Ivory Coast – A week-end by the sea

It’s been 3 weeks since we arrived in Ivory Coast, second country of our HopTour West Africa. Ivory Coast in not an unknow country. Each one of us has a history with this coastal country, where Mahery have spend many holidays and even leaved there for a few months. After a privileged family time, we did our first ivorian HopTrip, after spending some time with an old friend, in an absolutly fabulous setting.

From Abidjan to Sassandra, there is a long ride…

Friday, April 22, 8am. Here we are, at the Adjame bus station, to get into the little yellow bus, for which we booked two seats the day before. Few minutes later, we leave for a pretty long way. You need to know that between Abidjan and Sassandra, there are 270 kilometers. I know, it doesn’t seem that long. But when you see the road between Fresco and Grand Lahou, you understand better the 6 hours needed to join Sassandra from Abidjan.

And as you might now know, we are very lucky when it comes to transportation. We thus enjoyed the shadow of the palm trees during the 2 hours needed to fix the bus that broke down half way (at least, no accident this time).

But this journey was worth it. Not only Sassandra and the surroundings are simply gorgeous, but mostly, we got the opportunity to see Cyril, a friend that Mahery haven’t seen for almost 15 years (last time Mahery went to Sassandra was in 2002…) !

The occasion also to meet Gervais Dable, chief of the little village named Pauly where 77 people leave. He explained how much the consumer society ruined the values of young people and that even here, they don’t really trust their neighbours anymore, because of political opinions…

Nice walks on the beach, delicious meals with Cyril, his family and his friends, really interesting discussions, and a promise to meet again, here or elsewhere, before 2030…

Jacqueville, a clean city!

After this rest in Sassandra, we arrive in the Résidence des Ettés where we have organized a HopTrip #Swap. The place is a family house, open to guests, in the middle of Jacqueville, located between the Ebrie lagoon (the same than in Abidjan) and the Atlantic Ocean (the same than in CapBreton or Rio). La résidence est une maison familiale, ouverte en chambres d’hôtes en plein cœur de Jacqueville, situé entre la lagune Ebrié (la même qu’à Abidjan) et l’océan Atlantique (le même qu’à CapBreton, ou à Rio). A nice little green place.

We meet with Romeo, Ibrahim and Pierre-Marie who explain the “Jacqueville Propre” (Clean Jacqueville) initiative, a NGO created by the owner of the guest house, that creates wholesomeness measures for a city, a lagoon, a lake, an ocean… cleaner.

Thus, they implemented trashes, with a recycling and collecting system, but also dry toilets, especially in schools that didn’t have any toilets. A inspiring initiative that hopefully, has a great future ahead.

We also visited the ecological yellow house, with dry toilets, solar pannel and other experimentations in sustainable construction.

Last but not least, Ibrahim teached us how to make little bags with coconuts (yes, it is the picture where I look stupid with the coconut on my ears), we love it! It is quite proud that we leave Jacqueville with those little handmade souvenirs.

We are now back in Abidjan and enjoying the last days we have left in the capital, building a new partnership we will soon talk about…

Next Sunday, we will head to Ghana, with few HopTrips along the way…