Picto Diary - 11 December 2018 - Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

Above: 1. Two Abidjan motorcycle cops on bikes. 2. Bishop and Abidjan motorcycle cop. Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

Two motorcycle cops (motards) escorted a convoy of eight tourist buses, for a seven hour tour, in and around Abidjan.

They cleared oncoming lanes, forcing drivers to the curb...and sometimes onto the curb (!), allowing the convoy to pass otherwise blocking traffic with ease. Occasionally, the motards would stand on the pegs of their powerful 1200 cc BMW R police bikes, unbelievably, hands free, and wildly wave the traffic aside.

Another technique. The motards would frequently sashay from side to side... a maneuver I would undertake occasionally to even out the wear on the tires. In this case, however, the motards engaged in this maneuver to attract the attention of oncoming traffic... to warn oncoming vehicles to move over. "VIP's" coning through!'

Only two or three times did I observe any motorist complaining or refusing to cooperate. Once, our bus was stopped in an intersection and attempting to make a dicey right turn. A car was blocking the bus's way. Our bus driver waved his hand to the blocking vehicle trying to get the driver to back up a bit. Rather than cooperating to clear the bus's way, the blocking driver stood his ground and waved, menacingly back at the bus driver. Up ahead, the motard parked his bike in the middle of the road, dismounted and walked back to the scene. The motard and the blocking driver started arguing with one another, but, the blocking driver eventually backed up the meager foot or so allowing our bus to pass. This was the exception. Throughout the day, drivers typically cooperated with the motards' instructions.

In all my years of travel and motorcycling, I've never seen anything like this.

These guys were skilled beyond belief.

We estimated that without the "super motards," our Abidjan seven hour tour would have taken two hours more, nine hours.

Above. St.Paul's Cathedral, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 11 December 2018.

Seven cables support cathedral proper allowing for no pillars or buttresses inside the cathedral. The outside structure supporting the cables... a cross, more or less, has the look of a sci fi monster of sorts. Our guide said the cross was an impressionistic elephant... an explanation I had trouble understanding... though perhaps seen from a different angle....

The stained glass inside is extensive, telling the story of Christ. The Christ figure in the stained glass is black, racially. Uh... not that there's anything wrong with that!

The cathedral was designed by architect Aldo Spirito and serves as the mother church for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan.
The first stone of the cathedral was laid on 11 May 1980 by Pope John Paul II during his first pastoral visit to Cote d'Ivoire. The cathedral was dedicated on completion, again, during a second visit by Pope John Paul II, in 1985.

St. Paul's is one of the largest cathedrals in the world, with a capacity of 5000 and is the second largest church on the African continent.

While we visitors were inside the cathedral an organist and singer were performing American negro spirituals. The reverberating organ and the haunting voice made for a spiritually reflective atmosphere. In a way, this was the right music to characterize a doleful side of the African experience.

This was clearly a unique cathedral. It is the second of modern designed and constructed cathedrals TIMDT and Mwah (sic) have visited this year. The first: Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece.

Christians, make up 40% of the 30 million Cote d'Ivoiriens. Half of these are Catholic.

Christianity is vibrant and growing throughout most of Africa, not to mention Cote d'Ivoire

— at St. Paul's Cathedral, Abidjan.

Above: African art. Musee de la Civilization au Plateau. Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 11 December 2018.

Above: Photograph of colonial authority being carried on a hammock by locals. Musee de la Civilisation Au Plateau. Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

Why colonialism leaves a bad taste in mouths of indigenous people?

Above: TIMDT observes Bingerville street. Bingerville, Cote D'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

Note the cell tower juxtaposed against the unimproved road.

Almost all African's have a cell phone. Models are available from $20 or so. Cell phone technology has leapfrogged land lines or fiber optics as the major conveyor of voice communications.

Above: Bishop and art students. Musee Charles Alphonse Combes Art School. Bingerville, Cote D'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

Above: TIMDT at Orphelenat de Garcons de Bingerville. Bingerville, Cote d'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.
Orphanage is former Governor's mansion.

Above: TIMDT and Bridge pose with orphan boys. Orpheilnat de Garcons de Bingerville. Bingerville, Cote d'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

Above: Cheese tree. Jardin Botanique de Bingerville. Bingerville, Cote d'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

Garden docent says the wood of this tree used to make cheese boxes.

Above: TIMDT. Unidentified tree. Jardin Botanique de Bingerville. Bingerville, Cote d'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

No Kirstenbosch, still this African botanical garden was peaceful... pleasant to walk in.

Above: Abidjan sky line. Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 11 December 2018 (stock image).

Abidjan is located between two lagoons, linked to the mainland by two bridges and ferries. Beyond the lagoons is the Atlantic Ocean.

After long-delayed presidential elections, Alassane Quattara took power in 2010. His predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, had to be forcibly removed from office after refusing to accept defeat. The ensuing violence left 3000 people dead and 500K people displaced. In November 2011 Gbagbo was extradited to The Hague and charged with war crimes.

Quattara won a second five-year term in 2015.

Economically, Cote d'Ivoire has been on e of the best-performing African countries since Quattara was elected: its GDP grew at an average rate of 8.5% per year between 2012 and 2015.

Cote d'Ivoire is one of Africa's most densely populated countries: thirty million people in an area about the size of Wyoming.

Note: The image could have been mine. Our tour group ate a late lunch at a quay side restaurant where I could have taken, more or less, the same image shown here.

Above: Mwah (sic), Bridge, and two crafts market businessmen. Crafts Market. Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 11 December 2018.

Buyin' stuff from these guys at a steal...for them..not for us! —

Above: Bridge and TIMDT. Vestibule. Regent Seven Seas Mariner. 11 December 2018.

Above: Regent Seven Seas Explorer. Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. 11 December 2018.

Constellation Theater post dinner entertainment.

Ten well trained young entertainers putting on a show at level TIMDT and Mwah (sic) have never before seen on a cruise ship. Let's not forget stage management and costuming. — in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

Addendum:

Stanley, unlike Livingstone, carried out his exploration with a very large retinue of bearers, guns and gifts. He was an intrepid explorer who ran his company with military precision, gathered valuable scientific and cultural information, and pushed on regardless of the dangers and obstacles. His two-volume recounting of crossing the African continent from east to west, "Through the Dark Continent", is a gripping read despite his flowery Victorian prose.
Unfortunately, his attempt to promote European influence in Central Africa met with little enthusiasm in England, but King Leopold of Belgium was willing to listen. What resulted was probably the most brutal of Western colonizations, as Leopold turned the Congo into his personal fiefdom and absolutely terrorized the local populace. "King Leopold's Ghost" is a fascinating and deeply disturbing chronicle of this period.

Airstream,
Santa Barbara, CA