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 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 1, 2010 | Ghana, Stories, W. Africa
Blazing out of Accra, red earth, two story termite mounds, and green everything else. On the bus to Takoradi, I was pleasantly hypnotized by the scene outside my window when the driver decided to let a pastor on board. The pastor yelled into our ears for two hours....
by phil | Jul 12, 2010 | Ghana, Stories, W. Africa
After spending an hour and a half in two different cramped and dilapidated minibuses, I am looking for a shared taxi to my final destination: Beach Road. My first couchsurfing experience has led me to the western-most neighborhoods of Accra, Ghana. Dansuman, Shiabu,...
