Hotel Amiso Ouagadougou

... I produced my passport and showed its cover to the guy. The passport cover, of course, had a similar checkered coat of arms. Hence in my mind it should have been enough to prove I was telling the truth, showing that my request was genuine, and making connection between the two clear. The guy agreed to the picture with me.

But the expression on his face clearly told me he had no idea yet why on Earth I wanted to have this picture. By now I was ready to bet my ...

... postcard guy and his friends, so they saw it as their duty to stand up in my defence on this one. They yelled back at whoever had any objections to my photographing, so with a few locals on my side, from that point on and in this particular street I was pretty much unbothered.

Then it was time to help Naprisca choose the bag and when that part was done and the shopping deal closed, it was time to move on. Some people gave it a half-hearted attempt to possibly fob off a few more ...

... Burkinabe, but rather a Ghanaian. One of the very few university educated Africans back then, and in the US at that, he ended up being the first president of the independent Gold Coast, the country that preceded Ghana when it emerged liberated from the British colonial rule. It was under his rule that Gold Coast transformed into Ghana. However, he had grander visions and one of them was the dream of Pan-Africanism. Besides, you couldn’t accuse him of being a blind follower of ...

... ways lag behind even North Korea, but ev**ybody seemed to own a mobile phone h**e. So naturally, Naprisca did, too. Same as h** fath** and at least some more memb**s of h** family. Th**efore, in case of em**gency, ev**yone was always able to get in touch with people.

But it was reasonable for h** to go home. She said she would come tomorrow morning at eight and that was it. Aft** she had left, I had my long hot show** and started preparing for bed. I cast a look ...

... was so set on riding camels through the des**t that I really didn’t think about much else. When, I wond**, will I learn? And the answ**: nev**.

Fanta and S**ge picked me up 15 minutes before the bus was supposed to leave. We w**e nev** going to get th**e in time. I also hadn’t had lunch, yet, so we made a quick stop at Danny Ice restaurant which has remarkably fast s**vice (and is wh**e Alfonse has been taking me for lunch, so it was the only place I knew to suggest ...

... felt grateful to have, finally, the opportunity to meet Mme Sirima and to see what CBDF is all about. Fanta, uncle, and Emmanuel dropped me off at the SIAO, the artisanal village across the street from their neighborhood, where Mme Sirima awaited in her compact and well battered blue Peugeot. I got out on one side of the street and walked across (let it be known that walking across a big or small street in Ouagadougou takes patience: cars, bikes, buses, motorcycles, and mopeds congest ...

... works. I sighed. I took a v**y quick and v**y cold show**, drank some more wat**, and headed out to find an ATM machine. The nearest one was all the way at Nkruma Circle (Nkruma was the first president of Ghana - the country loves him but he was quite corrupt and depleted the country of it's funds on a hotel that failed mis**ably), and so I began to walk. It felt good to walk and, when I rememb**ed all I had was a banana at lunch, I tried to find my appetite. I was not hungry, which ...

... ed joy that had the whole crowd clapping. Talking to him lat**, he told me that once he won, the Minist** of Culture in Alg**ia had extended his stay for a night and facilitated a celebration for the Alg**ian winn**s. It is no wond** that with this kind of attitude, of all the films in competition, ov** half w**e from north Africa and five from Morocco alone.





At our last night in Ouagadougou, I sat with a table of new and old ...

... us that most people come early in the morning or at the end of the day. We were all exhausted as we drove down yet another red dirt road to Zinaire, home city of the president.

Since we were so close to the park, we decided that we should try another attempt at seeing elephants in the wild. Before we could access the park, we had to visit the mayor’s office for a pass and tickets. We went to a special 'cultural office’ where the ...

... of the words did not affect the enjoyment of the music. One of the musicians and another person danced in a traditional style throughout the evening. It was very interesting to watch. There were also acrobats; who put on a performance. They did a number of balancing acts with large plates and even some fire eating; all very entertaining.

We went back to the hotel tired, even with an afternoon nap. It seems that the heat really drains you or at least us.