Ivory Coast

Arriving into Ivory Coast was extremely easy. At the border all the guards were toasted, completely hammered. The looks we got were priceless. We were told we were the first tourist they have ever seen. They said almost no one goes to that particular border crossing. After seeing the roads I can completely understand.  We free camped about 5 km away from the border in another small village. We set up camp and once again we were the local village primetime entertainment. We were all emotionally and physically drained that we didn’t do much conversing with the locals. After dinner we hung out on the truck and drank a few warm beers and tried to wind down. My back was spasming from 11 hours of getting bashed around the truck. Someone told Suse I was in pain and she requested Nico and I in the front because the roads were going to be bad for the next 50 something km.

 The next morning we started off and within minutes we had to cross a broken bridge. Nico, myself and Suse built the bridge with logs we found and got the truck over safely. Within a few more km there was no bridge, and water up to the waste. Rosie air filter is under the truck and if water gets in the truck blows up. Suse took out the air filter, and bunch of hoses. An hour later we successfully crossed our first river. Rosie made it with no problems. At this time we knew we were in for a very long day. We drove over rivers, broken bridges, and ruts the size of a VW bug. We were traveling around 5-7km an hour. These roads were miserable, in the back of our minds we remembered only being 4km yesterday away from the better border crossing and only 15km from tar roads. TIS (this is Africa)! Around 4pm the rains started and we had to stop and let them pass. After the rains we had to walk couple of km because the roads were so muddy Suse was afraid Rosie would slide into a rut or roll. It took us a few hours but eventually we got to a tar road 38km from Man. Suse got out of the truck and kissed the tar road. We all cheered and were extremely happy. Next stop Man!!! We drove into Man and luck would have it we found a great little hotel. People who wanted to upgrade could for a room with a fan for $10 or A/C for $20. Nico and I shared a A/C room. They hotel didn’t have running water but they staff who worked it kept filling bucket of water for the toilets and showers. It was my first time in 9 days that I felt clean. The hotel also had cold beers. Suse told us that we would stay tonight and the next night. She also said that the hotel can arrange to see stilt dancers in the morning. We were told that watching the dancers is a privilege and it is very rare to see. Not many locals have ever seen them. They usually only perform for royalty.

The next day was a relaxing, it was the first day in nine that we didn’t have to wake up early and take off on an all-day drive. Most of us went into Man to get CFA currency. In the afternoon we were told about a waterfall that had water and we could swim and bathe if wanted to. Majority of us took a taxi about 2km away then walked 30 minutes up a very bad road to a water that I could imagine being very beautiful if it had water in in. Yuup we are now two for two for waterfalls and starting to give up on the thought of cold flowing water to rinse and swim in. Around 1600hrs 15 of us minus Carlos all piled into a very old beat up minivan and drove about 7km away to a village. In front of us was a pickup truck loaded with 9 local drum players and 1 stilt dancer. When we got out of the van all the villagers came to see what was going on. The music and singing started and the stilt dancer got out of the truck and that’s when all craziness started. The villagers ran away scared until they figured out what was going on. Everyone started clapping and singing the children became less scared. We slowly made our way up a tail into the actual village. There were two seats for the chief and his son. We all sat on benches and the rest of the villagers circled around us. The dancer honored the chief first then he danced for a while. We found out later that the dancer is the equivalent to a shaman. I was the first one picked to dance with the stilt dancer. I had no idea what I was picked for. At first I thought I was to kneel down because he told me to take off my shoes. Then I realized I needed to dance. I danced a very short dance then had to fork over some money. It was well worth the $4 us dollars I paid for a chance of a lifetime to do something so unexpected. Next came Nico, then Ben did a booty shake and the whole town erupted in laughs, Rhse did a dance off, Toby did the dancing bull (don’t ask J), Steph did the shuffle, and Denise did an Irish folk dance. All of this the stilt dancer tried to mimic. It was a imaginative and original night to say the least.