Hotel Le Cocotier Bobo Dioulasso

... had some time to kill on our hands. How long, no one knew exactly. So whatever we would do, it had to be nearby, so that we wouldn’t be in for any unpleasant surprises. Like missing the bus. Naprisca chose to sit in the shadow of the waiting area. I roamed around a bit, taking pictures when it wasn’t too conspicuous. I would shoot close-ups in secret, and wider angles, when no one would feel a target of my lens, openly. It worked perfectly. No one complained and everything went ...

... of it, I did plan to pass through Ségou in a later stage of my trip. So it made perfect sense to me to take a different route now and see a bit more of the country. And if I would cut some corners along the way, all the better. So that was our plan.<br><br>The thing we did first, though, was to check in the hotel and leave our things there. &#8222;Le Cocotier", where we had stayed on our first night in Bobo, wasn&#8217;t fully booked any more, so we took a room there again. Then, as soon ...

... there was no harm in trying.<br><br>And so we waited. And then waited some more. It got dark. The French family had long left. And our lunch &#8211; or supper by now &#8211; was not there yet. By the looks of it, they had either completely forgotten they had guests or someone in there was really taking their sweet time. Whatever the case, almost one hour and a half after we had placed our order, the food was not there yet. When we had arrived, I was not particularly hungry. I ...

... was first and foremost supported by the fact that we had to pay an entrance fee. The structure nearest to the road, and the only one that at first sight didn&#8217;t look any traditional, served in fact as a ticket booth. One of the elders took his place inside and issued us two tickets. As a foreign visitor I paid twice as much as Naprisca. Two thousand CFA for me and one thousand for her. And on top of it one thousand more for a guide. A villager. Without whom we would ...

... was still in the twenties, was really pleasant.<br><br>After my short walk, with postcards sent and food bought, I returned to &#8222;Le Cocotier". The two of us had to check out. The day before, during our walk, right next to Marina Market, in the Avenue Ouédraogo, we had found &#8222;L&#8217;Auberge&#8220; hotel. It looked OK, so I suggested we move in there today. As expected, Naprisca had no objections, so we got our luggage out and got ourselves a taxi ...

... bus terminal, not aiming your camera at anyone in particular, no police in the world would detain me for that. They hadn&#8217;t done it in North Korea and Uzbekistan, so why would they do it here?<br><br>I couldn&#8217;t know if that buster, whom I had never noticed, was aware of all this. Maybe he was and just loved to exercise authority over a foreigner. And maybe he really thought that all those restrictions were still in place. Either way, though, it didn&#8217;t sit well with me. But ...

... can handle. There is a well in the village so at least they do have clean water. <br><br>Ann asked how Sanga&#8217;s father and mother met. One of Sanga&#8217;s uncles started a story with The Second World War and their grandfather. They brought out pictures and even a sword that was used by Sanga&#8217;s grandfather. All of this seemed weird coming out of a mud hut. <br><br>We then went to the ...

Last nights pizza left us thinking that Boston Pizza has nothing to worry about. We went to The Ran Hotel for breakfast and ended up spending most of the day. The hotel seems to have the best internet connection in Bobo so we spent the majority of the day working on the blog in the bar. This was nice as we were out of the sun and the heat.<br><br>We went to the open air fruit and vegetable market. It also had fish and other meats. The sounds ...

... took ;pictures with Sanga&#8217;s biological mom. She was too shy to speak to us, even though she knew how to speak French. She seemed sweet, just like Sanga!<br><br>We then went to visit his aunt&#8217;s house/compound. She wasn&#8217;t there but we were welcomed by a cousin. There were a whole bunch of little kids there. They all came and shook our hands. It was quite cute. The lingering hand shake where ...

... park. There are eight in the park and are a symbol of virtue, happiness, fertility and longevity; linking men and the spirits.<br><br>Our next stop was at Sabou; which also has a lake with more crocodiles. These are larger than the ones at Bazoule and more docile. This lake has water all of the time so the crocodiles stay submerged. In order to see them; two people wade into the water and drag one out. The method of ...