Cote d'Ivoire

Hey, All. Just a quick note to report on vacation progress. Had a great week in Ghana with my friend Lea and her housemate. We got a taste of the Accra nightlife, the ex-pat scene, made it to the beach, and even took a day trip to see the Akosambo Dam and Lake Volta, the world's largest man-made lake.

After a six-hour ride along the cost of Ghana (beautiful!), we made it to the Cote d'Ivoire border just 45 minutes before it closed! Had no problems getting through, but were a bit hassled at the four military checkpoints on the 65k route to Aboisso, where Beth's sister Sarah, our hostess, lives. At the 3rd checkpoint, the policier demanded why we didn't have visas to which I responded "we don't need a visa to come to Cote d'Ivoire and had no problems getting through customs." He then asked who had told me that visas weren't necessary to which I replied "the Department of State of the United States of America" (totally true as I had read it on the State Dept. website). This pacified him, thank goodness, as did a small "dash" (payment/bribe) made by our taxi driver.

All's well that ends.

We've enjoyed several days in Sarah's village, just outside of Aboisso, having met lots of her Ivoirian neighbors and gotten to see a lot of the small city. We're currently in Abidjan for the day to see the city and pick up Sarah's Senegalaise friend from the airport. Abidjan is amazingly developed, despite the obvious economic effects of the war, and resembles a European city more than a West African one in many ways. For instance, we walked through a bona-fide shopping mall this morning and have passed dozens of speciality boutiques, from electronics to sporting goods stores.

We're going to stock up on supplies for Christmas while in Abidjan and will enjoy a relaxing Christmas in Aboisso before heading back to Ouaga via Ghana for New Year's.

Happy Holidays to All! Pictures SOON to follow (really, they're already on my jump drive!).