Mountains

A couple of photos from the mountain treks over the christmas weekend. Now I'm in San Pedro (2nd biggest port in RCI) and back in my research job. The theme of today: General Desinformation. This really is the only thing that keeps this crazy system running.

bimbrownicy!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

these machines were the best christmas present Cote d'Ivoire could offer me!! in the coffee-growing country instant nescafe is still what you usually get, unless you find a lebanese place. but here... a really good coffee - even better, cause fully ivoirian (grown, transformed and packaged here - L'Or Brun)!! no wonder Adam, the bar tender (on the right) is called here 'Le Roi' (the king). everyone, whenever they can, pop in here for a quick espresso. possible also for take away - in little plastic bags :)

Daniele, Clemence and a pig that was a much more efficient guardian of the tv antenae than the cute, shy dog, whose job it seems to be.

the view.... lucky lucky caotchouc (latex??????? what is it in English) (they own the house). There is more and more of them. Apparently it pays better than cocoa. Some people even say that if cocoa prices don't go up, people will simply stop growing it and then the chocolate will become a real luxury.

liberia? hard to see during the period when Harmattan blows (too much dust from Sahara, apparently)

Clemence! (and a proof I really am still alive)

yakro - man

first of all, merry christmas to all :))

ingenious ventilation system in the basilic in yamoussoukoro. just one of many ingenious architectonic elements

cocoa. first real, good interview; still in yaou

at least here the weather forecast doesn't lie ;)

the basilic in yamoussoukoro

a mosque in daloa. busy busy cocoa trading town

near gonate, near daloa

see that little sign on the wall? :))

the coolest bus station ever. the usual chaos; tons of people; noise etc. but also a super well organised ticket selling system (like polish post office tickets :)) and a clear calm voice announcing stuff like 'the owner of the red mazda is kindly required to move the car' :) abidjan.

hairdresser, gonate.

tato, wiesz co to?? :))))))

proud liquor seller. yamoussoukoro

...and now off to a christmas party at the red cross here (met some UN people in the mountains and had a really nice day with them) :)

Researching

Just to let you know, I'm still alive. Had some intense days of work. Daloa has turned out to be a researchers' goldmine providing me with opportunities to interview all sorts of interesting people - individual farmers, cooperatives, fair trade cooperatives, traders etc. Fascinating, but exhausting. Now I'm in Man. Planning some christmas trekking tomorrow and some more encounters with the farmers in their fields (Christmas is apparently not a big deal here; New Year is bigger). Will try to upload some photos tomorrow.

Will try to be on christmas skype tomorrow around 7pm my time (8pm CET), so beware!! :)

Ghost city

Arrived to Yamoussoukoro yesterday. The stragest city I've been to. Super wide long streets with full light and between - a village. Plus the chic presidential palace surrounded by an artificial lake and the absolutely mind blowing Basilic (copying more or less the Vatican one, but bigger and with airconditioning, elevators and loudspeakers built-in the collumns). All build by Houphouet-Boigny, the first president of the independent CDI in his home village.

Met the mayor on the bus last night - hoping for a meeting this afternoon to know more. Fascinating.

Facing the Basilic, wrapped in barbed wire, the UN base. Small groups of soldiers visited the Basilic when I was there. A couple of French-looking and sounding ones. Not in UN colours. A group of UN ones somewhere from Middle East, I think, accompanied by a CDI gendarme. All left quickly. A low-flying UN helicopter circled around the city whole day.

Had my first full interview with the secretary of a cocoa cooperative yesterday. Very informative, plus really nice. Got to meet his father and was offered two cocoa fruits, picked from the tree by his house. A good start for the research. With the information and contacts from Ange and Peter, things are moving well.

Off to even more cocoa-growing areas tomorrow!

Coup de coeur

first photos. first stories. in a random order ;)

It's been a week since the parliamentary elections. Quiet and unproblematic, unlike last year's presidential ones. The turn out says a lot: less than 40% versus over 80% last year. Naming, shaming and corruption allegations have already started, L'intelligent d'Abidjan paper says. But the people I've asked about the elections are simply happy it's quiet now and looking forward to some more of peaceful times.

