01/28/2024 Bikepacking The Ivory Coast Day 173 : Is it me or is it them?

by Brian · Published January 28, 2024 · Updated October 24, 2024

Really, it wasn’t a great day. Ivory Coast just hasn’t been very friendly. Some people have been nice, but a lot of people are either shy or just don’t like foreigners?… I don’t know. Maybe it is that I’m in the North? Or maybe just having bad luck? Is it me?

I saw a man’s body, lying in the road. I think he was dead? People nearby stepped around the body. They still stared at me, though. How can there be hope in a place where a body in the street is ignored?

The woman at the hotel reception… made me feel absolutely unwelcome. Is it because I’m white? Maybe she had malaria and didn’t feel well? These things I don’t know.

Anyway, I got a hotel and ended the day early and “escaped” Africa for a bit by staring at a screen doing some work instead. The computer is my escape from real life.

. Sorry for no uplifting story today.

Photos:

The Morning harvest of yams. Yum. All day long I pass people carrying logs or yams on their heads like this. 🍠

Even along a dirt road, you can get a decent hotel room once you go inside. —

This is one of the yams.

Strava Comments:

Janet W.

Good morning! You’re off on anew day in a new country! I hope the people in Ghana are happier and friendlier. You’re right they might not feel well. It could be you, but not anything you did. I’m happy we got to talk yesterday 😊

Jesse B.

Thanks for keeping it real!

Corrine L.

Hopefully today will be a better day. Hopefully Ghana will be friendlier.

Mark G.

like Dean Glenesk said in an earlier post for sure that, "trying days lead to better days". Hope the hotel was a good one for the escape.

Mark G.

oh btw I wonder about day #170

Ann L.

Sorry you had a bad day. Who knows why people are the way they are. Sometimes it’s good to have a temporary escape. You will be home now before long too. Maybe you are getting “short timers” and getting tired of Africa? I know my last month of work before I retired I had no patience with people.

Vicki C.

In some cultures people just aren’t very outgoing. I remember being on a bus in New Zealand with my friend for several hours. we were the only people on the bus talking and people kinda looked at us like we should be quiet. I still found something to wonder about in your post- it’s amazing that the people on the right look like they are wearing their Sunday clothes and they are while snd do clean.

Vicki C.

white and so clean!!!

Paula G.

It's funny how a simple smile can go so far. I've had grumpy days where I just wanted to get away from it all. Then a stranger gives a little smile, or a driver lets me in, and life is good again.

Brian L.

Vicki Carroll - good eye! No matter where you are in the developing world, it seems like women dress nicely. Earlier in this trip - in a vicious sand storm - women appeared out of the haze dressed elegantly and with clean attire. How do they do it!? It seems that a lot of effort is put into appearance no matter where you are. Even the most obscuring burka still is clean. In my “estimated budget” for Sierra Leone’s $500 per year, I put a full fifth of my estimate on clothing costs. This seems like a god thing. The scenery is so drab and covered in trash and smoke. Having something beautiful definitely helps raise spirits.

Brian L.

Mark Glenesk - I decided to take a day off from story telling and combined it with 171. Ivory Coast was a spiritual nadir in my affair with West Africa. But after that tiny hiatus, there are already lots of good stories happening in Ghana!