Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Way back in 1982 I had an opportunity to join the US Foreign Service and accepted a position in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.  I was ready for a change and we like to travel so this seemed like a great deal to us.  Larry Jr. was 11 years old and was agreeable to making the move right up until the day we were ready to get on the plane.  Then he had second thoughts.  Too late, we were committed to the transfer and couldn't back out then.

It was the beginning of a big adventure for the three of us going to a French speaking nation in Africa and not knowing one word of French.  Gerry knew a little French but not enough to really get by on and the two Larrys knew nothing.  Larry Jr. resisted learning French until he met a young girl his age who only spoke French and then it became imperative that he learn and learn fast.  We got him an outside tutor and between her and the school French teacher he picked it up fast.  I was the slow poke and after 4 years could barely get along speaking French and by that time I was transferred to Costa Rica which is a Spanish speaking country.  Oh boy!

We had to go to a number of Embassy functions and really dreaded standing in the hot, humid weather in a three piece suit with sweat running down my back.  I avoided these functions at all costs and did a good job of it.  The function where this photo was taken was at the Ambassador's residence and was more casual.  Thank God for that.
 
I worked out of a regional office that covered 22 countries in West Africa and I made it to most of them in the 4 years we were there.  I had a few countries that I tried to avoid but couldn't get out of going to them so I made the best of it.  It was quite an education and eye opener visiting places like Bamako, Mali; Dakar, Senegal; Nigeria (not my favorite place); Liberia during their civil wars and many others.  I would not trade the experiences there for anything and we all loved it in Abidjan.  By the time we were packing out it had gotten more dangerous there with crime rising quickly.

When we first arrived a coworker asked us if we wanted to go out for pizza dinner that evening.  Great I said.  He showed up that evening with two taxis and said they would meet us at Tu Va Bien Pizza in Treichville and he started to have his driver leave.  Whoa nelly, where in the the world was Treichville and what was the name of the pizza joint?  He then gave directions to our cab driver and off we went.  We actually saw him there and had a great time.  The picture is what the area looked like and keep in mind we arrived in the dark.  What a way to start our time there. 

We spent a lot of time at the beach in the Grand Bassam area and shared a paillote (cabana) with a friend.  It was always interesting at the beach with the vendors, different nationalities, topless women, and the surf.  It was not safe to go by yourself so we always went with a group and kept an eye on each other.  The paillote was on the lagoon side of the road and just across the road was the ocean.  And that is where I picked up some sun rays that have revisited me this past week.  

We had guards on the house 24/7/365 and they were needed.  One of them asked if I would buy a banana tree and he would tend to it and share the bananas with us.  The big day arrived and he cut down the bananas and there were so many of them that we didn't take our half.  He had a family and didn't have any trouble eating his share.  The lovely young lady in the photo didn't cut down the bananas but she sure added to the picture.  

The dog in the picture was our guard dog, small but fearless and a great dog.  We hated to leave her behind but the Gunny Sgt at the Marine Security Guard office wanted her and they provided a great home for Patrician.  ( Note- we name all our pets after booze -- Patrician Amaretto )  

As you may have surmised by now there wasn't much of interest going on around here today.  It was a nice day though with lots of sunshine and clear blue skies.