Travel Reference
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see him again. The press attaché gave me a list of local and international press contacts,
including the BBC World Service. I called and met the BBC correspondent, Thierry Ogier
and his girlfriend. We chatted in his apartment until 8 p.m. and planned to tape the radio
interview the next day. Afterward, he wanted to go with me to the Fourth Quarter (an area
of Abidjan) to buy the derailleur. I left his apartment and walked home.
I woke up early the next morning to go for my interview with Thierry. Unfortu-
nately his girlfriend was taken to the hospital the night before so he had to cancel the tap-
ing. I returned to my place and met up with a Belgian volunteer named Miam. She was a
pleasure to talk to and we spent the rest of the morning together looking for a bicycle shop
by taxi. We found several shops but none of them carried the Shimano component I was
looking for. Not to make it a wasted outing, I bought a new tire and a tube.
I returned to the Ghanaian Embassy and to my surprise was given the visa for free
(with many thanks). The staff also told me not to worry for there were many high-tech bi-
cycle shops in Accra. So One Gear was to ride again!
The next day I did my laundry and after lunch I went to meet with officials from
UNICEF. I was taken to visit a hygiene center and their vaccination storeroom. I then met
up with a journalist from the local newspaper
Fraternité
and was interviewed at length. I
asked them if a copy could be sent to my parents in Canada and he promised he would
(they never received it).
I stayed in Abidjan for the next few days because of the non-stop rain. The greatest
excitement I had was watching my laundry dry and basically meandering throughout the
city window-shopping with my umbrella. The real excitement happened when I called my
older sister in Canada to wish her a happy birthday. She told me some exciting news: first,
my nephew Michael had started to crawl (I must admit I was a little depressed that I was
missing it) and second, the Toronto Blue Jays, a Major League Baseball team that I sup-
ported, won the World Series. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford to stay on the phone for too
long for just a couple of minutes came to over $25.00. After hanging up, my spirits rose
significantly and I looked forward to my departure from Abidjan. The sun finally popped
out at the end of the week which was perfect timing for me to move on.
I woke up early in anticipation of being on the road again. After having a road-
side breakfast and attending morning mass, I finally left Abidjan. I found the road for the
Ghanaian border quite easily and marveled at the coconut tree-lined boulevards along the
ocean. Again, One Gear responded beautifully and I was covering a lot of distance. There
were a few climbs to contend with throughout the day. My body, mainly my left knee,
would remind me to take it easy especially since I had such a lengthy rest. The dull knee
pain(likeintheUK)wasasimplewarningtowalkabittobreakupthecontinuouscycling.
This helped tremendously for the pain quickly subsided never to return.
I skipped lunch and made it to Aboisso by 3:00 p.m. with 118 kilometres under my
belt. I went to the Catholic mission to ask if I could camp on the grounds. The Italian fath-
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