Ouagadream Ouagadougou

... on the Avenue Kwame N’Krumah and the intersection with Rue de la Palestine. From up here I was now free to take pictures all I please, zooming in and out as I saw it fit. Avenue Kwame N’Krumah may be the banking hub of Ouagadougou, but right across the intersection with the Rue de la Palestine there was another market, very much like the one I saw the day before, and it all made for another great mix of characters on this particular spot. In short order I’d grown to liking ...

... ago. The bottom line now was that even after four years of French lessons in grammar school back then, my French was in a sorry state right now.

And for the first time in my life I had regrets about it. For the first time in my life I wished I had neglected whatever had bothered me about that professor years before, and instead studied French a bit harder. As I had not, I could now only pick up bits and pieces where I found some. Unfortunately for me, they were not just about ...

... started with a documentary, in fact. Travell**s must get their ideas for their destinations somewh**e, aft** all, mustn’t they? My idea for this particular one came from this documentary. In truth, it nev** even mentioned Burkina Faso. It rath** focused on bord** between Senegal and Mauritania. Seeing it – I guess those G**man guys simply shot it splendidly – I just said to myself I had to go th**e. So I started researching the area, reading up things on ...

... Aside from the occasional blast of motorcycle exhaust and the infrequent bang of an airplane ov**head, it is v**y fresh and calm at CBDF. Actually, this sentiment is felt ev**ywh**e in Ouaga (p**haps except in the sandy traffic of the streets): I don’t feel like I’m in a real city, especially the capitol of Burkina Faso. P**sonally, Burkina has a lax atmosph**e more inviting than the laziness of Ghana.

In the late aft**noon, the pow** was out again, and I wanted to go groc ...

... of today was unusual by rainy season standards. According to Emmanuel's uncle, it is usual for it to rain all day, but not with this much intensity. It came down like cats and dogs, would subside for a few minutes and give us hope, and then come crashing down again. It was as if Zeus really had it in for the Burkinabe's today. Emmanuel's aunt, Maria, works at the Ministry of Agriculture in Ouagadougou and said that the US government called the Burkinabe government and warned us we were ...

... volunte**. The bed has been stripped of my things (various books, pens, and CDs have been collecting near my pillow ov** the weeks). The shelves are empty of my odds and ends, my clothes, my nalgenes. Ev**ything is packed tightly away into my bright orange pack, my bright yellow back pack and my laptop bag. I look like I did when I first arrived in the beginning of July, but I feel much diff**ent. Not only am I fatt**, but I feel a touch more mature, more capable, more open, more ready ...

... possessed, simply possessed, by the silv** screen in the month of February ev**y two years. Arguably the most important festival in the world for African film, it is h**e that so many professional networks, friendships and deals are made, h**e that the world comes to see what new things to expect from the continent’s filmmak**s and which established and em**ging filmmak**s might have something int**esting to say.





FESPACO was ...

... there and one of them showed us around. She said that the women didn’t start until around noon. We were able to take picture of her working. The coop was smaller than we expected. Basically all that we saw was where they created the finished product. There was one spot where they turned the raw cotton into thread but we were unable to see them working on it. After a trip to the gift shop we were ready to leave. The ...

Coffee this morning was again at Istanbul, I should say breakfast but I really needed coffee. It is the rainy season and here it is raining. We did not have any rain at Bobo and they need it.

Dave has read all of the books he and Ann had brought, so we went to see if we could find any in English. We were swamped by used book sellers outside the book store. We said we would look at theirs if they found some in English when we were done in the store ...

... As a side note, I think it'd be a really interesting experiment to travel the world routinely bursting into tears in cafés and observing the reactions of those around you. I'm quite sure at home you'd either be looked at like you were insane, or get an oh-so-helpful "cheer up, it might never happen!".

So with the help of my parents and various friends of a friend of my father's - and Danielle in particular who came to ...