Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Cote D'Ivoire has risen to the occasion by men on the streets peddling red roses made out of lacy knickers. Dave has failed to cut the mustard and us 3 girls are without so much as a chocolate between us.

Christmas is still going strong here too with Christmas trees everywhere - one in the hotel in Abidjan, Marissa knocked one flying in a cafe and one laden down with tinsel where I come to get wifi. I thought this was a bit odd until I realised I still have my tree up for the chickens at home.

Today saw a walk around Grand Bassam. This was the first colonial capital here before yellow fever set in and it was moved elsewhere.

It being only 3 years after the last civil war here, things are very run down with nobody in the guest houses. Ivory Coast used to be the Club Med for the French years ago - now there is nothing. We are in old Grand Bassam full of old colonial houses on the beach and separated from new Grand Bassam by a bridge over a lagoon. New Grand Bassam is a pile of rubble where the government have razed all the stalls and huts to make way for non existent people to buy land and build hotels for non existent other people . It reminds me a bit of a complete **** hole I went to in Bangladesh called Cox's Bazaar.

The excitement of today was a clash between Ali and a local with Dave and 2 locals breaking up what was to be a very exciting street fight. Ali described him as the local nutter who took offence at us taking a photo of a chicken statue. Kaye and I sat there looking innocent waiting to do a runner while Dave strode down the road, hair blowing in the wind. It eventually ended after about 15 minutes of Ali being slapped with local nutter being outnumbered.

Tomorrow sees us travelling North though not sure where to now. We are soon to visit a town with a thousand mosques which sounds a bit of 'mare - 'not another bloody mosque' springs to mind ( as opposed to not another bloody Dogon village Sue ��). A bientot.