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The day started out with breakfast off the truck at our very nice hotel, then we set off and the cook groups did their shopping in the market and super market in Yam. I went with Ray and Dave to get some beer and some other items which involved taking a cab to the supermarket and back again and finishing up hunting around town for a loo. The petrol stations are the best bet and are usually quite clean, sometimes they charge, and sometimes not. Yam is a very "civilized" town, meaning that it doesn't have the typical buzz of people rushing around in beat up tro tros and moto cycles; the supermarket wasn't that inspiring, not much more than booze and washing powder in one half, and biscuits, and some staples such as cans, rice, pasta and soft drinks in the other half.
After that we were on our way to Man. We spent the morning playing a game among 6 of us. Each of us wrote out 8 places in the world we had been to, put them all in a pot, had 2 teams of 3 each. One member of the team pulled out a place and we had to describe it in 3 words without naming the country/place etc. to the other 2 in the team who had to guess the place. It kept us going to lunch, and despite the fact I am not very into games, we all really enjoyed it.
The day became very hot and humid - about 40C someone said - and we could see the vegetation changing and becoming much more lush. The villages appeared poorer, less goods, much more garbage, not so many concrete buildings, more chaos. The architecture too changed from the typical Senouflo round thatched roof mud brick homes to rectangular homes of brick and metal rooves. We passed a UN batallion on the move complete with tanks, trucks, etc. and then smaller units also moving on the roads. Clearly, there is still a need for peacekeeping in the area. We also passed through numerous police checks, but fortunately all were like the residents and very friendly. I love the set up for the police checks. They put a bar of wood studded with huge nails and set on 4 mini wheels across the road. They maintain control of this with a peice of rope. When you can pass through the check, they simply pull it off the road by the rope and you can safely move through. If you didn't stop, you would certainly stop very soon after - with 4 flat tyres!! Simple, but effective! There is also a lot of aid visible. Various NGOs have their signs up advertising a children's clinic, the building of a well, the building of a school, some sort of economic group for women, etc. etc. But despite all of this, the citizens remain super friendly with their spontaneous smilles and waves. You really have to wonder where the "cruel" side of the African comes from when you can experience so much openness and "bon arrive".
We pulled off on a dirt track for lunch. Soon another lorry came by and stopped right beside us. Now, the road was narrow, so there must have been about 4 feet between us. They just stared and yelled at us. Not sure what was going on but after a while they got bored and moved on. Then a couple of women with babies and heavy loads on their head appeared and some older kids to whom we gave our cans and plastic bottles and I took the women's picture and they went on their way charged with renewed energy. Most people speak a little French so basic communication is possible. It really is amazing how much information can be shared even when neither party speaks the other's language very well. The French spoken is general very clear - not like the twang of the Quebec French.
The roads were quite good. A mixture of paved and dirt. In the beginning the paved roads were quite broken up and we did our usual zig zag journey to avoid the pot holes, missing chunks of asphalt, and other objects on the road.During one of our pee stops another of the girls and myself crossed the road which apparently meant we were in the red zone and this caused our tour leader a little angst The road we travelled was quite near the Liberian border and there are government alerts about travelling there. Well, really - one side is OK and the other not????
We came to a huge lake or river confluence - it was the Sassandra River - for that immediate area life changed - it became all about the river - boats carrying produce, flowers growing along the edge, people fishing.
Later in the afternoon we started looking for some where to camp, but it is hard in the jungle areas to find sufficient cleared land to pitch our tents. We had several false starts down dirt tracks and eventually about 50 km from Man pulled into the Lycee Municipal de Logouale. Dave got out and spoke with the headmaster to see if we could camp there overnight....and he said yes. The kids were just leaving for the day, and so by the time we got the truck in position, when we opened the doors we had quite an audience. - See the pictures!! The children were utterly amazed and quite a crowd gathered around us and just watched us set up the tents, get out the cooking stuff and set up the chairs. Fortunately, though, after that they had to head off home. Ray and I and Dave met the the Administrator who took us in to his office and we had quite a nice little chat. The English teacher was also with us. His English was very good, as was that of his students, and he assured us he would have the students do a paper on our visit!! The school grounds were quite lovely - beautiful palm trees, and neat and tidy classrooms. After dinner, it was early to bed ready for an early start in the morning.
