, we got all our papers back and were finally back on our way.

Are you Ghana eat that? Pancakes, lobster and ramen noodles.

Despite the Ghana police trying to break our spirits, we made it to Accra past midnight. We found a random hotel for the night and our saving grace was a little food stand across the street that was amazingly still open. Three sisters in their teens and 20s -- Mabel, Esther and Beatrice -- were cooking up ramen noodles. Now don't knock it 'til you try it, folks. This was on par with chinese carry out -- ramen noodles strained and then pan sautéed with fried egg, cabbage, onion , and corned beef into a noodle stir fry dish. Boy does it hit the spot! Chris A instantly put Ghana back in his good graces based on the roadside availability of ramen noodles.
Our short time in Accra was mostly spent eating. We have our priorities straight; food is at the top. KFC popcorn chicken, street side news, chinese, pizza, soft serve...We tore the food options of Accra's swanky OSU neighborhood up.
KFC worker: What flavor soft serve would you like?
Clara: Choc....Straw...Chocccc....Strawww.... (with panic on her face)
We also made another big step in our transition back to modern amenities by going to a real movie theater at Accra mall in the fancy suburbs. Accra has it all!

We're Ghana catch some waves. #Surfboard

But the highlight of our time in Ghana was by far our beach time! As soon as we could, we ditched the city for the small coastal village called Krokrobite Beach. Camping at Big Millie's right on the beach was awesome and much recommended--ocean access, billiards, ping pong, outdoor bar, English breakfast at nearby cafe shack Dizzy Lizzie's.

From Krokrobite, we continued on to Cape Coast where we stayed at Oasis Beach Hotel, the beachside party hostel complete with a bar, restaurant, hammocks, beach volleyball, and lots of cute and friendly guard dogs. Shout out to the pups who we played with late at night--Tequila, Bonjour, Alaska, Sambuca, and Zena. We met a lot of foreigners between 18 and 22 staying there for the weekend who were mostly volunteering in Ghana for a year or less. From our experience, Ghana has a large short-term volunteer presence. Cape Coast is most famous for the colonial slave fort that was the place where the largest number of West Africans were shipped out as slaves to the New World. The tour of the fort that was understandably powerful and gripping as we went from dark, dank, cramped dungeons where hundreds of slaves awaited their fate to the bright, airy governor's quarters with stunning ocean views. A grotesque juxtaposition. I got dehydrated during the visit and felt pretty woozy for the whole thing. Remember to hydrate and don't pass out!

**Doppelganger siting at Oasis Beach Hotel in Cape Coast, Ghana: Dante Bugli**

From Cape Coast, it was onto Busua, a small fishing and surfing village with a really laid back vibe. We set up camp at The Alaska, a hotel along the beach owned by an older guy from Alaska who's spent a lot of time living and working in Africa. Our time was spent just as it should be at the beach--swimming, napping and even some surfing. Busua has a surf shop where we rented a board for a day and took turns on it with Zach as our teacher. Props to Zach for being so patient and encouraging while he switched off showing all 5 of us how to catch a small wave and get up on the board. We all had varying degrees of success with it, but all 5 of us stood up to some extent and had a blast. Surfing is tiring! Our nights were spent playing pool at a local bar, eating delicious food at a little restaurant called JulieDan's (go there if you make it to Busua!) and playing cards. For food, also hit up Florence's for breakfast or lunch--egg salad sandwich, red red (plantains in red palm oil with beans), etc. Good eats, good waves and lots of sun, Ghana's Gold Coast was good to the Grey Goose Gaggle.

- Brittany

Trip stats:

• Total time in car: 98 hours
• Cheapest diesel: Benin (620 CFA/liter)
• Most expensive diesel: Conakry/ Siguiri (9,500 GNF/liter)
• Capitals visited: Conakry, Bamako, Ouagadougou, Contonou/ Porto-Novo, Lome, Accra
• Number of doppelgangers sighted: 1 (Lebanese Sean Cochrane seen at Room, Conakry, Guinea, Fred B at Amadine, Bamako, Julie in car in Ouaga, Tosten at De Niros, Ouaga, Dante Bugli at Oasis Beach Hotel)
• Longest border crossing: 3 hours 30 minutes (Guinea - Mali)
• Shortest border crossing: 1 hours 05 minutes (Benin-Togo)
• Togo-Ghana boarder crossing debrief (1 hour 53 minutes):
• Stop 1 (Togo) - Police stop - passports
• Stop 2 (Ghana) - show passports and have picture taken, embarkation card
• Stop 3 (Ghana) - Ghana laissez-passer
• Word of the wise - buy the reflectors and put them on your car at the boarder if you haven't already!