Thanks for all the fun Burkina Faso, but I've got a train to catch.

In about 12 hours I'll board the Ouaga-Abidjan train.  It should take about 40 hours.  That's a whopping 17.5 mph.  Lot's of small town stops I guess.  A bus does it in about 20 I think.

A little bit about the Ivory Coast.  There are no confirmed cases of Ebola yet (8/8/14), despite being a neighbor to Liberia with it's closed borders and everything.  Abidjan is practically American level of development.  I speak french and a bit of Jula, which is also spoken there, so I'll be prepared to handle the less-than-friendly people.  Taking the train, I won't have to worry about road bandits.  I'm travelling light, one backpack and one clothes bag that I can jettison real quick if things get nasty.

About the train.  I missed out on a first class seat.  They have one single first class car and it always sells out.  I even tried to buy 5 days in advance.  So I'll have to sit in one of the like 30 2nd class train cars.  So many times in west Africa I see missed opportunities on maximizing profit.  1st class is only 40000 Francs as opposed to 27500 for 2nd class.  40000 Francs is like a decent sized fan, if you pay the tourist price.

I guess that's why it's so easy for European and Middle Eastern businessmen to come in and run everything. The seats in 2nd class are basically plastic McDonalds benches.

I took a couple of long train rides when I studies abroad but the Ivory Coast could easily be the most beautiful trip.  Hopefully the scenery is nice and my appetite for reading stays firm, because this guy just died on me.

My bro gave that to me on like the last day before I left for Burkina Faso IIRC.  Travelling in-country is one of the biggest complaints from volunteers who have to deal with Burkinabe pestering them for money or to take them to America.  Me, I just put on my gigantic headphones and descend into a wonderful world of Led Zeppling, Girl Talk and trance music and I'm there in a heartbeat.  Anyone bugs me, I just stare blankly at them and mouth (in English teehee) that I don't understand.  Jeff definitely gets the award for most valuable addition to my pre-Burkina packing list because genius Barry wasn't planning on bringing a music device.

I have someone who I'll meet in Abidjan, friend of a friend, so I won't be alone.  It should be a nice relaxing end to my time in Africa.  If it's not, I hid the rubies in my latrine.  Trust me, they're down there.