Hotel Bel Vue Ouagadougou

The night before I had made an off-hand remark to Naprisca, kind of assuming that she would not be at my hotel exactly at daybreak, that I might go to „Marina" market to buy some food and drinks for the trip today. We had discovered this market just two blocks away from the „Belle Vue“ hotel. It obviously catered for European ex-pat community in Ouaga, a growing Chinese diaspora, and well-to-do locals, who, as expected, were in minority there. The ...

... commands disproportionate significance within African film industry on the whole. FESPACO obviously did no harm to it.<br><br>And so we chatted when the Rasta guy finally disclosed that in fact as a musician he couldn&#8217;t make a proper living, so he &#8220;had a shop&#8221; over there on the market with friends. They were selling cloths and folk craft and he invited me to come and have a look-see. I tried to be polite and said that right now I just couldn&#8217;t as I was waiting for ...

... was a bit unexpected. But then again, I couldn&#8217;t get around paying a visit to Naprisca folk&#8217;s anyway. She really wanted me to do it. And they were expecting me. So today was probably as good a day as any. So I said:<br><br>&#8222;No problem. When we&#8217;re done in the Embassy, we can go.&#8220;<br><br>Right away, she reached out for her mobile phone inside her bag and in a mixture of French and Bissa notified her father to expect us soon. The Bissa are one of the ethnic ...

... to ev**yone around. So I pulled back a bit, climbed three stairs back to the gate and, both for the purpose of having a bett** vantage point and of giving Naprisca a chance to see me more easily, stopped th**e.<br><br>And it worked. I soon noticed h** waving enthusiastically from the crowd at me, so I climbed down the stairs again and pushed by the security guards towards h**.<br><br>&#8222;Monsieur, taxi?&#8220;, I heard from all sides. But I ignored it all. I dived ...

... post a blog entry, and walked back to the store to get food before Fanta came to pick me up. <br><br>I bought c**eal and milk &#8211; whoa. I haven&#8217;t had that in a WHILE. I also got some bread and jam, and thought that would suffice for a few days. I also purchased some grapefruit outside, which is one of my favorite fruits and I&#8217;m so happy it cost only 1 dollar for four. <br><br>I am now going to bed. <br><br>Septemb** 11, 2009<br><br>The last few days have been uneventful in ...

... their hands frantically and jumping between lanes directing traffic. They had whistles and used them sometimes, and for not particular reason. These regular joes flung themselves into traffic for lack of anything better to do and started directing cars and motorcycles and bikes this way and that. I was impressed, and also so surprised to see civilians at work... They had no monetary benefit from doing this, so I assumed they were simply bored and jumping in front of cars passed the ...

... to commons to get my things. Joy and Devlyn w**e waiting th**e, and we took anoth** picture of me, B**tha, Joy and Devlyn before I slung my giant pack ov** my should**s, locked my door, and handed B**tha the key. The good bye was strange - I'm not sure if I'll be able to return to Klefe for that one day I have in Ghana between Burkina Faso and going home. I'm just not c**tain I'll have the ability to travel that much. It will be exhausting and, even though I will survive, I will be ...

... wait for me and bring me back! &#8220;For yur securitee," he said in a heavy French accent. I read in a festival magazine lat** that 1,000 plain clothes policemen had been dispensed amongst the public to ensure safety of festivalgo**s from the growing numb** of pickpockets ov** the last few years. Ouagadougou is more than a Film Festival city. It lives for its festivals, with an arts and crafts festival, SIAO, on alt**nate years with FESPACO, a huge ...

... village to purchase some items. There was a wedding going on which Sanga enjoyed watching and even got a free drink but he turned down the food. <br><br>The Musee National du Burkina Faso was our next stop. Who would believe that a national museum would be closed on the weekend? We then decide to stop by Marina Market and get some ice cream on our way back to the hotel for a siesta. After a nap Dave and Ann played crib while waiting for Sanga to pick them up for supper.

... if the price or the object isn&#8217;t just right, we now walk away. Sanga asked another of his family members to come with us to help out in the market. Sanga said that it has been ten years since he went to a market and that now he is way too Canadian to know his way around an African market.<br><br>To cool off today, we decided to go back to the Istanbul Café where the air-conditioning was very much appreciated. Ann tried some very ...