Abidjan--Are you afraid of the dark?

Originally, I had planned to take the time to talk about our 3 favorite waiters here at the hotel. But, events of yesterday changed my opinion. As background for the adventure, here is some information on the daylight situation. I mentioned previously that CI is very close to the equator (approximately the same distance as between Chicago and St. Louis). Therefore, the sun rises at about 6:20 right now and sets at 6:27--very equal days and nights. Because the sun sets so early, there is a lot of activity after dark. It's almost surprising how much activity there is. When we drove from the airport to our hotel, I was shocked by how many people were out (it was about 8:30). Back at home, there are very few people outside past 7:00, 7:30. Seeing the streets teeming with people was very different for me. To get to the point, it's very difficult to do all that you need to do during the daylight hours and the culture is very much in the outdoors.

Anyway, after a day in the hotel, Amy and I decided to eat at the Vietnamese restaurant that we had eaten at late last week. Unfortunately, the restaurant does not open until 7:00, which then required that Amy and I go out after dark. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, and it wasn't a problem getting there because we took a taxi (taxis are usually worth every penny). However, on the way home, we ran into the SHADIEST cab driver of all time. I will preface the story with the ending--Amy and I are ok and nothing happened. But, after the scary cab ride, we reaffirmed and are planning to stick to the rule that we do not go out of the hotel after dark unaccompanied.

They say that hubris is one of the great faults of mankind. Amy and I suffered from hubris yesterday. After several successful outings, we thought that the trip to La Nuit de Saigon would not be a problem. It wasn't until the car ride home that hubris came back to bite us. When we left the restaurant at around 8:30, a seemingly nice gentleman flagged us a cab. However, this cabdriver was somewhat shadier than the first cabdriver we encountered at the airport. When Creepy McCreeperson pulled over to pick us up, he pulled onto the sidewalk. This should have been our first sign. Then, I told him where we were going and told him the price we wanted for the trip. In CI, you tell the cabbie your price, and they can either agree to take you or negotiate. It's kind of nice. Anyway, I told him that we would pay 1,000 Francs (approximately $2) to take us back to our hotel. Our hotel, mind you, was approximately 5 minutes away from the hotel and 1,000 Francs was a very reasonable price. The cabbie then asked me, "8,000 francs?" I was appalled and told him, "No, it's only 5 minutes away. 1,000 francs." To which he tried to play dumb and replied, "5,000 francs?" as if I had said 5,000 francs as opposed to 5 minutes, trying to trip me up. So, we walked away and he screamed, "1,500 francs" and we yelled, "No, 1,000" and he finally agreed.

When we got into the cab, the cabbie started chatting with us. This was very different. I don't think I would have been so creeped out had he not been a younger man (I am super agist here) and had the shady bargaining not taken place. But, he kept asking about who we were, where we were from, how cabs worked in the United States (he asked about how many Euros cab rides cos in the US--awkward), about the water we were bringing back with us, etc. I was definitely trying to be on the top of my French game in order to make sure we were going to be ok and that I could demand he stop somewhere public if it came down to it.

After several long minutes, we got to our hotel. However, instead of dropping us off at the front, like cabbies normally do, he pulled into the side parking lot to drop us off. That was incredibly scary because there aren't that many lights back there. Then, he wouldn't take money from my left hand and demanded that I give him the money from my right hand. I'm not sure if that's a cultural thing or not, but it was definitely a way to assert his power over us. Thankfully, the armed security guard was coming up at this point to talk to him and save us. As we were getting out, he asked for one of our bottles of water and when I denied him, he said, "You're not nice." As a response, I slammed the car door.

When we got back upstairs, we were somewhat shaken and decided to have a beer on the terrace. That is when we decided that lunch will be the only meal that we eat out from here on unless we are accompanied by a local or a man. No good. However, all's well that ends well. No more adventures in the dark for us.