by phil | Oct 5, 2010 | Camels, Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Stories, Tips, W. Africa
What’s cooking in the oven of Bamako? Humans, donkeys, and dust. The uniform color and the 10 million motos remind me of Ouaga, but Ouaga’s got nothing on the Niger River, or Bambara, a language so smooth you’ll feel like you’re on ice skates....
by phil | Oct 3, 2010 | Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Stories, Tips, W. Africa
This is me making doughnut batter in Ghana. I am wearing my favorite shirt. It is lightweight, comfortable, mildly flattering, quick-drying, and somewhat immune to odor. Three years ago, before boarding an overnight bus to Arequipa, I was robbed in the Cusco bus...
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...
