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...
by phil | Sep 10, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, W. Africa
If you asked me two days ago what I thought of Abidjan, I would have said it’s a city of idle soldiers on cratered sidewalks telling market women to give them peanuts for free. I was not feeling it. Behold the power of incredible Couchsurfing hosts. Faty, her...
by phil | Sep 6, 2010 | Mali, Music, W. Africa
Economically speaking, Mali is one of the poorest countries on earth. Culturally, it is one of the richest. Bluesy, hypnotic guitar, soaring vocals, mind-bending melodies – Malian music is some of the most powerful in the world. Here are a few extraordinary...
by phil | Sep 4, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Stories, W. Africa
My last post ended with a shared taxi on the way back to Takoradi. A British volunteer, an American journalist probing oil companies in Takoradi, and myself. Before getting in the car I had one of those unpleasant near vomit burps that scorched my esophagus. Things...
