If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person. - Seneca

13-15 November 2019, Abidjan
Airbnb 15,000XOF (R376)
16 November 2019, Abidjan
Hotel Seven7 20,000XOF (R500)

There were things that needed doing in Abidjan. We needed to apply for our Liberian visas, we needed to have some work done on the bikes, we needed to eat western, we needed to veg out watching YouTube videos.
We had dropped our passports at the Liberian embassy on our ride into the city and picked them up 48 hours later, taking a taxi there and back. At 30,000 francs, the visas were cheaper than many African visas, and the form and requirements easy.
There was a basic bike repair workshop about 500m from our Airbnb. Here we bought six new tubes and four new brake pads; we replaced a frayed gear cable on my bike and the chain; we had both bikes cleaned and oiled. Unfortunately, the new chain did not like my worn gear cassette, resulting in a lengthy subsequent exercise to find a new cassette. We surfed the ’net in search of a good bike shop and were seduced by a well-advertised “reparation” workshop that proved in fact to be a small hut on a dirt track 10km southeast of our accommodation. We really did not feel like cycling that distance through the city, and were extremely glad once we got there not to have done so. Instead, we flagged down a taxi on our street and asked the driver if he would drive us and the bike to the workshop. Undaunted by our request, he first called the shop for directions, then happily and competently found a way to fit both us and the bike into his car. As I got in, happy to have overcome with complete ease what I thought might prove to be difficult, I said to Charl: “I love Africa”. Our taxi driver understood what I had said and lit up, happy not only to have pleased me, but because he too loves Africa. “Côte d’Ivoire is good”, he said. We took one look at the hut on the dirt road and knew it was unlikely they would stock what we needed. The proprietor was extremely helpful, however, giving us a business card for another shop and explaining to our driver how to get there. It was another long drive, but once there, the shop, despite its tiny size and crammed interior, not only had the correct cassette, but the mechanic changed it while we waited. Great service all round.
While in Kara, Togo, we had been told there was a Burger King in Abidjan and in the intervening weeks had looked forward to a western-style burger and chips. On our second day in the city, we took a taxi to the burger chain, salivating all the way. On arrival, we discovered it shared the premises with an enormous HyperU. We decided we would shop for supplies before eating. It was exciting to be in a “real” supermarket. We have been in others as big and well-stocked since we began our African odyssey, but not often, and so honed-down have our expectations become that we found the choice overwhelming. We also spent so much money, we had only enough left for a taxi home and had to forego our burger altogether! Until the following day, anyway… It is inevitable, I suppose, that our Whopper meal did not live up to our fantasy of it. And at 10,000 francs, we were shocked at the price - TWICE what one would pay in Johannesburg for the same meal. During our second foray to the HyperU, we were rushed by a giggle of four schoolgirls, all talking at once in French. When I said we were “Anglais”, one girl switched immediately to English saying, “You resemble a woman on TV”. “I am not her”, said I. “You are so cute”, said she. At 62, to be called “cute” by an Ivorian schoolgirl is … well … cute.
We dined twice at Dolce Vita 2, just a block away from our Airbnb. Once on spaghetti bolognaise and once on pizza. At R200, the spaghetti was more than TWICE what one would pay in Johannesburg. The restaurant was essentially empty on both nights, we assume the prices just being too outrageous for most locals. Makes little sense to me. We also had Pizza Hut pizza, and delicious Streetwise 5 at KFC.
We had booked our Airbnb for four nights and had to move to nearby Hotel Seven7 for our fifth night. Both had strong wifi, making it possible to veg out late into the night…
Although Ivory Coast scores poorly on the Economic Freedom Index, 134th, at first glance it seems wealthier than the other countries we have travelled in West Africa, including Ghana which scores considerably better. Around 40% of the population lives “in poverty”, but some sensible decisions in the past and recent-present show in the commercial farms and major highways between Grand Bassam and Abidjan, and through the capital. Houphouet-Boigny, president for 33 years from independence in 1960, was “conservative”. He chose to maintain ties with France and the west, and rejected the extreme socialism adopted by most other newly-independent countries. He “inherited” a country already doing relatively well, with major agricultural exports. Growth in the 1960s and 70s was good, falling when the price of cocoa fell. After H-B’s death in 1993, the next 15 years or so were disastrous with coups and a civil war. Since then, however, growth per annum has climbed to around 8%. Government seems to understand the importance of infrastructure-spend, privatisation and foreign direct investment. Due to relative stability and the best port in West Africa, which is a conduit for business in the region, there is a large expat community in the country. Nice to have a potential success story coming out of Africa.