Gave myself an even bigger walking tour today. Found the travel agency that books the Dakar-Casablanca boat, but they couldn’t tell me anything until Friday (14th). Did the market for a while, until it was time to pick up my passport at the Mila Embassy. Brought it from there directly to the Senegal Embassy for my final visa. Walked a long way to the National Museum, which was closed for the mid-day siesta, so I took my own siesta outside the National Library.
Picture postcards of cities usually crop out the ugly sections and show the small section of skyline that gives an impression that the entire city is modern and beautiful. In Abidjan, the impression is true—everywhere you look, you see beautiful, modern buildings, waterfront parks, everything clean—what cities should strive to be like… European and American cities, anyway. To achieve this, Abidjan has largely sacrificed its African character; by being prosperous, it’s necessarily commercial. Still, it’s an interesting change from the other tiny capitals I’ve seen.The library opened first, so I browed through it for an hour. There wasn’t much to read in English, but it was good to be in a library—a natural environment for me. I even found a French hi-fi magazine with a large section on Stravinsky. I’m planning an intensive Stravinsky study upon my return to the States.
The museum, like all good museums, overpowered me. There were so many fascinating, beautiful, hideous statues and masks that I couldn’t stop at every one long enough to appreciate it. Many tall mahogany statues; masks of all sizes and many materials; ivory carvings as tall as 14 inches; smaller figures and jewelry in bronze, silver, gold, ebony and clay; a room full of doors carved in bas-relief.
When I finally got back to the hotel, with a few groceries for supper, there was a note waiting for me from Jean-Luc, whom I had given up on. He’d been by at 2:30 and will come around again tomorrow morning at 10:00. Maybe he can get me out of this too-expensive room; maybe he can advise me on the best transportation to Bamako (Mali); at the very least, he’ll provide some companionship—looking forward to it!PHOTO CREDIT 1
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