8/9/06 Entering Burkina Faso equally as easy. Polite officials and efficient. The light rain had stopped and the air was crisp. We are now heading slightly south and the countryside is verdant, underpopulated and fertile in comparison to the area around Niamey. It was market day in a small village and the women were dressed up for the day in town. Different tribes had their different styles of head wear, hair styles and accompanying local jewellery. The maize (hard corn) is just ripening and cooked over charcoal is quite edible and along with the fried dough balls is the main market food. Fada Ngourma is a small town, a base for some American Peace Corps volunteers. This organisation has volunteers all over the world. They do a couple of years, usually in remote villages, taking on a project aimed at lifting living or education standards. We met three in town, about half way through their two years, and had an enjoyable dinner.
Each of us a little starved of outside conversation and contact there
was great dialogue. A young well educated group, not long out of university,
they have vibrant ideas and enthusiasm for the world, where as us older folk
have become a little more sceptical. It is great to see an optimistic future
through their eyes.
newly constructed good asphalt roads in this area linking countries and
allowing increased trade. With most countries also using the CFA currency,
which is fixed to the Euro, it's a bit of a mini Euro Zone. The flat countryside
the same, crops, small villages and animals darting from long grass onto
the road occasionally to keep us awake. Took a rest half way to Bobo-Dioulasso
and changed all the motorcycle's oils, engine, gearbox and primary, and
filter, taking about an hour. Also flushed the engine trying to burn off
some carbon as the rear cylinder's spark plug has been coking up, causing
misfiring from all the oil we are now burning. The old oils were returned
to the new oil containers and a woman and her three children collected the
containers as we were leaving. I know she will use the containers but what
will become of the oils is unsure. Met another bicyclist, an American just
finished her Peace Corps two year stint in Senegal and now riding across
to Ghana alone. A long lonely journey. We stayed in Bobo-Dioulasso for the
night where we met two motorcycle travellers heading south.
of it's neighbours with modern petrol stations appearing, no police road
blocks slowing trade and allowing for corruption and no speed humps through
towns making a very enjoyable country to visit, particularly as the region
is so green. Easy paperwork to leave the country.