It's been a long time since I've posted anything. July has been hectic, to say the least. Between finalizing plans to build capacity and strengthen the health system in Liberia, digging myself out of mud roads in the jungle, and planning a short holiday in France, I was swamped. In the middle of all this hoopla, I managed to visit our neighbor - Cote d'Ivoire.
Ivory Coast, as it is know to primarily English speakers, is a sea of change from Liberia. And I mean that in a positive way. From the people to the food, I loved everything about the country. I managed to visit four places - Abidjan, Yamoussoukro, Grand Bassam, and Assinie. I felt like being in a paradise compared to Liberia.
My friends know I have been in Liberia for 7 months now. I have not once left the country. This is unusual and very difficult for someone who used to fly at least once a month for something or another. Liberia takes its toll on you. It has been work, work, and more work...with no respite. I haven't had a full 2 day weekend since February. As much as I enjoy being busy (and I LOVE my work), I was getting to a point where I needed a short break.
Enter Cote d'Ivoire. Neighbor and savior! Just a one hour flight from Monrovia lies a completely different city called Abidjan. Where there are 6 lane highways, skyscrapers, and excellent restaurants. People are friendly (even to those like me who speak broken French), and the concept of customer service exists. Heck, they even have shopping malls in Abidjan which accept credit cards. Imagine my joy when I swiped my card after 7 months. I missed shopping. Sigh!
There are so many nice things I can say about Cote d'Ivoire. First, the people. There is a sense of community in the country. Random people talk to each other on the streets and ask how you are doing. Yes, there is corruption, but the corruption is not as abrasive and aggressive as I've seen in Liberia. It is done in a more sophisticated fashion, if there is such a thing as sophisticated corruption!
I hired a car service recommended by the deputy director of USAID mission in Abidjan, who also happens to be a friend. It turned out to be a great decision, because of the language barrier. I didn't have to worry about my broken French because my driver did most of the translation for me. This arrangement enabled me to eat delicious local food without worrying about translations. I ate plenty of attieke, poisson braise, kedjenou, and fatou. Three weeks since my trips to Abidjan and I still miss poisson braise Ivorien. Fish (carp or perch) braised in herbs, onions, and tomatoes, it is simply delicious. Recipe here. Attieke (cassava couscous) turned out to be the perfect accompaniment for poisson braise. Here is a recipe for attieke with tomato-onion sauce, if you are interested. Kedjenou turned out to be another favorite of mine. Stewed chicken in spices and herbs, it is a delicious dish.
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| Kedjenou and attieke |
Then there was agouti stewed in a bitter eggplant sauce. Agouti, also known as "rat de brousse" in French, is basically a bush rat. It is also known as groundhog, or grass cutter if you are in Liberia. While devouring the dish I realized I am eating a giant rat. Oh well, a tasty rat! Lastly, but certainly not the least, I had sauce djoumble. It is the Ivorian version of gumbo...dried okra helps thicken the sauce. Although it is usually served with fish, I had it with pintade (Guinea fowl). One of my guilty pleasures is fried food. You have no idea how happy I was when I found fried donut-like items in Abidjan. Even better, it was street food. The only thing that makes friend food better is when it made on the street in a busy market. Look at the woman making the donuts in the Adjame market...doesn't it look tasty?
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| Deep fried dough in the Adjame market |
I devoured the wami (sp?) like a famished person. Deep friend millet dough never tasted so good!!
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| Wami (sp?) |
One of the highlights of Abidjan is the zoo. Granted it is in a sad state after the recent civil war, but I was thrilled to see a few animals....particularly, Marguerite the pygmy hippo. I also hand fed an elephant, watched a baboon expose itself to me in a sexually grotesque manner, and met the 150 year old giant tortoise that traveled from Sierra Leone zoo to Abidjan zoo. Feel free to browse through my pictures (click the picture below for a slideshow) or click here for the complete album.
I also visited Yamoussoukro, the capital of Cote d'Ivoire. I did a day trip to Yamoussoukro with the expert driving of Marcellin, my driver. The roads of Cote d'Ivoire, unlike the roads of Liberia, enable you to drive 300km in under 3 hours. The same distance takes me 7 hours in Liberia. Crocodiles, cacao trees, coffee plantations, papaya plantations and loads of fun. I visited President Houphouet-Boigny's mansion, his private crocodile lake, and all the huge crocodiles that live in the lake.
In Yamoussoukro I visited the Basilica of our Lady of Peace. Listed in the Guinness Book of World records as the largest church in the world, larger than the St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, the Basilica or Our Lady of Peace was built between 1985 and 1989 with a budget of US$ 300million. It is a reminder of the glorious times of Cote d'Ivoire, when the country was stable with a booming economy. I did not like the Basilica. It is a large and grotesque structure with no character. It feels like the architect and the government wanted to construct something to attract world's attention and did not care about the aesthetics. It feels very sterile and plastic to be inside this mammoth structure. I even ate ripe coffee fruits. Yummy! Check out my Yamoussoukro picture album. The highlight of my trip to Yamoussoukro was visiting the cacao and coffee plantations (see album link for pics).
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| My crocodile friends, just relaxing in the president's private lake! |
A day after Yamoussoukro, I visited Grand Bassam and Assinie. Grand Bassam was the first capital of Cote d'Ivoire. There is a lot of history associated with Bassam from French colonial times. The museum director opened the museum exclusively for me, even though they were closed on that particular day. I got my own private showing of the culture and tribes of Cote d'Ivoire. Splendid!
Assinie (pictures here) is what I like to call "the Hamptons of Cote d'Ivoire". Beautiful mansions on the beach, lovely restaurants, and the playground of the Ivorian elite, Assinie is definitely a place to relax and have fun. The beach is beautiful, the food is stellar, and the people are friendly. A perfect vacation spot if you ask me. Perhaps I will go back and rent one of those beautiful beach mansions for a weekend.
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| Assinie |
After five glorious days in Cote d'Ivoire it was time to come home. The only disappointment I have is that Abidjan is so close (only a one hour flight), yet it is impossible to go just for a weekend. The flight schedule is not helpful to take weekend trips. Perhaps that is a good thing...because I would spend every other weekend in Abidjan if the flight schedule was enabling. I look forward to returning soon.
