http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Niger , Niamey en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:41:38 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:41:38 +0000 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-442975.html So I had to stay an extra three days in Niamey because the airport staff are on strike. I went out to find some soap and the only thing I could find was this Lendemain Difficile or The Next Day is Difficult...Antihangover soap. I haven't been drunk in well over 20 years but where was this stuff when I was 15 Notice the back side soapmanwoman to the second power or squared...what do http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-385876.html When I crossed the border by buss I was really positive and meditative. The hot wind blowing furiously in my face as the bleached scenery rushed by drenched in the strongest Sahelian sun. It was a pleasure to see slight hills and eventually a valley in which the Niger flowed as we drove into Niamey the capital. This is Niger remember not Nigeria This is a country of some 14 million people http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-343247.html After the awful bus from Cotonou dropped me off in Fada I met up with PCVs Beth and Aisha. We happened to be in Fada on the night of a Floby concert what luck Floby is a popular Burkinabe singer.The next morning we joined PCV Courtney on a bus to Niamey. There was a big fiasco in which the bus company sold us tickets and then didnrsquot want to let us get on the bus but we managed to ge http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-294361.html I was just in Niger for 10 days conducting a workshop for Imams and Pastors to equip them to discuss HIV and AIDS in their congregations and communities. It went very well thanks for asking All of the translations were exhausting but other than that it was a great experience. It is nice to be in a forum where we can discuss our similarities and not focus on our differences The group was v http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-273803.html February 25 2008Goodbye NigerIt is our last day here in Niamey Niger. We work for the morning and I complete the pedology map and copy maps we have worked on over the past few days to Amadoursquos computer.We go to lunch at the Italian restaurant. There is a special lunch menu that you can choose between two options for each appetizer main course and dessert for the cost of 7000 cifarsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-250249.html February 19 2008Today has been an office day to start. Chris Amadou and myself have been discussing our projects and looking at some of the data I have. We went for lunch at the Grand Hotel. It is a very nice hotel and apparently quite popular hard to get into. The route there took us past a huge stadium. On the way back to my delight and surprise I saw a camel with a large load on its back http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-248029.html February 18 2008Another day another airline. This evening we flew Air Senegal from Bamako Mali to Niamey Niger. This is a new airline for me to travel on and it was a good flight. At the airport we had to go through a passport check then a health check making sure immunizations were up to date then pick up our bags and finally a baggage claim check. It took a bit of time but it was rela http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-247667.html Heya readersI hope you're all doing super. I am here in my hotel room in Niamey Niger and it's been a pretty good trip so far. I'm a little grumpy due to frustrations with this continent but in general things have gone well. I will elaborate cuz that's what I do best So last night I took the dreaded trip through the Ouagadougou airport to get on my flight to Niamey. I hate the Ouagadougou a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-68300.html not really. . . i had all these grand plans for writing a whole bunch updating all the missing adventures but here i've been back for a while now and just now getting onto this journal. there's just so much too do visit with yussef's family remodel his room get ready for the rainy season buy presents. i will also blame a large part of my lazyness on the heat it's soooo hotwhiny voice it r http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-64085.html woke up earlybecause it was hot and i rolled over and felt the cool spot where my body just was.got up to drink coldcold water from the freezer too cold to drink in big gulpshad to peehad to drench with water before going back to bed for a bitgot up lateropened the window the metal part already scaldingi wrote a little shifting out of my sweat every once and a whilewent to Yussef's sister's hou http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-44538.html 3106Love Donrsquot Cost a Thingan American movie with Steve Harvey and the kid from All That about being yourself and falling in love of course.One of the new Star Warsbut only the second half because the first cd didnrsquot work.Romeo and Julietthe Shakespearean language doesnrsquot quite come through.You Got ServedAmerican Slang does not translate either and I didnrsquot see the en http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-43887.html I love being in motion in Africa. Walking in the markets zipping in taxis bumping through the brush. I donrsquot know if itrsquos lsquocause I feel like Irsquom in a movie or I feel like oddly I can see everything more. Or see more things in a shorter period of time even if itrsquos only a flash. We drove for about thirty minutes dodging sheep and donkeys and potholes. And th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-43886.html i got into Naropa UniversityI guess I haven't told many people.I found out walking downtown when dad called for the second time in one dayeager to find out and he opened my email for meso i'll be in Boulder next year yay Carpenters we'll have lots of hang out time http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-43884.html 22706Now is the time when you hug the walls for the littlest bit of shadow. Even at noon when there are slivers of shadow your flipflopped toes are happy for the little bit of relief. Just walking to the internet caf and talking to a friend for 15 minutes toasted my shoulders to a nice red. We cross the street to be out of the sun just a little bit. We give up talking not only because it http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-43469.html 2706Catacofour light bulbs 1000three tomatoes 50pumice foot stone 25metal scrubby 75bag of henna 100small pepper 25 kilo bag of sugar 250 bag of flour 75paint brush 750little sack of ginger 25jar of peanut butter 600pasta 3006 nails 100 14 ground meat 300water 10taxi 400onion 50total 37357.472506the funny thing about money in a poor country is you can never use big bills. It sucks to ha http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-43468.html 22106the problem with big adventures is that Irsquom so tired after them I donrsquot get around to writing about them for awhile after Irsquove recuperated a little and forgotten some more. We went to Yussefrsquos momrsquos village Konni Kayne it should take lsquobout 15 minutes outside of Niamey. If all goes well that is. We left here surprisingly early considering how long it http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-42759.html 21706itrsquos hard to feel clean in a shower that earlier today was streaming out rawhide colored niger dirt water. The pipes behind the CFCA are being changed and so our pipes were full of the sandy water until they turned off the water entirely when me and yussef came back from his momrsquos house. We peaked our heads over the fence to see how the progress was going and a guy right near http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-42757.html i bought a new bed30 centimeters of pure latexfor 40000 cfa which at first sounded like a great deal to me but then reflecting back in dollars that's 80 bucks and there ain't no pillow top on this thing. . . but oddly enough it is riddled with sailing images a couple of tall ships some compass roses and a married couple floating indescribably amongst it all and all in hunter orange and aqua http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-42236.html as promised here are my musings on morrocoMorocco is like Scotland. Foggy and green. Or maybe itrsquos like L.A. and smoggy. It has american looking freeway underoverpasses California looking eucalyptus but comfortingly African with people walking along the sides of the big highway and people riding on overladen trucks and motorbikes. The signs are in Arabic and English. The airport was http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Niger/Niamey/blog-41368.html