Emma goes to Ghana: Cote d'Ivoire

Clearly I am just not cut out for serious blogging. The post I'm about to write is about a month and a half late. For Spring Break (March 14th-22nd), my roommate Kelsey, housemate Jaclyn and our other friend Victoria from Drew University, all went to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. The first few days of our break we had some issues with getting visas, so we didn't actually leave until Wednesday. We took an STC bus from Accra straight to Abidjan. The entire bus ride took about 13 hours. The boarder was a little bit sketchy. Someone collected our passports and took them inside the station to be stamped while we waited on the bus. We didn't actually get our passports back until we had crossed over to the other side. So, for about half an hour we sat on the hot bus wondering, panicking, about whether or not we'd ever get our passports back. We laughed later on about being so concerned. Yes, you have to be cautious about these things when you're in a foreign country, but STC is a respectable company and we really didn't need to be so worried.

My aunt Ahoua (my mother's brother's wife) is Ivorian. She still has family in Cote d'Ivoire and she put me in touch with her cousins, who picked us up from the STC bus stop in Abidjan. They're names are Karim and Raissa. Mama Kone, my aunt's aunt, took great care of us and cooked us dinner Thursday and Friday night.

Karim, myself, Raissa, Nora, Mama Kone

Thursday we walked around the neighborhood of Abidjan where our hostel was located, Cocody. We were staying at a guest house owned by a church. Since Cote d'Ivoire is a francophone country, it was great to have Karim with us every step of the way, to help us bargain shop and direct taxi drivers. He was such a great help to us. Three out of the four of us also speak some French, so even when we were on our own, we got along just fine. Across from our hostel was this fantastic ice cream shop. We also discovered a place with delicious pain au chocolat and cafe au lait. Yum yum. We also went to the market and bought some souvenirs. The day culminated in a dinner at Mama Kone's house. She made us fish, couscous, ratatouille, rice and this delicious spicy ginger drink.

Mama Kone

On Friday we went to a nearby beach town called Bassam. The town is known for its beautiful sand beaches and artisan shops.

Bassam

We were able to go to the Costume Museum, as well. The tour guide showed us the different articles of clothing of chiefs and queen mothers of traditional Cote d'Ivoire. We ate lunch on the beach with Mama Kone and Karim, who were nice enough to drive us to Bassam and show us around. We stopped on the way back to Abidjan for some coconut milk on the side of the road.

Coconut!

We left Abidjan early in the morning on Saturday because the STC bus doesn't run on Sunday. We slept most of the way back to Accra, with some interruptions from a) a very loud cell phone conversation, b) a Christian man who suddenly felt the need to preach to the entire bus at 8 am, and c) extremely loud Nigerian films that were played on the television in the bus. (PS, if you haven't heard anything about Nollywood...You should seriously consider doing some research. The stuff is hilarious.) So Cote d'Ivoire was a great success and we made some wonderful friends there that we will never forget! Here are a few more photos from the trip: