I caught the plane for Burkina Friday at 11:30 am. I was still quite apprehensive about heading out into an unknown country on my own, but somehow I still boarded that plane.
The plane was like all transportation in Africa, very crowded. There were places where in two seats there were three people. Despite this fact, the flight was alright and I arrived in Bobo-Dialasso around 1:00 pm.
I saw a French man that I had met in the airport in Abidjan who offered me a ride to my hotel, so I accepted. I told the driver I wanted to get off at Casa Africa, not knowing it was probably only a 20 minute walk.
Casa Africa and Bobo in general, are great places for a single woman to begin her travels alone. On arriving at the hotel, I asked to see a room. There were rooms outside with a double bed, and fan, and outside facilities for 4000. (outside facilities meant a hole in the ground for a toilet and a shower outside). They also had inside rooms with a double bed, fan, and in-room shower, with a flushing toilet next to my room for 5000. Naturally, I opted for this one.
The receptionist, Noël, asked me if I was alone, of course, it's a valid question as the price is differnet for one or two people, but for a brief moment, I thought "What am I doing??" Everything was fine however, and I had a quick lunch before heading into town. I walked to a main road (one that was actually kinda paved) and caught a taxi there. It was 200 CFA (50 cents) to go to the Grand Mosquée, my first visit for the day. The taxi driver was quite friendly and laughed about me going to pray (I suppose they don't see many single white women going to the mosque) and dropped me off right outside.
Outside the Mosquée, a young man, probably around 17 or 18 years old, came and asked me if I wanted a tour of the mosque. We agreed on 1000 and off we went. The architectural style was quite different than the other mosques I have seen so far. It was built by a Sudanese man I believe around 100 years ago. My guide, Rodolph, explained to me the different sections inside. At the very front near the Imam (your muslim equivalent of a priest) sit the men. The front row is reserved for those who have gone to mecca or are very old. After the men section, still inside the mosque, married women, and those who have gone to Mecca, sit in the back. Outside of the enclosed part, young unmarried women and children sit. We went upstairs as well to see where someone stands five times a day to bring everyone to prayer as well as the tiny little cubicles inside these pillars where people go to pray.
After the tour of the Mosque, I was offered a tour of the Kibidwé district, a very old part of town. However, on entering I was told I had to pay 1000 to help build a school or something. I suppose it isn't that bad, but I had no change, so declined. Rodolph then invited me to come meet his friends who play with him in a percussion ensemble called Diolasso Ba Percussion.
I went with him around the corner and could already hear everyone playing on their "djembés". The djembé is the burkinabé name for what we call in Côte d'Ivoire a tam. I spent the afternoon listening to them play, chatting with them and eventually seeing their rehearsal. They were very friendly and let me take numerous pictures. They want me to let them know if there are any festivals they can go to in Canada. Around 6 pm, I was scared of being stuck in town in the dark, so I decided to head back to the hotel.
I caught a taxi, this time it was 300 but still not too expensive. Had a relaxing dinner and chatted with people in the hotel. Noël invited me to join him at an open air bar Bambou to listen to some traditional music, so at 10 pm we headed out. It was really nice and relaxing and we met up with some more people staying at the hotel: a boy from Italy and another from somewhere in Africa. We listened to the music until it finished around 11:30 pm and we all walked back to the hotel and called it a night.
Saturday morning, I ate a quick breakfast then walked into town to the train station. I wanted to find out the schedule for the trains to Ouagadougou, the capital, for Sunday morning. The train was leaving at 6:30 am Sunday, and I decided that was too much hassle and I was enjoying myself in Bobo a lot anyways. So I didn't buy a ticket. I met up with a man who asked me to come to his shop. The Grand Marché (big market) in Bobo burned down a couple months ago, so business is slow as the merchants arent all together in one place easy to find. I hadn't intended to buy much that morning, but just the same I went to check out his shop. I found quite a few interesting things, some good buys, others not so great and eventually left there a couple hours later wth a very heavy backpack. Haha.
I headed back to the hotel for lunch and spent a relaxing afternoon chatting with the other guests at the hotel as well as with the workers. I even taught a couple how to play awalé (a west african game).
That night, I headed back to Bambou for what was supposed to be an awesome concert (the entrance was 1000 which says it must be pretty good even though 1000 is nothing in canadian dollars (2.50) for the burkinabé, it's a fortune). However, the two groups that were supposed to be playing had some disagreement or something so it was cancelled and we headed instead to Mombo Sa a bar with african dance music. At first, I died laughing as I saw what was a very funny sight for someone from Canada. On the dance floor, there were only men. I have rarely if ever seen a man dance alone in Canada and for a whole group of them to be doing it it was funny. Eventually a couple girls joined in, but there weren't many girls to be found. We didn't stay that long, however, as I already had plans for the next day.
Sunday I had hired Shiek, the hotel's guide to take me around to see some of the sights. We were supposed to leave at 10, but he was late coming back in from taking Marcos, the Italian guest, fishing.
We eventually headed out around 12:30. All I had eaten that morning was my breakfast thinking we would pick things up on the way. Bad mistake. Haha. We decided to go to Dafra first as it was near, only 10 km.
