Raomel's Observations – Rabservations

Welcome back Dear Reader. Excuse the dust, I’m working on making this a bit more interesting and a lot more succinct. Well, that’s a part truth, the other part is that I completely deleted most of this post by accident and welp, I couldn’t recreate what I wrote if I wanted to. 🤬🤦🏾‍♂️ All that writing. Gone. I need a better system.

There are no accidents. My creator has a way of reminding me of its existence…in ways that are uniquely tailored for me. When I recognize it happening, I express my gratitude and then laugh at the odds. God has the funniest sense of humor.

Case in point, I went to military school. Why? It was the Best case for a bad situation.

At CLI, I had various roommates…some of which I am still friends with today. However, as life would have it, we get older and sometimes lose track of people that were/are important to us. If I’m completely transparent, I am NOT the best at keeping up with people and their lives. Social media helps but, face to face is so much better.

I’ve been favored because my CLI brothers have come thru in the clutch over the years. From giving great advice, being an inspiration to narrowly avoiding being stranded in NY. That’s great story. Point is, somehow and someway my brothers have been there.

So imagine my surprise when my roomate of 2 years, who was born, raised and currently lives lived in Abidjan, said he would be home the exact week we would be in town. I have plenty of superlatives to describe Alain but, I’d like to keep this as succinct-ish s possible. This was/is my GUY.

See what I mean about the creator and these perfectly tailored moments? What are the odds? 🤷🏾 Divine Intervention?

That said, Alain – Good brother…Thank you for taking the time to make the time for us. We appreciated all of the gems/info/love you showed while we were there. Until the next time…please extend our love to your beautiful wife and children. Talk to you soon. 🙏🏾

Next Up, Côte d’Ivoire – Abidjan (Day 4 – Moving Day. Part 3)

Travel Tip: If you have the opportunity to make PDF Copies of your passport and all of the other important documentation for your trip, do so. I can’t tell you how many times we were able to use our phones to pull up the documentation that we needed for the trip. (Boarding Pass, Covid tests, etc). It made it easier for us but it may also make it easier for you.

Hello Dear Reader! Thank you for sticking with me via these installments. Do you know what today is???

Well, it isn’t anyone’s anniversary but, it IS moving day! We are moving on up like George and Weezy y’all. Not to the penthouse but, to the Sofitel in Abidjan…Floor 21 to be exact. Check out the view!

I’m getting ahead of myself (again). Let me provide some context as I am really skipping by some details that you may find important, humorous and (possibly) helpful. I also want to apologize in advance because I know that this is going to add to the length of the post. My wife already told me my posts were too long but Y’ALL, I am sharing a life changing experience with you! I’m not willing to compromise too much when it comes to details and things that I think you can benefit from knowing. That said, let me know in the comments how you are receiving these posts. I’ll truncate them if absolutely necessary. Details matter. That said, I continue…

Noon-ish was our scheduled departure time from the Air BNB. The Mrs. was going to be away most of the day getting her hair braided so, the responsibility to finish packing the bags, ensure that nothing was left behind and carrying the bags to the transport was all on me. 🤷🏾 #HusbandLife

By this time, the food from the last couple of evenings had just started catching up to me. Without going into too much detail, depending on where you go in Africa, they will prescribe a drug known as Azithromycin. Since we were going to be in Africa for two weeks, I decided to wait until I REALLY needed it. That day was not today…even tho it could/should have been.

2 Flushes later, I headed downstairs and lugged the 4 bags (Not including the carry-on’s) to the transport vehicle. Our driver and some other hired hands did help with all of the bags but, it was hot AF out so, I was nearly drenched by the time all of the bags from the house were loaded. I snapped a couple pics of the artwork in the home and then we were off. Sofitel Awaits!

Quick Tip – If you have AT&T, like we did, there is a plan in which you pay $10/day for the 1str line and $15 for two lines in order to have unlimited talk and text on your phone. It seems expensive but, if you go the limited route (Like we did in Thailand) the sticker shock of your next bill is something that you never want to see. Needless to say, unlimited was the way to go. So, as we were traveling to the hotel…a post popped up on my timeline. It was so timely as I was really feeling myself at the time. I was in AFRICA!!!! I didn’t post it online but, considering how I was feeling, I should have. I’m in AFRICA!!! Something about that still give me the warm and fuzzies.

In appx 20 minutes, we were nearly at the Sofitel. I took a few pics but something to note is that there are 2 buildings to this hotel. The main building and an auxiliary building. We were staying in the Aux building (The one on the right).

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297513-d302621-Reviews-Sofitel_Abidjan_Hotel_Ivoire-Abidjan_Lagunes_Region.html

If our Air BNB was an 8/10 the Sofitel was 11/10. Don’t get me wrong, you PAY for the luxury but, if you’re gonna go on a once in a lifetime vacation, why skimp? Guy and Kisha made sure that our group had the best experience possible and well, there hadn’t been a mis-step yet. Bravo Travel Deeper Inc. Bravo!

