Ebony and Ivory

Harper turned out to be quite a pleasant small town. It is the capital of the Maryland County which at one point was actually an autonomous nation. Today however its former grandeur can be seen in places, but many of the old buildings have been abandoned after the devastating civil wars, the former Presidential Mansion is now home to squatters. We spent a few days walking around the quiet streets and beautiful surrounding beaches, and then I decided I wanted to cross over to the Ivory Coast hoping to make it to the embassies before the weekend, in order to start some visa applications. The border was very close to Harper but heavy rain had turned the dirt roads into muddy rivers. Unfortunately my only option of transport was a motorcycle and after over an hour of getting whipped by the weather conditions I arrived at the immigration office soaking wet and covered in mud splashes. Perhaps the officials took sympathy on my pathetic entrance as both sides of the border let me through without any complications.

Then began a frenzy of different slow transports, first a pirogue across the river, then into a shared taxi and then to a succession of minibuses, always having to barter hard over prices and then waiting for them to fill up before finally arriving in the small town of San Pedro. Once I arrived here, there didn’t seem to be too much on offer and when I heard there was a night bus going straight to Abidjan I decided that was my best bet. Early the following morning I arrived in the large city, I had no idea where I was going to stay but I told a taxi driver to take me to the neighbourhood of Cocody, solely because it is mentioned in a song by Ivorian reggae legend Alpha Blondy. To my surprise I managed to find a reasonably priced hotel, although all the other guests don’t seem as pleased with their rooms as none of the lovely couples that enter stay for longer than an hour. I was just happy to take a shower and get out of my muddy clothes after 24 hours on the road. Abidjan, though it isn’t officially the country’s capital city (this moved to Yamoussoukro in 1983) is by far the largest and almost all political institutions and foreign embassies are still located here.

Walking around it was sometimes hard to believe I was still in West Africa, tall skyscrapers dominate the skyline, fancy air-conditioned shopping malls are everywhere and when my eyes spotted the familiar Burger King logo I couldn’t resist the expensive splurge and temptation of a Double Whopper Meal. After a couple of days Irene and David caught up, and we have been hanging out and walking around the different parts of the city. As with many other “capitals” a lot of my time has been designated to applying for visas and waiting for them to be processed, my visa for Burkina Faso was granted and now I am waiting for the result of my Ghanaian application, which will hopefully be more fruitful than my previous attempt in Freetown.