I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Banfora, a town in southern Burkina that is apparently the country's fifth-largest city. It's pouring outside, which is typical for this region at this time of year, although my last two weeks in Ouaga (with only two rain showers in 14 days) were unseasonably dry. I've just seen Nitha and Megan off to the bus station so they can head back to Ouaga to catch flights home over the next couple of days, and am now waiting for the guide we hired yesterday and today to come with the moto to take me back to my little hotel. After having been basically joined to those ladies at the hip for the past 12 weeks, it's alternately exciting and terrifying to think that for the next 12 days, I will be travelling solo in Burkina and Mali. I don't worry about my safety (and have never once on this trip been in a situation where I was concerned about it), but about how I will amuse myself and how I will rely on myself to get things done in a way and in a place I haven't before. It will be a learning experience.
For the past couple of days, though, the three of us have been trying to cram as much into our little vacation as possible. We took our leave of ANERSER on Friday after having our final evaluation meeting with the staff, cleaning out our office, and saying goodbye to the boys. I haven't really had a chance to absorb the fact that I won't see them again--not even when I go back on my last day in Ouaga to donate some clothes and toiletries, since at that point the centre will be on vacation so the encadreurs can take a much-needed break.
On Saturday we were busy taking our family out for a thank-you picnic, saying goodbye to the QPID Saponé girls as they headed out on their own travels, doing laundry, and generally tying up loose ends. Finally, on Sunday, we headed down to Bobo-Dioulasso in a convoy of 4x4s driven by the Saponé girls' NGO, Fondation pour le développement communautaire (FDC). FDC was heading to Bobo for two weeks to evaluate projects in that area, and were very generous in taking us down with them and in helping us negotiate a deal that allowed us to spend one night in their business-class hotel at a budget price. (I haven't had such a nice, hot shower under running water in 12 weeks, and I won't until I get back to Canada, I don't think.)
The next day we tried to move even further south to Banfora--really, we did. But then we ran into an ANERSER boy who had left the centre in our first month and was now in Bobo wanting to get back to Ouaga. We spent some time trying to convince him to find a social service agency in Bobo and put him in touch with some. Then we kept taking longer than expected at the bank and lunch and the market every time we narrowly missed a bus and headed off to fill the hour before the next one. After we missed the third bus, we decided to just stay in Bobo for one more night. We found a budget hotel, threw down our stuff, and headed out for an energetic and pretty visually stunning traditional dance and drumming concert.
We moved on to Banfora the next day (Monday) and checked into a small campement-style hotel near the lake just outside town. (There are very few natural lakes in Burkina, so this was a nice change from the dammed "barrages" we've found elsewhere.) In the afternoon, we hired a guide and some motos to take us to les pics de Sindou, a cluster of 100-foot-high sandstone rock formations rising mysteriously out of the Burkinabe farmland. The motos were a little shaky--one of them broke down on the way there, stranding us with a group of 8 children on the side of the road while our guide, Amadou, took the good moto into the next village to bring back a mechanic. When they say travelling in West Africa is a lesson in patience and flexibility, they mean it. It was worse on the way back, when one moto hit a rock and broke its brakes, and the other one lost its chain and spark plug within 5 km of each other. We wound up taking four hours to make the trek back from Sindou, alternately pushing the motos, riding them carefully on flat stretches, and holding my flashlight and Leatherman tool for Amadou as he made repairs.
This morning we were back on the road again with new motos to visit the chutes de Karfiguela, which despite our late start along another narrow, muddy road, boasted a spectacular view and some really nice swimming. We also visited a giant baobab tree that is sacred to animists living in the area, and that can seat at least 10 people inside its hollow trunk.
Tomorrow I'm planning to set off again with Amadou and a moto, either to visit more outdoor sites or to tour the SOSUCO sugar plant that's about 15 km out of town. Then I'll head back to Bobo for another couple of days, since there's lots to do there. For the moment, my Internet card is running out, and Amadou will be back soon to take me back to the campement, where I can catch up on sleep and reading in preparation for the two exciting weeks ahead.
CONFIDENTIAL TO THE JOURNAL: The letter made me smile--thanks so much! I got it on my last day of work. I will drop by for a visit at the end of August. :)
posted by Emily @ 6:57 p.m.
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