November 11, 1980

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
Slept fairly well, considering the circumstances: my unventilated room is on ground level and people hang out next to my window all night and their talking sounds like it comes from right in the room. The lack of ventilation in the room is compensated, though, by the shower: the first time I've had one in my room this trip. I use it two or three times a day, to cool off.

This morning I got a real walking tour of Abidjan—through Treichville, the slummy-but-colorful section where I live across the bridge over the lagoon, to The Plateau. This is like stepping out of the haunted forest and seeing Emerald City. This part of Abidjan is completely Europeanized and urbanized—highways and skyscrapers and buses and supermarkets. I went to the Sureté Nationale to check into Ivory Coast, since no one stamped my passport on the train. No one seemed quite sure why I was there and after the usual shuffle, I was told that no checking-in was necessary. A marvel, after the bureaucracy of Niger. When I asked for the Malien Embassy, I got shuffled all over town, but got a good tour this way. The Mali visa cost $12—making my living budget even tighter.

Had a fried banana sandwich for lunch and fried fish for dinner.

Ivory Coast is in the sub-tropical and equatorial climate zones— equatorial at Abidjan, They have two rainy seasons per year, the lighter of which is in October/November. Both yesterday and today I noticed heavy clouds in the morning, clearing by early afternoon. Today it fooled me, though, and around 6pm I was caught in a sprinkle a mile from my hotel. I hurried back but at half a block from safety, I was hit by a sudden downpour so heavy that I might as well have walked the whole mile in it—I was drenched.

Afterwards, I went out looking for a pineapple-sicle, had an orange instead—so strange to see orange oranges instead of green ones. And the golden delicious apples that cost about $2 in Niamey cost only 10¢ - 20¢ here. Later, had sweet café au lait and buttered bread.

When the conversation outside my window died down to a loud discussion, I called it a day.

PHOTO CREDIT 1
PHOTO CREDIT 2