01/22/2024 Bikepacking The Ivory Coast Day 167 : Clean Earth Project

“Do you have a trash can?” I asked.

I was standing under some trees along the dusty road, having just been stopped by the 7th time by some friendly military checkpoint guys. They insisted that I take some water from them for the dry stretch ahead, and had handed me a water bottle which I poured into my bidon. I already knew the answer when I casually asked if they had a "poubelle" (trash can).

The guard pointed to the ground behind the trees, and said, “Africa, Africa! Not United States!”

I looked around more carefully and noticed the piles of trash under the trees, and tossed another bottle into the pile…

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As you know, I’ve been thinking 24/7 about my friend Glenn who is having pneumonia right now. I scanned back through his Instagram posts and was reminded of all his diverse interests and care for the world, such as the “Clean Earth Project” he started with his wife Kass. It made me feel guilty to be tossing this bottle onto the ground… even using the bottle in the first place didn’t feel great… but as the man said, “This is Africa.”

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In the Ivory Coast, there are signs of affluence everywhere. It’s not the kind of affluence you might think of in the US… not fancy cars and big homes. What I see are people smoking cigarettes, more trash, and dogs. I even saw a woman with a dog on a leash yesterday. In Senegal, Guinea, and Sierra Leone combined, I probably saw fewer than a dozen dogs. It kind of made me wonder why I had read that Western Africa had the highest rates of dog-transmitted rabies in the world. So far, the dogs in Ivory Coast are placid creatures - very unlike the marauding animals found in Latin America.

Along with the “affluence” comes improved French. My time in the shops is reduced dramatically. When I ask for a can of peas, the person retrieves a can of peas. When I say I want x number of something, they bring me that number. In Guinea and Senegal, I’d ask for a can of peas, and they would first bring the cigarettes. I’d try again, and they would bring a different brand of cigarettes…. Then the water, then the mayonnaise…. Luckily there were only about 5 things to choose from, so the process of elimination went by relatively quickly.

Speaking of cigarettes, we still have the fuel jugs being transported on the backs of motorcycles. Yesterday, I watched as a smoking man funneled fuel from a jug into a Pastis bottle. Just to be safe, I took several steps backwards.

The Ivory Coast has been quite nice so far. Once I got away from the border zone, people became increasingly friendly. Everyone is happy because the AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) games are going on. I heard a huge cheer coming from one of the shacks where dozens of people were huddled around a screen watching the game.

“Did they score?” I asked?

“No. It is zero zero. It’s the middle of the game”

Later, I would discover from Janet that the end-score was 4-0, Equatorial Guinea had beat the Ivory Coast. Better stay clear today!

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Ivory Coast is also a land of refugees. You may remember I met many refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone who came to Guinea during their respective civil wars. Today I met Paday (not sure I am spelling that right). He came from Guinea to Ivory Coast during the Guinea coup d'etat in 2021. It seems as if people migrate step-wise to safer countries. That is the same government that to this day is blocking freedom of expression by scrambling TV and internet, keeping the Earth clean of any slander that might be bestowed upon them.

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