The Really Fun Trip (or a trip within a trip)
We’re back to Abidjan now. What a great 4 days we had! Let me try to fill it in ….
We headed out Tuesday morning at 6:50 am (Ick!) in order to beat the traffic. Apparently we did, although I would have considered it deadly, back to back, kill or be killed traffic. (We heard today that after we left the traffic locked up good. Cheers for leaving early!) It took an hour to get out of the city and then another hour to get to our destination: Mammy Wata in Assinie Mafia (Google that one!)
Along the way we went through other towns lined with little shops selling all manner of local goods, foods, crafts, furniture …. if it can be sold, its there! We will probably be back to the shops next week and will try to get some pictures.
We went though areas where there are coconut groves and also “Palm nut” groves (you can see them here gathering that crop).
Some of the areas are beautiful – others scream of poverty. The huts that the fisher folk live in are (by our standards) deplorable. All along the road (in city and elsewhere) you are constantly approached by people selling whatever they can find to sell. You can buy a phone card or toilet paper at your car window, making Ivory Coast the world’s biggest drive-through shopping center!
We finally arrived where we would park the car and proceed by boat. We weren’t sure where exactly to go or which person to see. You can’t just ask “Are you the person?” or all of the boatmen would be happy to be him for today. So we called the owner of the place we were going to. He told us to see Augustine and that he would call him (remember, this is still 9:00 am). In a few minutes a very sleepy Augustine showed up to get us on our way.
The first thing was to get our car parked in the “garage” where it would stay during our absence. There is, of course, a parking fee – which presumably includes ‘protection’.
We were happy to find out that we would be going across by dug out canoe. They have a motor boat too, but what’s the fun in that? The gang of four or five loaded our stuff into the boat and then we set out.
Along the way we could see the fishing communities along the bank. Some had an “outhouse” just at the end of the dock over the water. Hope we don’t fall in! Ick! We watched hawks and Kingfishers swooping for fish along the way too. Finally we arrived at our second crossing. This is where Nestor and Aruna took over for the last small crossing. More about them later.
This is where we would stay for the next three nights. It is called Mammy Wata and is group of bungalows for rent. You can read all about it (and see some pictures) at : http://www.mammywata.net/index.html . It blew us away!
We had a two bedroom bungalow. Kitchen with stove, full bathroom with shower, patio with dining and living area. Beautiful surroundings and a beach! Wow!
We prepared to have some fun!
Posted in The Really Big Trip by jimt with 1 comment.
Gorgeous! Can’t wait to see the rest of your pictures!