Advertisement
Turtles
Happy vegetarian turtles! Heya everyone
**This is an older entry I had avoided posting cuz of picture problems but enjoy the text and I'll work the pics out later**
Things here in Burkina are good. I'm up at site right now, living in a tin can in the desert. It actually sounds much worse than it is, but compared to other camps this place is quite hospitable. A little story about the tin can housing...
We live in "villas" (I find the name ironic to the point of being cheeky) that are basically big metal containers. These are actually former storage containers used to ship things overseas, but it was so expensive to ship them back empty that they stayed. I'm pretty sure they're from about 1980 or earlier... Anyway, these big metal boxes have been transformed into cute little cottages for our mine staff to live in. They usually have a main common room, a bathroom and three bedrooms. Some tin cans (as I like to call them) are nicer than others with the nicest ones reserved for expats or higher-ups in the company. Since I am an expat, I was afforded a space in a VIP villa. This means my
African Sunset
Not the light show that we get in Canada, but still nice. air conditioner works most of the time, and we've got some plastic patio furniture in our common room. I've put in a request for a bar fridge, so we'll see what happens... Tin can living is actually pretty good, although there are sometimes cockroaches or spiders or other wildlife living with you. Sharing a bathroom with men again is a bit annoying, but I've got so much practice that I fall easily back into it (thanks Jay!). No matter what I could say about the housing here, I can't complain too much because they're basically clean and safe, and the shower is more than a bucket! The only thing that's really tough is the heat here, which is a good 7-8 degrees hotter than Ouaga. The view is neat though, since we're right in the middle of nowhere and there are some little villages and animal herds right around us. Gotta love waking up in the morning to goats running outside your door!
In other news, I got to tour around a bit in Ouaga before I left for the desert. I went with an Aussie friend here to see the "sacred crocodiles" nearby, which was pretty cool. It's kind of gross, though, because you have to buy a chicken to see them come out. What they do is take the chicken (which is still alive, mind you) and shake it by it's wings so it will squawk and attract the crocs. Then they tie it (still alive) by the feet to a long stick and sort of present it to the crocs to see. If it isn't squawking enough by this point, they whack it on the ground a few times for good measure. Eventually they put this poor tortured chicken out of its misery by feeding it to the crocs (yup, still alive right until the very end). Now, I realize this makes me a big hippie and everything, but watching this process made me absolutely sick. I couldn't even watch the chicken be eaten, although what happened to it previously was probably worse. It just seemed so wrong to torture a poor chicken just for the sake of taking some pics of some crocs. It made me think back to gladiators in Rome and slaves fighting for their lives or bears chained up and attacked by dogs in England for sport. Why are we so ok with killing something for entertainment? Needless to say, I was pretty quiet for the rest of the afternoon and was glad to move on to the turtles, which are vegetarian! 😊
Me and the same Aussie friend took a look at a sunset here yesterday, and it was so cool. I don't know if the pics do it justice, but the sun just dissolves a ways above the horizon rather than dipping the way we see it in Canada. There's no luminous colour show, just the slow fading out of the sun behind a wall of haze. It's pretty cool! The guy I'm currently sharing my tin can with (a South African geo) showed me some of the great constellations you can see here that you can't see at home. I now know how to find Scorpio and Libra, and we're going to try to find Leo tonight!
Last but certainly not least, I got my rugby ball sent up from town yesterday on the shuttle that runs from Ouaga to site. The guys in the workshop inflated it for me, and I was THRILLED to toss the ball around for a bit last night before dinner with the guys. Between all the Aussies, South Africans, and locals who are at least familiar with rugby, we should be able to have a good game of touch. I was thinking maybe Saturday afternoon, since it's Canada Day, we could have the "Canada Day Classic" here on site! 😊 Many of the guys are pumped for the idea, so it's just a matter of numbers. Either way, I'm glad I brought my ball, and so are the guys! It gives us something to do other than eat and work and drink beer (although tossing the ball around is sure to be followed by drinking beer). And yes, those of you who know me well will know that I'm definitely proud to be the only chick on site who is athletic and as rugby-crazy as the guys. 😊
Ok, so that's it for now mates! Arg, hanging out with these Australians is surely messing with my head... Much love to all of you, and please drop me a line to let me know how you're doing. Even boring news from home is welcome news!
xoxoxo
-Brownie
Advertisement
Tot: 0.246s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 74; dbt: 0.2091s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Hans/Frans
non-member comment
Leo
I'm a Leo...so when you do find that leo constellation you can think of me :)