I'd been anticipating the Moro Naba ceremony ever since I first read about it. I envisioned a procession of kings and dignitaries in extravagant, colorful finery. Based on what I knew, it only happened on Friday mornings around dawn, when kings from neighboring areas came to pay homage to the Moro King, reenacting a page from Burkina Faso's history. As I danced to Prince til the wee hours of the morning, I opted to stay awake all night, rather than risk missing the Moro Naba. When the rooster crowed (literally), I sprang into action, hailing taxis and rallying laggards so as [View Full Entry]

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Well, the end is near. Martin escorted us today to confirm our flight on Royal Air Maroc from Dakar to Casablanca. The ticket agent was very concerned that we weren't confirming a flight from Ouaga anywhere. She didn't seem convinced we had that under control. (We'd already confirmed with Air Burkina.) We went to Galerie Marchande and shopped in the sweltering heat, made a new friend from Togo who lives in Benin, and invited us to visit her at both places. Later we met Abdel, another Toaureg from Niger, who owns a ski shop in the middle of the desert. He [View Full Entry]

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I've been refillling the phone every day or so with credits bought on Celtel phone cards readily available from street hawkers. The phone has come in handy, given the legions of new friends calling and texting and inviting us here and there. The problem, again, is the French language deficiency. The few phrases I've mastered, are ones indicating *how much I will pay for this taxi ride, *how much does this cost, and *how little French I speak or understand. Usually these phrases serve me well, and the ever-gracious Ouagalais compliment my ability; at other times... M [View Full Entry]

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What lured me to Ouagadougou (aside from the name) is the film festival FESPACO which has occurred here every 2 years since 1969. Ouaga is a cinephile's dream, full of theaters--even outdoor ones. FESPACO screenings for movies in the various competitions are held at venues throughout the city, and compete with those being screened that aren't in any official competition; features, documentaries, shorts, animation, etc., from all over the African diaspora. Many of the films, unfortunately for us, were in French or, in a local language, with subtitles in French! Still, I enjoyed and und [View Full Entry]

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We went out tonight with some people we met today, a Burkinabe economist who's moving to Silver Spring next month, some Cameroonian journalists, two in from London, one from Doualla. First we went to a dark square in front of the railway station, which, as it turns out, is a restaurant in the evening. (You'd have to be a local to know. There was no signage, nor lights visible anywhere.) We were full from a late lunch so chatted and drank while our friends feasted on roast chicken. The moon was full and perfectly situated over a calabash being held aloft [View Full Entry]

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The days have been so full there's scarcely time to reflect, let alone recount. We typically get out about noon and return at midnight or later. Sometimes I write, other times I'm gabbing in the lobby about international trade, politics, race relations and sharing family pictures and sipping whisky with a businessman from Delhi who's staying at the hotel. He's never been to America, but he's worked as an American government contractor in Iraq for years and has been there many, many times. He's typically travelling for a full month, then is home for a month. His passport is littered wit [View Full Entry]

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Come our first morning in Ouaga, the hustle and bustle outside the window in the shower stall lured us out. What a transformation from the night before! The streets were FILLED with mopeds, many of which, I was happy to see, were driven by women. Some even with babies wrapped on their backs, no helmets in sight (contrary to America where you have to put helmets on children everywhere but in the crib, it seems.) We walked nearly completely undisturbed through a market. When we were bothered, my "non merci" to whatever wares were being proffered resulted in the peddler merely [View Full Entry]

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Ah, Ouagadougou. As the plane honed in on landing, I recognized the easily walkable grid layout the guidebook had mentioned, though not very many lights; it looked very rural. The very first experience in Ouaga typified those to come: We walked down the stairs from the plane to two trams waiting on the tarmac. The first one filled as I approached the last two steps. I was motioned earnestly to the tram efficiently idling empty nearby the full one. The second tram filled in short order, and we were OFF!--on a two minute ride tops! to the terminal. It actually felt [View Full Entry]

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Went to Goree Island today, the famed "point of no return" for my African forebears who were sold or traded into slavery. Learned that the men were priced by weight, the babies by the number of teeth, women were priced based on their breast size or whether they were virgins. Men who weighed less than about 120 lbs were put together in a room and fed more for fattening up; women who became pregnant by the slave traders were allegedly freed and the babies sold into slavery. In general, people would be held in the slave house in iron shackles for [View Full Entry]

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Today we went to a fishing village in Ngor, visited a school, met the principal, some kids and gave them some supplies. We also looked at some possible accommodations for us in the village. The nervewracking walking on sand and too-recent memory of lifting heavy bags did not incline me to even consider them (besides, we already had a place, didn't we? ) "I Try, Man" was buying a phone card at the village store when, suddenly, English erupted in my direction from behind the counter, "You are fine. You are very fine!" I attempted to demure and be appreciative in [View Full Entry]

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