Got here on friday afternoon (on an air conditionned bus, might I add). Pretty nice bus ride. Cool scenery (took lots of pics that I wont get to post until next week, aka when I am home) and I was pretty surprised but the bus was even equipped with an in transit film. I was more into my ipod so I decided to skip the film (which was some West African french movie that really had rest of the crowd on the bus pretty into it - haha).
We are staying on campus at the Ecole Nationale des Enseignant des Ecoles Primaires et Secondaires (basically teachers college) in - get this - AIR CONDITIONNED ROOMS.... sigh, its a beautiful life. So far at the mango factory we have 1. Peeled a ton of mangoes, 2. Sliced a ton of mangoes, and 3. Laid out a ton of mangoes to be dehydrated (yummm). We've eaten a couple mangoes each by this point, as well as having our fair share of mango juice and dried mangoes... Before this I didn't think it was possible to ever get tired of Burkinabe mangoes but now I'm thinking I might just have to slow down a little bit (haha).
We also got to check out the Provincial Musem which had a couple re-creations of traditional houses of 2 of the 60+ ethnic groups represented in Burkina. (Pictures to come soon).
Today we checked out what the locals refer to as the "Sacred Fish" (our catfish) - got some pictures of that. They say that women would go to the river and seek advice or wish for a husband, amongst many other things. We also saw Burkina's oldest Mosque - again, pretty cool stuff.
Or experience here has really just started so I dont have a whole lot to say yet but the temperature here is much cooler than Ouaga because they have more trees, more wind, and I think they have more bodies of water in the surrounding areas. In general, the people are just as amazingly welcoming and hospitable as seems to be the norm here. That is definitely a quality I will want to bring back with me. When I talk to some of the friends I've made here they tell me that being welcoming is very important to les Burkinabés... Even the most obscure stranger is a human being that deserves a "Bonjour/Bon Soir; ça va? et votre famille?" (Goodday/ Good Evening; Hows it going? and your familly?).
I get home next Tuesday (leaving Ouaga on Monday) so that means, 1. Back to a normal climate (haha), 2. Goodbye to the amazing people I've met here, the continent of human origin (and the region of my ancestors), and 3. And hello to a new outlook on my life back home....
Mom - Can my first meal back be Phad Thai please?
Alex - Stay out of my room.
Until next time...
PEACE
OH, P.S. I am the only one on my trip that hasnt gotten sick (i.e. Parasite, Bacteria, or Travellers Diarrhea). Just goes to show...
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