She watched the gap between ship and shore grow to a huge gulf. Perhaps this was a little like dying, the departed no longer visible to the others, yet both still existed, only in different worlds. - Susan Wiggs

9 November 2019, Elubo GHANA to Aboisso IVORY COAST, 61,2km
Royal Hotel 10,000XOF (R250)

Exchange rate: Rand 1 (R): West African Franc 40,45 (XOF)
The West African franc is the currency of eight independent states in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo

It was only a km or so from our hotel to the border post. Leaving Ghana was easy enough, entering Ivory Coast almost casual. And here we are back in a French-speaking world, and back to using the West African Franc. Luckily we had some francs left over from Togo, and managed to change our Ghana cedis with a money-changer at the border, as the ATM in Aboisso, our first overnight stop, is not working.
The road was wide and nicely-graded and passed through pretty countryside. Rolling hills sometimes green with forest and bush, more often with commercial farms. It is wonderful to see commercial farming, something we have seen little of in Africa. Palm oil, we think, latex (smelly) and bananas wrapped in blue.
It would have been a great ride, except for the appalling heat. For long periods, I felt as though a magnifying glass was above me, focusing the sun onto my back, which was badly burned and itchy by the time we reached Aboisso.
We bought new SIMs for our phones, Orange, and data, and were back in touch with family and friends almost immediately. While wheeling our bikes toward a hotel set one street back from the main road, we were accosted by a white man getting out of his car. He was so excited to meet us, and so excited by our story, that he invited us into his shop and insisted on giving us each a drink, Charl an Efes beer, me an orange juice. His Lebanese dad settled here in 1950, and he was born in Aboisso. “I am the only white man in town”, he said, “And a Christian”. He was hosting a small party in his shop. One of the black men drinking wine there spoke English. “Africans like whites”, he said. When I asked why, he answered: “Because they teach us how to speak to God”.

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…