nomadic in april

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Ouagadougou! The capital city of Burkina Faso. I like this little dusty town. I arrived Sunday September 12th, after what should have been a 3 to 4 hour bus ride from Tamale, in northern Ghana. Crossing the border and random police baracades turned the bus ride into an 8 hour event.

There are two classes of transportation. Mopeds and bikes or shiny new Mercedes and SUVS. The streets are flat and dusty. Taxis are few and far between. All the taxis are 1980s Mercedes or Renaults painted the same 1970s kitchen appliance green. I've only taken two taxi rides and happened to have the same driver. The official language is French but most people speak the local language, a little bit of French and some speak a little English. So you can image what communicating is like. I have the French vocabulary of a two year old. Somehow, between a little English, a little French some hand gestures, sound effects and sometimes drawing, I've been able to communicate. Usually both of us end up laughing at the obsurdity of it all. But it hasn't stopped anyone from talking to me. (And typing on a French keyboard is no easy task. Today I found an English keyboard.)

The buildings here in the capital are a mix of islamic architecture and art deco detailing. The weather is dry hot and it often rains in the evening. The first storm I saw, started with whipping winds. The temperature instantly drops 10 to 15 degrees. Red dust fills the air like an old western movie (without the tumbleweed) and people disappear from the streets immediately.

The mosquitos are fierce and clever. They are no larger than a fruit fly and attack silently and quickly. You don't feel it when they bite, only after you start to swell. They work in partnership with the continous swarm of flies. While you are busy swatting all the flies away, the mosquitos are doing their damage. I have three types of skin repellant, mosquito net, spray and repellant to burn inside your room. They laugh at them all.

Although this is supposed to be the poorest country in the West African region, things are quite expensive (especially compared to Ghana.) I paid the equivalent of $5.00 for two eggs, bread and a cup of coffee. I haven't ventured out to try local foods yet. I got sick the first day I arrived and have just been taking it easy. There's not much to do here anyway. I'm a little behind schedule, so I will probably move on to Mali by the weekend. I'm just taking it slow and easy here in Ouagadougou.