Once we unloaded the bags and spoke to the bellcap at the main building, they informed us that the rooms for the Wedding party: 1. Were in the alternate building and 2. Would not be ready for at least 30 minutes. Meh. I had time. The Mrs. was going to be at the hair/nail spot all day and I really didn’t have much to do until later. I decided to walk over to the other building…if you look at the photo above, you can see that it’s a good distance between buildings. Luckily, while we were there, an Art Fair was taking place in the long hallway connecting the buildings. There were so many beautiful pieces. All for sale. I took at LEAST 45 mins for what was less than a 5 minute walk over. The creativity of my people…and these pieces, was astounding. Fear not, I will have an Art-Centric post which will contain plenty of pieces to view and admire.

Once I arrived at the alternate building, there was even more artwork/design cues to admire. I only have a few pics of the lobby but, you can get a general idea from these and other (future) pics. The room wasn’t ready so, they offered me a free drink….I got a juice (Lame!) had I known that the food and drinks was so overpriced ($25/drink) in this place I would have ordered a $45 double shot of SOMETHING. Hell, at this point, all I was thinking about was getting to the room, taking a shower and sitting on the throne…Told u I shoulda took those pills early…lmao! The hostess came over and let me know that the room was ready…Finally!

The room…was as expected. Not much to say here, the pics tell the story…oh, one thing…I damn near died in that shower…LOL. There was NO sliding door and the pane of glass you saw was it. the floor usually was wet after you took a shower and even if you put the towel down and stand in the tub while you dry off, the floors were slippery death. I put the extra towel (there were 3) on the floor because, that 1st time?! I would have died and gone to heaven (Literally) with one false step. Besides the death trap floors, I was fine. Oh! One more thing. Fellas, if you bring your own clippers, I HIGHLY advise that you bring the wireless type. I have the gray wired jawns and the wireless edge ones…the gray clippers (due to the slight variance in voltage) almost burned all the way out. They got extra hot and when I started to smell smoke, yea, they got powered down. Luckily, I only needed to use them 2x my whole time there and even then, not for a long time.

I have more to say but, this post is actually long enough for now. In my next post, I’ll discuss more food, my dear friend of 30 years and the arrival party (Literally and figuratively). When the Capt’n is Involved…a great time is GUARANTEED!!!

Until the next post. I hope this read was useful and entertaining in some way.

Travel Tip – You shouldn’t travel anywhere in the world without bringing one of these. (Google This: BESTEK Universal Travel Adapter 220V to 110V Voltage Converter with 6A 4-Port USB Charging and UK/AU/US/EU Worldwide Plug Adapter). I choose this one because it was able to provide the necessary voltage for my computer/our phones during the trip.

Did I tell you that I would be DJing the 2nd half of one of the weddings? Yea…this was a dope trip…that story will be told later.

Welcome Back dear Reader. In my last post, I took a cold shower, went to a museum, and had a delectably delightful lunch with my better half. We have been in Africa for a total of 3 days…this is our last night at the Air BNB and we’ll be heading to Sofitel in the morning. Before we do, there was another restaurant that we were scheduled to visit.

We did see a couple motorbike accidents on the way home but, for the sake of brevity, I’ll skip those particular stories. What I WILL say is everyone was a little shook because there was some nervous laughter and then silence. I just took some random pics to pass the time back to the ABNB.

I know that I say that each meal was amazing. Truth is truth. After coming back the ABNB for some rest and reflection it was eventually time for dinner. The restaurant chosen for us was Restaurant Le Peon. A fine choice indeed.

https://www.restaurantlepaon.com/

The first thing that I noticed was the music…there was a live band playing and the music made me sway and bop on the way to the entrance. Kisha and Guy were already there as they had been out and about finalizing some details for the wedding. As our hostess led us in, I was again impressed by the décor. One thing about all of the places that we have visited so far, there is a definite choice to include natural beauty. I don’t believe that there was one eatery that didn’t stick to this motif. A small, yet appreciated touch for sure.

Inside, the music was poppin’, we were led to our seats and the conversation, drinks and laughs commenced. At some point, there was a birthday celebration at the table next to us and the live band sang Happy Birthday in both French and English…surely in a nod to us. I didn’t get any pics of the band but, hey, I was too focused on eating. Everyone enjoyed their meals and while I tasted all of the appetizers, the star of this meal for me was my fish. You ever have food so good that you don’t care how you look eating? I did eat with some semblance of decorum but, I wanted to tear through my food like the Cookie Monster…Needless to say, another FMF approved meal. Scrumptious. Enjoy. Oh, and there was a peacock…very random but somehow, appropriate.

Next up, Moving Day / Sofitel / Jay’s… and a reunion 30 years in the making.

Welcome back dear reader. If this is your first time here, welcome! I have been using this space to blog about my most recent trip to Africa. Blog, may not quite be the correct term as I’ve been told these posts are double/triple the length of a traditional blog. 🤷🏾 But, this is my page, my thoughts and if it’s too long to be considered a blog well, call it a LAB (Long Ass Blog) instead.

