by phil | Sep 29, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Stories, W. Africa
1,200 km separate Abidjan and Bamako. Given the nonsense that goes on with overland travel in Africa, this journey was practically interstellar. In the station, veiled Mauritanian women, bearded men reading the Koran, children adorned with beads in their hair. Most...
by phil | Sep 23, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, Stories, W. Africa
Sun-scorched, 80-90% humidity, if you are sensitive to heat you might find West Africa to be a giant torture chamber. The rainy season provides a few months of relief, and right now it lives on in Abidjan. Moderate humidity, cloud cover more often than not,...
by phil | Sep 20, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, Music, W. Africa
The radio show to listen to in Abidjan is Dj Saturday Night. Two hours of the most popular tunes in the Francophone world, frenetically mixed, no commercials. This post is in the same vein. Ouvrer les frontieres – Tiken Jah Facoly by lionsinthetiles This first...
by phil | Sep 17, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, Stories, W. Africa
Faty, one of my couchsurfing hosts, invited me to a village two and a half hours west of Abidjan. Getting there involved the standard components of overland travel in Africa: poor driving, absurd delays, ten too many police checkpoints, and several different forms of...
by phil | Sep 14, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, W. Africa
Previously on Philintheblank: Twenty four hours of violent diarrhea and vomiting followed by eleven hours in a bus stairwell. Arrived in Abidjan exhausted, dirty, sunburnt, and bacteria-ridden. One night of revival at a posh hotel turned into six when I became trapped...