My 5 nights in Abidjan are effectively more than I'll be spending on my upcoming honeymoon. How sad is that? Does that mean I have my priorities misaligned? (don't answer that!) At least I expect I’ll have more fun on my honeymoon than Abidjan could even serve up. Not saying that it hasn’t been a good week, though. It has been a very tiring week. But that was expected. After all, I was here to work! And work I did.
So, what do I love about CdI? Well, the people are certainly delightful. I did love meeting and being with them. I had met a few of the faces before, which made my credibility and arrival a little gentler. Despite the previous few months war, brutality and carnage the people’s spirits are incredible. They remain so positive and quite a happy bunch. They’re extremely friendly, I felt extraordinarily safe, and just generally enjoyed the experience.
I certainly enjoyed having my evenings to myself rather than having the local Team feel like I needed to be hosted at every waking opportunity. So I was very happy about that.
The weather ranged from rainy and humid, to overcast and humid, to sunny and very humid. Time in the plant around hot soap linea and steam didn’t make it any more comfortable, but it did make me appreciate my air conditioned and clean room each night!
Traffic wasn’t anywhere near bad as I expected, and although the roads are in a state of disrepair in certain areas the traffic moves remarkably well, drivers are surprisingly polite, hooting isn’t excessive, and cars don’t go missing in potholes to hell.
Buildings are pretty battered, especially along some of the main routes where ground floor windows remain boarded up or completely destroyed – no doubt as a result of the violence last year / earlier this year.
The quality of vehicles is remarkably good. Being a former French colony these cars clearly dominate the roads. But I was more surprised by how many NEW vehicles, including 4x4’s, are being driven.
Today (Saturday) I had a fantastic opportunity to be taken shopping by a colleague of mine. Although I came away with various indigenous printed garments that I’m likely to never wear I did thoroughly enjoy getting into a local market, hearing the sounds, seeing the people and freshly boiled fresh chickens being defeathered (NOT!), and smelling the fresh roasted fish and other indigenous smells!!! I felt remarkably safe and unharassed, which was a pleasant change from places like Morocco and Turkey. Marius took me into some of the formal trade, less formal trade and then very basic rural trade. It was great to drive around and see. I’d probably not survive on my own – once again my French would let me down – but aside from that it was quite manageable. Lesson to self: if you show an interest in something then be prepared to buy it. Not because you’ll be muscled into buying it, but because you’ll leave the seller quite dejected and mildly offended if you go off and buy it elsewhere. Even Marius – a local – avoided a store owner where I’d seen something and said we might come back, just because he didn’t want to offend him!
Well, I’m now done with Abidjan, this island-type city build around and on a vast lagoon in a Country of remarkably positive and robust, happy people. I have enjoyed being here, albeit that I wasn’t too keen to come in the end and paid dearly in sweat and angst to get here. West Africans truly are a delightful people. I recall feeling the same after visiting Ghana – an immediate neighbour to CdI – some 8 or 9 years ago.
I've just arrived in Nairobi, Kenya off a 6hr flight where I'll be spending a further 4 nights. I was "treated" to an emergency exit wondow seat only to learn that MY seat barely had a cushion AND it didn't recline. So it was a surprisingly LONG 6hrs during which I didn't sleep at all. Now I'm about to face a day of game drives and sightseeing which normally would be an AMAZING day out. But given my lack of sleep - again - I think it might turn into an endurance session!! Anyway, I'll make the most of enjoying some of the local activities on today (Sunday 25th Sept) before spending 2 days in the Factory then returning home again on the 28th.
And then my REAL adventure begins. I hear the sound of wedding bells tolling somewhere in the distance already! 21 days to go today!! Yeah-haw!!!
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