Got to Ferkessadougou, one of the northernmost cities of Ivory Coast, at 7:15— after 16 hours in the train. At the station, I had a quaint breakfast of millet, eaten out of a gourd, with a gourd spoon. Had to practically walk through a forest to get to the town, which was already hopping. Walked up and down the main street, looking for the downtown section, then realized I must have passed it. Considering that it's one of the biggest cities in the country, it's pretty damn small. Each end of the road leads to a plantation of some kind. In the middle are all the street vendors. The cheapest room I could find was $7.50, but it's pretty nice. Just haven't been able to find those crappy $3.00 rooms like I had in Morocco.
Asked around for transportation to Sikasso, the first town in Mali, halfway to Bamako. I was directed to a taxi-brousse full of sweltering people wondering when they were going to leave. Went back to my room to catch up on lost sleep.
I was a genius for deciding to stop in this town— although there's very little to do, it's good to take it slow and see something other than the capital cities. Besides, 450 miles in one long hop is too much in a taxi-brousse. And finally, spending a few days really bored and anxious to get home might stave off my wanderlust for a while.Ate dinner at a restaurant for the first time in a while— steak, salad (with cucumbers, even!), a big plate of rice with sauce and chunks of beef, buttered bread and a soda: $2.50. (I notice that I write a lot about money, now that I'm on my last lap.)
Right now, half the town is at the Bruce Lee movie. He's a big influence in Africa— his films are in every town and I always see little kids (and once, two men) spinning around, kicking each other in the solar plexus. One of the movies playing in Abidjan was "Kung Fu versus Yoga."
Did a lot of walking today and I was about to hit the sack at 8:15, when a dozen or so people outside started talking louder and louder, then all screaming at once. I went out to watch the argument— it was five minutes before I realized they were speaking French— such is the accent here. Lulled myself to sleep with their screams.
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