Dafra is a sacred pond where there are sacred fish. To visit, it is expected that you buy a live chicken at the market to offer to the "fetishes" or the spirits. So, off we went to buy our chicken for 1000 CFA. The man tied its legs together and we threw it in the back of the car to start our "short" journey. The road, if you can call it a road, is a dirt road going through the bush. If you don't know where you are going, I don't think you would find it. There are large holes in the road so you drive wherever you can so you don't get stuck. We did however get stuck at one point, and since i can't drive a standard, I had to push. To my surprise, I got us out. Further down the road, there are huge puddles of water and mud. Eventually, we had to stop the car and walk the rest of the way (maybe 1.5 kms left). It didn't look too bad from where I was, but then I didn't really see what lay ahead. Of course it was inevitable, that i fell right down in the middle of a mud pond. I think that was good though, cause after that I didn't care and just walked right through the puddles. The mud ponds only lasted for the first couple hundred metres though and then we were back on to the path. As you are nearing the cliff, you run into an old man who will guide you and call the fetishes for you. So we picked him up and started descending the long trip downwards. Noone had warned me about how rigorous a trip it was, or I would have at least eaten more or brought water! Eventually we did make it down, where I could only think of how I was going to get back up with absolutely no energy.
**Mom, and those with weak stomachs skip to the next paragraph.** We gave the man our chicken and he chopped off its head and let the blood drip over the altar. He told us to make a wish and a promise to the fetishes like "if you give me this i will sacrifice this" and then pulled off some of its feathers to place on the altar. Next he took the chicken to cut out its intestines. When he was finished, he went to the pond, calling in some language, the sacred fish to the water, and fed them the intestines of the chicken.
The ritual was complete and he assured us that our wish would come true because the fish ate what we fed them. As we started our climb back up, I realized there was no way I was going to make it up without water or something to eat. So i offered 500 CFA to a kid to get me some water and sugar. After I drank it, I felt completely revived and had no problems finishing the climb. By the time we made it up the climb, through the bush, through the mud ponds, got the car out of a hole, fixed the flat tire, and actually made it back into town, it was already 6:30pm. So we decided to call it quits for the day and to head out again Monday.
For all his troubles, I invited Shiek out for dinner and we went to a maquis. Both of us ate a large meal of two chickens, fries (they were out of rice), bread and 4cokes for 3500 CFA. I thought it was pretty amazing. He thought it was expensive. Haha. After dinner I was pretty exhausted from a long day and headed to bed rather early.
Monday morning, we left around 10. After we had a flat tire yesterday, Shiek asked if he could borrow his friend's car so we went with his friend the Commissioner of the Police. Our plans were to go to a village, Koumi, and then on to Banfora where we would go see these beautiful waterfalls.
We got to the village probably around 10:30 or so as the road was actually paved and in pretty good condition. Some boys met us and took us around the village. I had bought some cola nuts in Bobo (a traditional gift for an older or respected person) and so we asked to see the chief to give them to him. They showed us around their village. Explaining that the girls don't generally go to school and the boys only for maybe 5 years. We saw their houses, their fields, the lake where the women were all washing their clothes, and some strange holes in the ground. We asked about these and they told us it was for the women. When they have secrets to tell they go down into the ground to tell each other. I couldn't take many pictures as most people didn't like it. We never got to see the chief as he was out when finally reached his hut so we left the nuts with some woman there..I assume one of his wives..and we headed back to the car.
We continued our road to Banfora. When we got there we were looking for a friend of Shiek's to show us around, but couldn't find him, so eventually thought we should have lunch first. However, the little guide boy we had picked up on the way convinced us we should go before the rains came, so we listened to "Rastaman" and off we went. The road again was not paved which ended up being our biggest problem. Perhaps 15 minutes after we set out, the rains came. They were so bad we had to pull over and wait for them to calm down a bit. It was a bit like being in a car wash. Then we asked "Rastaman" if he thought the roads would be ok to continue. Of course, he told us yes. Off we went through the huge puddles more like ponds. Eventually, inevitably, we got stuck in one. The engine wouldn't start again either. So we sent our "Rastaman" down the road to find us a screwdriver. He came back and after maybe over an hour, we got the engine starting again, only to find we also had another flat tire. Needless to say, when we got the tire fixed, the engine started, and out of the puddle, we didn't go any further and didn't make it to the falls. Noone was too happy with our rastaman so we didn't pay him, but he came with us to the restaurant where we finally had our lunch although it was 5 pm, and gave him some of our rice and chicken.
After eating, we headed back to Bobo. We arrived around 8pm or so and the commissioners wife invited us for dinner. I wasn't hungry, but we all had a little bit to be polite. His father came to greet us as well and brought us some bangui (palm wine) which is the west african traditional spirit so I tried a little.
When we returned to the hotel, I had forgot I had promised Noël I would go dancing sometime, so all three of us headed out to the Hotel l'Entente where I tried various African dances (yes, even the mapouka!)
I got back to the hotel quite late (around 2 am) and had only about 4 hours of sleep before I headed off to the airport to return to Abidjan.
I had no difficulties really returning to Abidjan until I arrived at the airport. It seems that last week a cop killed a taxi driver and now all the public transporters are on strike. So this week has been a bit of a hassle. Hopefully it will end soon and peacefully, as they stopped selling gas cause people were blowing up cars.:(
Well, that was my Burkina adventure. I highly recommend Bobo-Diolasso, Burkina Faso to anyone looking for a partly relaxing, partly adventurous African journey!:)
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