If you are enjoying the read, please…read on. There is SO much more to share…I’m trying to give you a comprehensive recap, not just a pic and a post on IG and FB. Based on MY experience, encapsulating it in a short post would be disrespectful to my vision. That said, we continue on…

Day 3 was a FMF type of day. To start, we were scheduled to head downtown for a museum visit, enjoy a 5 star lunch, chill and head to another local restaurant for dinner. Check, Check and check. It was going to be a scorcher +90 degrees and sunny so, sunscreen, sunglasses and a sunny disposition was definitely going to be needed. Too much Heat tends to make me irritable.

The day started a little shaky… due to the heavy rains, the water pump at our AirBNB malfunctioned. Luckily, Kisha called the owner, who had a crew out to fix the issue before most of us rose for breakfast. Speaking of which, my breakfast consisted of fresh fruit, coco tea 😋, French bread and some eggs and potatoes.

Back to the water issue… the shower was fine but, the hot water was not. Luckily, I’m no stranger to cold showers and after some positive self hype talk, I jumped in and took the fastest shower you can imagine. They SAY cold showers are good for you. Guess I’m gonna die early cuz…yea, nah. My idea of a good time does not included jumping into a cold pool over and over again. You may like that but, yea…not me. At 10:30am it was already hot and muggy in the bathroom but, the bedroom, where I had to get dressed? Let’s just say my wife likes the bedroom to be cold enough that the ice won’t melt. ice won’t melt. So, cold shower, hot bathroom, freezing bedroom. You can imagine how quickly I was dressed and ready to go.

Showered, dressed and lathered down with Bug Lotion/Spray, the Mrs. and I headed out to to begin the day. I say headed out as if we jumped in the car and drove ourselves. No. As part of the America Contingent, Guy was kind enough to arrange transportation (i.e. a driver) for our (all +40 of us) entire time in Abidjan. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate everything he and Kisha did to make this trip one for the books. The driver was a master stroke of forethought.

Why am I so appreciative? How many of you have been to Jamaica? Thailand? New York? Traffic rules are there, lightly enforced…and everyone, including the Mom Mom and Pop Pop, drive like they were in the Crazy Taxi / Demolition Derby videogame. Don’t know what I mean?

And while those places I’ve mentioned have some seemingly reckless drivers, nothing prepared me for Abidjan…Senegal was even worse! As a matter of fact, the tissue box you’ll see in some of my car pics, I’m SURE are for passenger tears 😭. LOL. Mind you, this is coming from someone who nearly ALWAYS drives fast and furious. Point is, having a driver that can DRIVE WELL under pressure is an under appreciated aspect of our experience in Africa. Before leaving Abidjan, we made sure each driver received a well deserved tip. #Salute

Stunt driving aside, Our 1st stop of the day was The Musee Des Civilisations de Cote d Ivoire – Abidjan.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297513-d7622810-Reviews-Musee_des_Civilisations_de_Cote_d_Ivoire-Abidjan_Lagunes_Region.html

As we would later find out, the museum was actually CLOSED. However, after a brief conversation with our driver, the man who would become our tour guide let us know that they would make an exception for us. A curated tour for just the Mrs and I in an EMPTY museum. How dope was that?! And you don’t believe in a higher power? I do. 100%

The museum was small but filled with various artifacts, each with their own unique story and history. I won’t go into detail about the history of any, this LAB is long enough as it is. But, I will say that we learned much more than we knew coming through those front doors.

What I WILL say, and what has been a consistent theme for me while in Africa, is just how much the colonizers stole from our people and claimed the theft of property, culture, wealth, knowledge and history as their own. The advent of items such as ladders, the cultivation of the land, customs and practices…the countless stories of whitewashing. We focus on slavery but, they stole so much more than people. Sadly, it continues on even now…

https://mashable.com/article/tik-tok-black-history-viral-trends-kahlil-greene

…and yet, we Rise! ✊🏾🖤💯🎯

Ok, Let’s switch up to another topic that is near and dear to my heart…FOOD! After thanking and tipping our guide and the museum staff, our driver (who waited outside the entire time mind you) took us to preview another (potential) location that the group would be visiting in a couple days. Sakaan Resturaunt.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g297513-d3792672-Reviews-Saakan-Abidjan_Lagunes_Region.html?m=19905

If any of you have been to the, now closed “Upstairs” that used to be on the corner of Broad and Locust, the atmosphere was not unlike that. The deco was more “natural” for a lack of better terms but, make no mistake, this was a classy, upscale eatery. Our initial waiter didn’t speak English so through pointing/pantomiming at the menu and using Google translate, we were able to order our drinks. Eventually, they sent over an English speaking waiter who, as we would find out, has dreams of moving to New York. He was SUPER friendly and even taught us (Translate taught Tawanna) a few words in French!

I took pics of what we ordered but I don’t remember what it was exactly. What I DO know is, the food was AMAZINGLY tasty and deceptively filling. If you have a change to visit Abidjan, you don’t want to miss a meal here. Drinks/Service/Food all top notch. #FMFApproved

I’ll get to the two motorbike accidents (!) we witnessed, the beauty of the city/countryside and our dinner and evening shenanigans in the next post. All this writing is making me hungry…jusqu’à la prochaine fois… (Until next time…) ✌🏾

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.

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://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297513-d12498200-Reviews-Bushman_Cafe_Hotel-Abidjan_Lagunes_Region.html?m=19905

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…