Africa is Awesome: Focus on Côte d'Ivoire | Abidjan (The Streets of Angré Chateau) [Part III]

Day 2: 11 September 2018

My first meeting was only at 14:00, which gave me a bit of time to explore Angré Chateau, the area that I was staying in. 

Angré Chateau refers to the large water tower (above). My hosts kindly organised Issoufou, to be my security guard, to hold my hand, as I explored the streets of Abidjan.

Issoufou took his job incredibly seriously, and literally held my hand every time we crossed the road (which I was incredibly grateful for, as mentioned in Part II, traffic is insane!) He was very worried about my safety and took such good care of me. He could not speak a word of English, and my French was slowly but surely picking up, but both our charades skills are now top notch! We walked a lot! Luckily in between the charades and broken French I indicated that I needed to be home by midday.

The absolutely super Issoufou,  my security guard, French tutor and tour guide 

Every now and again he would stop and ask if my legs were tired, but I was happy to explore further. He showed me all the local street food. Earlier this year I realised just how embarrassingly little I knew about Africa, so we added a section to our weekly team meetings of focussing on a different African country where we chat about the president, the flag, language, cuisine, currency etc. A few weeks ago we focussed on Côte d'Ivoire, and I recall Nadia chatting about the local cuisine and the bananas cooked at the side of the road. I kept thinking that I would stock up on some for lunch on my way home later in the morning.

A lady showed me a massive pot of fish heads frying, it looked delicious, but I thought that 10:00 in the morning felt a bit early for a fried fish; again I made a note that I would indulge in a fish head for lunch. [I found out later that the fried fish is actually for breakfast]. 

As we were walking it started to lightly drizzle, breaking the heat and humidity; it was magical, and again I got that feeling that this is just so the right place and path to be on; Africa is amazing, and the opportunities abundant. We really do need to look after ourselves as a continent. I do worry when I see what a massive influence China is having on Africa. 

We continued our walk...

...and we walked and waked. How beautiful is this tree! Met the most amazing entrepreneurs along the way...and walked...

There are many Churches and nursery schools, and surprisingly many bureaux de changes along the way. 

As we walked and strolled down the road, Issoufou, bought us a bag of fresh peanuts to share, it was delicious!

We walked all the way to a massive shopping centre, it's always fun to walk down the aisles and to look at the local products. 

Fortunately, as mentioned earlier I had indicated that we needed to be home at 12:00. In total we had walked 14kms! (got home at 13:00), which unfortunately didn't give me a chance to try the bananas or fish for lunch, as I had to be in town at 14:00 for my meeting. 

I am incredibly grateful for this snapshot into the life of a morning in one of the areas of Abidjan. 

The only thing that I would do differently, is to remember to wear sunscreen next time! :D

Part IV and final installment tomorrow.