Day 119: Yamoussoukro – Bouake

The night was too hot. And the day begins with a little shock: yesterday we forgot to disconnect the power station from the car battery, which is now dead. Ian (or Cedric, the Land Cruiser) is the savior in this emergency. Fortunately, the battery charges quickly, Becky starts and doesn't make any noise for the rest of the day. How stupid of us. After a 10 day break we completely neglected our routine.

The cathedral is impressive, but primarily pretentious and, apart from the magical windows, quite “lifeless”. And so what the obligatory guide tells us is, first and foremost, a bigger, higher, wider, greater. However, there are some technical refinements to room acoustics and air conditioning that are sensibly designed.

After we only set off at midday and still feel convalescent, today we only drive around 100 km to Bouakre, the second largest city in the Ivory Coast

No camping option here either and finding a hotel is difficult; fully booked or expensive. But after about an hour we find our bed for the day, even though we would like to sleep in “our” bed again.

A late lunch with chicken and rice – we haven't had it for long enough to want to eat it again.

Shopping at Auchan is still on the agenda. This French supermarket chain we had last in Dakar. Things that end up in the basket include: Cookies, muesli, Martini Zero (great with tonic!).

We watch football in the hotel, because today's games will determine whether Côte d'Ivoire still has a chance of progressing mathematically.