"BRAKINA" FASO

Hey guys, I know it's been a while since I've written. I've been here and there bust mostly in the bush, chilling and enjoying the slow-paced village life. Last month I went to Burkina Faso and traveled around the country with a friend of mine who I went to UA with. Although Burkina and Niger compete for who's last on the United Nations Development Index (who's the poorest country in the world), after visiting Burkina I think Niger definitely wins.

There were several things that stood out to me in Burkina that were different than in Niger- many were not easily recognizable but since I've lived in Niger for almost two years I could easily point out differences. One of the most noticeable things was that women everywhere were riding bicycles. Now that may not seem like a big deal but I think it is huge especially when it comes to women's development. The fact that they have transportation to be able to run their errands and go to the market is extremely important. Other differences I noticed: better and more paved roads, many more people driving scooters rather than bigger motorcycles, a bigger variety of fruits and vegetables, electricity in more places, dive bars EVERYWHERE and so many more people educated. I was surprised to hear most everyone in the city, even children, speaking French to each other. Mind-opening.

I spent a couple of nights in the capital, Ouagadougou just checking out the city and eating a lot of frozen yogurt. From there I headed with my friend Melissa to her town, Koudougou where we checked out the market and ate a traditional Burkinabe dish called "achecke"-pounded and steamed cassava with onions, tomatoes and fried fish. I couldn't get enough of the avocado sandwiches either!

We spent one night in Bobo, checking out the big market, the grand mud mosque, and some really unique dive bars, one with some pinball and arcade games. In Africa?
From Bobo we took a bus southwest to the town of Banfora, in the southwestern corner of Burkina. We rode about 15km from town, past vast fields of sugar cane, and arrived at "the domes", a huge are filled with rocky cliffs and spires. Amazing. We also checked out some waterfalls, spending an entire day playing in the cold water and jumping off of the small falls. That night we rode to a near by village which had huts and an area to camp. Being cheap PC volunteers we opted to camp outdoors but ironically around midnight a big rain storm rolled through so we had to run inside one of the huts. I was completely blown away since the rains normally don't begin until May or June. Either way the "mango rain" was nice and the next morning it was really cool.

I had read that there was a train that ran from Abidjan, Ivory Coast all the way to Ouagadougou, Burkina, built during the colonization period, so I thought it would be a great way to travel back to the capital. It wasn't. We didn't leave Banfora until 6pm and it ended up being a 13 hour ride back to Ouaga in second class. We moved to first class and enjoyed the padded seats and AC for all of 15 minutes until we were kicked back to second class. It was hot, dirty and the seats were hard plastic. I couldn't get much sleep in so I stood in the doorway between cars and just tried to enjoy the breeze. It was quite an experience and I'm glad that I gave it a shot but I think I'll stick to buses from now on.

Back in the capital I was able to check out FESPACO, Burkina Faso's African film festival. It was a great time and I saw some really interesting films and documentaries. There was also a fairgrounds near downtown which had a variety of artisans along with food and drink. The theatres were exceptionally nice so many times I entered planning on watching the film but ended up sleeping, getting too comfortable sitting in the AC in comfortable chairs.
All in all it was a great trip, especially since it had been over a year since I had left Niger! By the time my trip was over I was ready to get back to the village and enjoy some time in the bush.