The Ivory Coast

I am writing to you from the city of Abidjan which is the capital of the Ivory Coast now officially spelled Cote D'Ivoire. This is without a doubt the nation I wanted to avoid like the plague as it was considered the most dangerous nation in Africa along with Somalia up till 6 months ago.



So why on earth am I here you ask? I met an American in Kumasi who said he was going across the border into Cote D'Ivoire since it was safe now and very stable. I checked it out for myself and sure enough it was removed from the UK travel ban list. Strangely enough Americans don't need visas to enter Cote D'Ivoire until February 15 so I got waved across the border while others had problems.

I first headed to the Beach town of Grand Bassam which was 90 miles from the border and had to endure 9 military checkpoints though suprisingly enough not one asked me for a bribe.

The Ivory Coast is/was the gem of Africa. After independence their president poured money into education and agriculture as well as infrastructure. As soon as you cross the border from Ghana you notice an immediate difference in almost everything. First thing you notice is the excellent roads that still exist in the country followed by a 1st world agriculture and farming system. You see farm after farm as well as freshly plowed fields and nice healthy cows grazing on them (a rare sight in Ghana). The pineapples and bananas are twice the size of Ghana's and taste fantastic. The meat, fish, and food culture in Cote D'Ivoire is night and day when compared with Ghana where people eat for subsistence and not pleasure. Everywhere serves excellent French bread and croissants

By far the best African dish I've eaten is the Ivorian Kedjenou which is a lemon based sauce with tomato and pepper made with chicken, beef, or fish served over an excellent local specialty called Attieke which is grated Cassava and tastes like Cous Cous only better.The people here are extremely friendly despite not speaking much English.

Yesterday I arrived here in the capital to more or less see if the capital can live up to the hype and it definately has. The city is beautiful and is littered with modern skyscrapers. I had no idea that Sub-Saharan Africa had such a city outside of maybe CapeTown. My hotel is right on the lagoon with an amazing view.

Aside from the Armored Personal carriers tha you see here and there the city seems extremely stable and normal the outskirts of the city are slummy but that is normal in any big city

Kumasi and Ashanti people

Sorry I haven't posted recently but my internet access has been limited and extremely slow when possible. So I have plenty of pictures and will upload them when I can

I'm currently in Kumasi which is the 2nd largest city in Ghana and is the capital of the Ashanti people which are by far the largest tribal group in Ghana with about 50% of the population. In fact their political party, the NPP, just lost the elections by 23,000 votes out of 10 million votes counted. The NDC won with a coalition of the other tribes and areas by 50.1%.

The people of Kumasi are very nice and the city is nice as well and not at all hectic like other cities.

Immediately I noticed that the woman here are a little healthier looking in size and have some meat on their bones unlike all the other places I've been. Many people here also are a little lighter in skin which has much to do with the slave trade.

The Ashanti were the ones who more or less were the dominant forces in rounding up other tribes and handing them over to the slave trading companies. In fact while at the Cape Coast slave castle, two Ghanians of different tribes were teasing one another along the lines of my tribe enslaved yours which did not at all amuse any of the Africa-Americans who were there watching that exchange.

I've visited and stayed with a suprisingly well off family here. They own two compounds side by side in a suburb of Kumasi and their living conditions are a world away from most. Much of this wealth was retreived by simply caring for people in Syria which one of the aunts did. So apparently that money that is earned in western nations does bring buy them a lot here.

Today is the Obama inauguration and it should be on here at around 5 p.m. so I hope to check a few places on the sreet that I think will show it and I will take my camera along and takes some pictures and make some videos. It should be interesting.

There is here in Ghana the "Barack Obama Song" which is sung by a local group who sing a song about Obama and it is played constantly and even has the video played continuously on TV.

Also the food here in Kumasi is significantly better then anywhere in Ghana and the street food here is the best food in town as it is served every hour fresh from gleaming cookware with a variety of sauces, meats, and vegetables to choose from to go along with the awesome "Wachi" which is a rice with beans style rice which is fabulous and unseen of anywhere else in Ghana thus far. They also have 30-40 freshly boiled eggs sitting their in a brand new pot which is lovely for me as I love to mash it up in my rice. Eggs here are usually not very good as the yolk is usually the size of a pea but here in Kumasi they are real eggs.

I've also noticed that there are many foods from Israel and walked into a supermarket here and found a whole wall of "Prigat" fruit drinks. The Snickers is also always from Israel and written in Hebrew in the back. I found one place that sells Phildelphia cream cheese at insane prices as well.

Alas however there is no milk anywhere in the country. You can buy powered or UHT sterilized but there is not a single ounce of pastreuzied milk in the country as there is no facility. So have some milk and cookies and dedicate a few sips to me!