I've never seen so many machine guns in a day. Every now and then you see a passing pick up with young soldiers. Or a havily armed group of bank guardians. Or local gendarmes. All of them have long, heavy machine guns (or maybe just ordinary machine guns, that just look more serious when in a mass). The military pick ups even have large machine guns fixed on the roof. But as one of the taxi driver said, the guns are scary, but if your documents are ok and you’re causing no trouble, there will be no problem. Not entirely reassured.

The presence of UN jeeps is not much reassuring either. You can see them mostly in front of restaurants, churches and – in large numbers – in Grand Bassam, the local seaside getaway place. Some of them seem to be project workers off duty indeed, but quite a few of these jeeps are driven by soldiers in full uniforms. I've talked to a group that was waiting for their colleague who was attending a marriage ceremony in the cathedral in Abidjan. Richard from Niger and two other: from Benin and Togo. Happy for quiet elections time.

My favourite moment. See the contintent in the horizon :) But I guess it was more romantic after weeks of sailing that after an hour or so of flight ;)

A lovely Saturday night with (from the left):

• Emillio, French teacher at a local highschool
• Serge, growing amandier tropical. Not really a big business here, but after the tsunami washed away all the amandier plantations in Indonesia, some people try to grow it here now. Used for cosmetics etc.
  
• Antonio (taking the photo), researcher at the local museum of costume
• Ange, communications person and guide at the local museum. We started chatting after my quick visit there (the view from the former governor's palace is more interesting than the exhibition inside, although they have some interesting photos...). We've ended up going for a coffee later, then beer with his friends in the evening and some more beer and fish soup after. A brillant guy. I could basically let him write the book.
  
• Peter, cocoa farmer (sic!). Gave me a good grounding for the reseach, plus invitation to his village in central RCI!!
  
• a guy who came later and never introduced himself or said a word ;)

A really cool bunch. Reminds me a lot of the Warsaw pack of ziomy :)

The Pyramide. One of many impressive architectonic features of Abidjan. Run down as most of them. Still, in its best times, the skyline of the Platau in Abidjan could easily outcool Warsaw.

My new, lovely pagne. Interstingly enough, apparently a counterfeit of a good Beninian brand ;) Plus my tired feet, getting some rest on the beach, after the whole day of walking....

Nestle RCI headquarters on the right. To be examined ;)

I've already seen some 5 marriages.... This time, photos at the steps of the museum of costume, the old governor's palace. Lovely indeed.

Lagune around Grand Bassam. Beautiful.

Jesus, a giant bell and a container (a transport of christmas wafer? ;)) In front of the impressive Cathedral in Abidjan.

Hotel de France and a little quiosque front - had my breakfast ther the next day with discussions over a bowl of hypersweet coffee. Claude, who works at port (loading, among others, 50 kg bags of cocoa), his friend who came for a seminar on ethics in public service (yes!) and a local artist. Good times.

Just one of many amazing, old buildings in Grand Bassam. On the list of the UNESCO World Heritage.

The lagune of Abidjan. Far away, on the right you can get a glimpse of the skyline.

A fellow visitor said there's 50 000 people coming down from Abidjan to Grand Bassam every weekend. It definitely didn't seem so crowded, but surely the public beach was full of people and on Sunday afternoon an almost absurd line of cars formed, full of still very pale faces ;)

Maybe it's because the air smells like in Benin, but so far RCI is an absolute coupe de coeur. And it’s another reminder that though I have never not-loved any of the travels or countries and was absolutely fascinated by Mozambique, to me West Africa is just very special: feels richer and more alive in every aspect: food, music, politics, cinema. Everything. Can I please please please just move here???

