I know I owe you so so many stories from South America. I promise I will get back to them. In the meantime, can I just tell you about how I got to Abidjan? It was not a joke.. As per kawa (as usual), I waited till the very last minute to pack - which usually works for me, but this time I actually forgot very many important things. I forgot all my chargers - for my mulika mwizi (light the the thief, phone), my samsung galaxy tab's charger , my kindle charger......every charger I needed. I only realized when I was at the airport around 4am. Of course I panicked, but that didn't help. I called my cab guy, my family, but no one could get me those chargers in time. C'est la vie! Such is life! I got to Addis, and of course my mind was focusing on how I needed to get a charger - immediately. Tried that, but the charger was crazy expensive and I needed to pay in USD (eeeerrr, what? I killed that plan immediately.) So I wait at the assigned gate for my flight to Abidjan. A few minutes after the flight is to have left, I am still waiting. Finally I ask someone and they tell me that the flight was actually changed to a different gate, and everyone has boarded. I run to that gate, and finally manage to get on the plane. I want to hold a moment of silence for all those people who mean mugged me as I got on with my guitar and my extra bags. Thank you, kind people of Ethiopian airlines who managed to find somewhere for my guitar. I thought we were going directly to Abidjan, but we had a bit of a matatu (minivan) stop in Cotonou in Benin. It was barely mentioned in fact. I just woke up to find the airhostess asking me if I needed customs documentation for Cotonou......"Errrrrrr, no. We are going to Abidjan madam." Landing in Abidjan was a bit of a fortune cookie. I had no idea what I would get "Those of fair heart shall be awaited at airport" or "those from the East shall find their own way home - East bound".....who knows. I was so lucky. For my first week in Abidjan, I was couchsurfing (which pretty much meant I went online and asked strangers if I could sleep on their couch) and thereafter I had an apartment. Both my couchsurfing host and the driver of the apartment I was staying in, showed up.....together in fact. I had quickly introduced them to each other online as I was busy forgetting my chargers on my bed, and fate would have it that they managed to link up. Abidjan is huge! It took us almost half an hour to get to my host's place at Deux Plateau. I got to my host's place and realized just how sleepy I was after not sleeping the night before and then having a long flight to Abidjan. My host was also hosting a really nice Aussie guy and her cute small niece. I fell asleep very unceremoniously at 4pm, and woke up around 10pm. My host said we were going out, and being an acute sufferer of FOMO (Fear of missing out), I promptly got up, showered, dressed and we went out clubbing. Before we left, we ate escargot - which I immediately realized I didn't like - as soon as that dead snail slithered down my throat......Yikes.....Never ever!
It was a Monday evening - people were dressed like it was a Saturday evening in Nairobi. I wondered how all these amazingly dressed women in heels, little dresses, full makeup etc were going to work in the morning. One thing that kind of jazzed me/spooked me out a bit was how all the women danced facing the huge mirrors. I am as vain as the average woman. I steal glances of myself, and think "I approve", but having all of us dancing and checking ourselves out on the large mirrors unashamedly was........well......a bit strange........."Don't they think we are a bit vain?"......"Oh well.......Gosh! This angle and that light just doesn't do it for me.....ok. Let me try to lean back a bit and turn round 57.5 degrees "C'est parfait!!" When I saw everyone else adjusting themselves accordingly, I knew it was all going to be ok.
We danced and danced and danced......and my new friends didn't let me see any bill. The whisky kept on flowing. That was the thing I forgot to mention. Every table had a bottle of Chivas Regal on it.......how now??? We finally got home at 4:30am. I woke up at around 9:50am (just trying to pretend I woke up early). That was the point I realized Abidjan was going to be amazing!