Welcome back, reader. Let’s get the elephant out of the room, shall we? That elephant is Fred. Have you heard the saying, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach?”. Not here. Fred is always bigger than my eyes. Oh, I’m sorry…Inner Fat Man Fred #FMF is the name I have given my stomach. I know…it IS a little crazy. But, you’d be surprised at just how much he/we ❤️ food. Well, GOOD food. And my, my, my…the food sure looked (and tasted) good on this trip.
As part of the advance team for Guy and Kisha’s wedding, Tawanna and I were treated to a sneak peek of some of the food we would be consuming during our stay in Abidjan. And when I say sneak peek, we literally would be eating at some of the restaurants that the remaining + 40ppl coming from the States would be visiting during their stay. Before I highlight the Resturants, I have to say something.
Americans are slowly killing themselves via their diets. Well, those of us who rely (consistently) on processed foods and snacks. A “snack” in Africa? Some fresh fruit. The eggs are fresh…and when I say fresh, they are not refrigerated…ever. They are straight from the hen to your plate. Seeing warm eggs in the supermarket was off-putting at first but, I now realize that it makes total sense. I even looked it up as this is a common practice in European countries. See?
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-europeans-dont-refrigerate-eggs-2014-12?amp
Warm eggs non withstanding, everything that I ate in Africa (to my knowledge) was fresh. As we were close to the coast, Fish/Seafood is a major part of the diet here. Small fishing villages litter the coastline, denoted by the tell tell signs of their beautifully decorated fishing boats. We were fortunate enough to ride ATVs in Senegal on the beach, and our turnaround point was midway into one of these villages. I have some amazing pics but, will share them once I post our Senegal leg of the trip. Trust me, the pics are worth the wait. speaking of which…
Breakfast on Day two in Africa consisted of fresh fruit, some potatoes, French Bread (In a country colonized by the French, it isn’t uncommon to have French bread with every meal…I love French bread btw.) There may have been meat offered, but I didn’t eat any. 🤷🏾 The rest of the day consisted of shopping and errands. We visited a local shop area where Guy owns a stand. (For those of you who live in Philly, think Christmas Village around the holidays…but with more trees) I promised a Lion “NOT A STUFFED ONE!!” to one of my favorite lil ladies in the world and wanted to pick up some other Knick knacks for family and friends. So, we shopped, negotiated, and negotiated some more. I didn’t leave with much. There was another leg of the trip and from what I was told Senegal has more of the art and textiles. This was a good spot for some trinkets so, I got the lions and some earrings for my Fav. Besides, we still had another flight and our bags were already close to the 50lbs weight limit. I’ll touch both the weight limit and negotiating later.
She hears “No” from me but, not often. Can u blame me? 😍 
Every stand you would hear “Hello my friend, come…see!” 
Some of these were really nice, I didn’t get any 🤦🏾♂️ #Next time 
Earrings. FYI that is not Ivory, it’s bone. 
Mangoes 
Another shop. 
Lions, NOT stuffed and earrings for my Fav
After we left the village for some inexplicable reason we didn’t eat. 🤬 As a matter of fact I don’t think we ate until later that evening🤬🤬🤬…That could be a lie tho. 🤷🏾 I’m using the pics in my phone to jog my memory so, there will be some meals not shown here. Besides I was not trying document EVERY marvelous morsel. Bad enough I was snapping pics like a whole tourist. I won’t steer you wrong when it comes to food dear reader. Remember, I named my stomach Fred 😂🤣😂
After the shops, we headed to Guy’s (Uncles?) home. It was here where the traditional African wedding would be held. The space was beautiful, with a Grand Entrance, a yard that stretched from the front and led to the back of the house, where there was ample space for a party. The area wasn’t decorated but, I KNEW that this was going to be Epic on the wedding day. Inside, the home was ornately decorated with beautiful artwork abound and some amazing Victorian Architectural cues. This whole “poor Africa” narrative is laughable. People are eating over here, literally and figuratively. The wedding here was gonna be something special. I wasn’t wrong. More on that in a future post.
While here, we were fortunate enough to meet some of Guy’s family, uncles, cousins, nieces. Even with the language barrier, it was all smiles and broken translations. LOL. But the one thing that could not be broken was the genuine love and hospitality shown to our small contingent of 6. I was truly honored to be here early and thankful for the opportunity to meet the family prior to the wedding. Respect ✊🏾 and ❤️. DINNER TIME!
https://instagram.com/bushman.cafe?utm_medium=copy_link
Bushman Cafe Hotel is a combination of an art gallery with a Resturaunt on the top floor. All the food was cooked via grill. The portions plentiful, the drinks, strong and the service/atmosphere was top notch. We (Bride, Groom, Brides Father & Step Mother, My wife and I) sat, talked, shared food and enjoyed a memorable dinner outside. My mouth is watering NOW at the thought of the meal. I ordered the perfectly cooked steak but, tasted a little of almost every meal (#FMF) and can undoubtedly say that this location is #FMF Approved! If you ever come to Abidjan, you should make it a point to visit Bushman Cafe. It was so nice, we went twice!
I realize, going thru my pics, that I can probably write a post for every day in Africa. That was not my initial intent behind this blog but, there are so many stories and memories that I want to share with you. Buckle up because I’m going to take you on a longer ride through Africa than I originally anticipated. And TBCH, writing has been highly therapeutic for me. So I’m helping you help me help you help me. You’re welcome! 🙃 More to come…
Raomel's Observations - Rabservations 
Looking forward to all the stories and pics. Liked the tie back to Jonny Gill, my my my, looks like Fred may be going back for more.
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Thx Rich! There is so much more to post…I’m still coming to grips with this blog thang but this is enjoyable for me. I’m glad you are enjoying it so far. Stay tuned for the next post…
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It just gets better this blog😁 Bushman is a must stop in Abidjan. So glad the trip was worth it 👍🏾👌🏾
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