Ivory Coast // Cote d'Ivoire // Wybrzeze Kosci Sloniowej

Off to Abidjan via Tunis on December 15th. Back in Brussels on January 6th. In between: Cote d'Ivoire: attieque, coupe-decale and lots of cocoa :)

zdjęć kilka

ciekawe. schody ruchome w naprawie

mój piękny pokój

mój piękny pokój dalej

krypto efte tutaj

zdjec kilka

nie przywiozłam jeszcze aparatu i nie mam nawyku robienia zdjęć, więc na razie tylko to, co mi się telefonem udało złapać podczas paru spacerów

ładnie tu czasem :)

moje biuro w drugim po prawej w głąb.

nie wiem, czy widać. ale ten tramwaj kończy w muzeum tramwajów.

innymi słowy każdy skład jedzie prosto do muzeum ;)

codzienny pchli targ. ekstra. a obok bar z senegalskim jedzeniem

wszędzie na ścianach komiksy

rowery uprzywilejowane zawsze - to na plus. wszędzie wszystko po francusku i holendersku. to na minus, szczególnie, że flamandzki to chyba najbrzydszy język świata. uitgezonderd???? ["oprócz"]

zaraz wracam

21 lipca będę już spowrotem - aż do 14 sierpnia, więc w sumie wieści może nie potrzebne, ale dla porządku uzupełniam :)

* praca - dobrze, dobrze, coraz lepiej :) ciekawie bardzo i już małe sukcesy na koncie. ludzie mili bardzo i ideologicznie jak trzeba, tylko ostatni tydzień już dość pusto było, bo to czas urlopowy. ale jesień zapowiada się intensywnie! generalnie w planach wyjazdowych do końca roku: montreal, paryż, korea i florencja. hurra!

* mieszkanie - już mi się okolica znudziła, bo trochę pustawa i mało ładna. no i za blisko pracy. ale w zeszłym tygodniu uruchomiłyśmy z kasią poszukiwanie mieszkania i już pierwsze okazało się najlepsze :) dwa pokoje i duży salon na granicy dzielnicy europejskiej, matonge, czyli mocno afrykańskiej i ixelles, czyli bardzo mieszkalnej i przyjemnej. czekamy już tylko na potwierdzenie od właścicieli (ale raczej pewne) i hop! wolne od 1 września, więc na koniec sierpnia coś jeszcze będę musiała wymyślić, ale zapytania już wysłane :)

* bruksela generalnie - gdyby nie tragicznie beznadziejna pogoda (i dość nieprzewidywalna w swojej beznadzieji), to by było naprawdę fajnie :) lubię coraz bardziej z każdym dniem. miasto jest nieduże, więc łatwo ogarnialne, a z masą różnych zakamarków i bardzo bardzo odmiennych klimatów. plus dużo koncertów i kawiarni, czyli dobre życie dla mnie :)

* ludzie - już więcej niż wolnych wieczorów. kilka polskich koleżanek, paczka młodych ludzi z pracy, znajomi couchsurferzy i przyjaciele z około-glenowych klimatów i już jest doooobrze :)

kurcze, jakoś nie mogę załadować zdjęć... ale zaraz spróbuję znowu.

krawatowo

są tacy, co mi mówią, że bruksela to NIE miasto krawatów, ale na razie chyba im trochę nie wierzę.

jak na razie w biurze naprawdę ekstra. bardzo mili ludzie. duży luz, ale też widać, że wszyscy oddani idei, co przyjemne. zespół ekstra (belgowie, włoszka i senegalczyk), projekt ciekawy. czuję, że się mega dużo nauczę :)

już też pierwszy lunch ze znajomym, jakieś weekendowe plany towarzyskie, pracowe barbecue w poniedziałek i kawa ze znajomą znajomego w środę, więc samotnie raczej nie będzie :)

a to moje krawatowe mieszkanie...

i stacja bruxelles nord, ja mieszkam 3 min w lewo i do tyłu, pracę mam 7 min w prawo, w ulicy krawatowych biurowców. ale 10 min dalej już się zaczyna przyjemniejsze, normalne miasto.

i mała warszawska dygresja: to było ekstra. dlaczego to zabrali???

the camel is back :)

after almost a year of break, the camel is back upon the special request of The Family :)

so, news and photos from the City of Ties are coming soon!

sometimes in Polish, sometimes in English