The day started out with breakfast off the truck at our very nice hotel, then we set off and the cook groups did their shopping in the market and super market in Yam. I went with Ray and Dave to get some beer and some other items which involved taking a cab to the supermarket and back again and finishing up hunting around town for a loo. The petrol stations are the best bet and are usually quite clean, sometimes they charge, and sometimes not. Yam is a very "civilized" town, meaning that it doesn't have the typical buzz of people rushing around in beat up tro tros and moto cycles; the supermarket wasn't that inspiring, not much more than booze and washing powder in one half, and biscuits, and some staples such as cans, rice, pasta and soft drinks in the other half.
After that we were on our way to Man. We spent the morning playing a game among 6 of us. Each of us wrote out 8 places in the world we had been to, put them all in a pot, had 2 teams of 3 each. One member of the team pulled out a place and we had to describe it in 3 words without naming the country/place etc. to the other 2 in the team who had to guess the place. It kept us going to lunch, and despite the fact I am not very into games, we all really enjoyed it.
The day became very hot and humid - about 40C someone said - and we could see the vegetation changing and becoming much more lush. The villages appeared poorer, less goods, much more garbage, not so many concrete buildings, more chaos. The architecture too changed from the typical Senouflo round thatched roof mud brick homes to rectangular homes of brick and metal rooves. We passed a UN batallion on the move complete with tanks, trucks, etc. and then smaller units also moving on the roads. Clearly, there is still a need for peacekeeping in the area. We also passed through numerous police checks, but fortunately all were like the residents and very friendly. I love the set up for the police checks. They put a bar of wood studded with huge nails and set on 4 mini wheels across the road. They maintain control of this with a peice of rope. When you can pass through the check, they simply pull it off the road by the rope and you can safely move through. If you didn't stop, you would certainly stop very soon after - with 4 flat tyres!! Simple, but effective! There is also a lot of aid visible. Various NGOs have their signs up advertising a children's clinic, the building of a well, the building of a school, some sort of economic group for women, etc. etc. But despite all of this, the citizens remain super friendly with their spontaneous smilles and waves. You really have to wonder where the "cruel" side of the African comes from when you can experience so much openness and "bon arrive".
We pulled off on a dirt track for lunch. Soon another lorry came by and stopped right beside us. Now, the road was narrow, so there must have been about 4 feet between us. They just stared and yelled at us. Not sure what was going on but after a while they got bored and moved on. Then a couple of women with babies and heavy loads on their head appeared and some older kids to whom we gave our cans and plastic bottles and I took the women's picture and they went on their way charged with renewed energy. Most people speak a little French so basic communication is possible. It really is amazing how much information can be shared even when neither party speaks the other's language very well. The French spoken is general very clear - not like the twang of the Quebec French.
The roads were quite good. A mixture of paved and dirt. In the beginning the paved roads were quite broken up and we did our usual zig zag journey to avoid the pot holes, missing chunks of asphalt, and other objects on the road.During one of our pee stops another of the girls and myself crossed the road which apparently meant we were in the red zone and this caused our tour leader a little angst The road we travelled was quite near the Liberian border and there are government alerts about travelling there. Well, really - one side is OK and the other not????
We came to a huge lake or river confluence - it was the Sassandra River - for that immediate area life changed - it became all about the river - boats carrying produce, flowers growing along the edge, people fishing.
Later in the afternoon we started looking for some where to camp, but it is hard in the jungle areas to find sufficient cleared land to pitch our tents. We had several false starts down dirt tracks and eventually about 50 km from Man pulled into the Lycee Municipal de Logouale. Dave got out and spoke with the headmaster to see if we could camp there overnight....and he said yes. The kids were just leaving for the day, and so by the time we got the truck in position, when we opened the doors we had quite an audience. - See the pictures!! The children were utterly amazed and quite a crowd gathered around us and just watched us set up the tents, get out the cooking stuff and set up the chairs. Fortunately, though, after that they had to head off home. Ray and I and Dave met the the Administrator who took us in to his office and we had quite a nice little chat. The English teacher was also with us. His English was very good, as was that of his students, and he assured us he would have the students do a paper on our visit!! The school grounds were quite lovely - beautiful palm trees, and neat and tidy classrooms. After dinner, it was early to bed ready for an early start in the morning.
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