We love Côte d'Ivoire! What a pleasant first experience crossing the border into the country at Elubo. Ghanaian number plates and ECOWAS documents definitely are a plus when dealing with the officials. It took us just about an hour to get through immigration and customs. My personal highlight after the experiences with custom officials in Ghana was the friendliness and helpfulness of pretty much everyone we were dealing with at the border though. No asking for money, no ulterior motives, simple friendliness. A sign to a good start to our trip!
We noticed a significant increase in the amount of police barriers and stops along the road. We did about 250 km today from Axim to Grand Bassam and were stopped 8 times. Surprisingly, only 2 out of 8 times we were asked for "souvenirs" or straight out for money. Luckily, they didn't mind our kind refusal. All in all dealing with Ivorian officials has been painless and somewhat refreshing so far.
One thing we both had on our mind since Togo and couldn't wait to get our hands on: Fresh baguette. We were over the moon when we found the first stall selling them. It's the simple things in life that matter, right?! Also quite entertaining was the eager owner of a small supermarché in Aboisso who asked if his daughters could sit on our bikes. Something tells us he probably would have liked to have a go himself and used the daughters as an excuse :)
As with Togo both Rory and I feel people in Côte d'Ivoire appear less intrusive than their Ghanaian neighbours. We had people waving at us when passing by, which we're only used to from enthusiastic children, but no random shouting at us Obrunis. Rory and I occasionally ride the bikes standing up on smooth stretches of road to rest our aching behinds. On one of those times Rory did it, we find us being overtaken by an Ivorian on his scooter standing up. He was clearly copying Rory and keen on interaction. A bit of leapfrogging went on for a km or so. Very comical!
When we stopped at a place for a drink and I went to pay I only had a 5000 CFA note which the shop owner was unable to change. Without hesitation the woman beside me gave me some change with a broad smile so that I could pay for my drinks. Again... After 1.5 / 2 years of Ghana, these kind of small gestures are so refreshing. Sad, but true.
Oh yeah, we got to test our waterproof rain gear about 40 min from our destination. The rain came very sudden and was quite heavy, as we know it from Ghana's rainy season. It's hard to see anything with that amount of rain coming down and the helmets fogging up. We took it easy and carried on steady. The rain finished as quickly as it had started and thanks to the easter bunny the gear held up its end and we stayed dry.
It's off to Divo tomorrow where we'll hope to meet up with our Galway mate Daragh. Sure, it'll feel a bit like home.
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