La Rose des Sables Ouagadougou

... those were the merits that had set him apart to such an extent that here in Ouaga they had named arguably the most important street in the city after him.

Almost as soon as we left Avenue Kwamé N’Krumah, we slid onto some dirt roads. This was a city, all right, but pavement evaporated. OK, the area did seem under heavy construction, but right now, on not so early Friday morning, there were neither workers nor machinery in sight. Through the car windows I was taking in every ...

... the pow** went off again for anoth** 45 minutes. This frustrating patt**n repeated itself. It took me all day just to translate a couple paragraphs. Mme Sirima couldn’t work eith**: she has a funding proposal to finish and, with the comput** down, it couldn’t get done.

She started to get frustrated and left the office at around 1 to run **rands, leaving me alone in the office (Alfonse had gone out, as well). The pow** was on at that time, so I sang random songs that ...

... Currently, I am waiting for the rain to subside so I can begin my day. Like snow in the south, the rain here completely incapacitates daily activity here. No one goes to work. I sent a message to Mme Sirima, the woman for whom I will work at CBDF, who said she would call me later in the day to determine an hour she can come and get me. And so, I wait. I am playing solitaire and watching TF1, a French TV station I used to watch all the time when I lived in France. The news is nothing ...

... TV at the Freedom Hotel and went to sleep fairly early. I was admittedly relieved we didn't go out last night because I have not been feeling well lately. I barely have an appetite (which is quite unlike me) and I my stomach has been singing some unusual tunes and making me feel less than great. I have been checking my temp**ature like a fiend, and so far have none, which means I (so far) don't have malaria. I returned from Ho this morning at around 9:30. B**tha was upset with me that I ...

... degrees in February, but should you mention this to Burkinabes, they look at you and laugh – the real heat kicks in, they say, in March: this is cool. The streets are dust-choked, but more so the skies. During this season, the Harmattan wind crosses the des**t filling the high skies with a p**petually grayish-blue haze, and you stare at the milky white sun with bare eyes wide open.




On the streets, ev**yone from businessmen to ...

... Ghana, Togo and possible Benin tomorrow depending on how Ann is feeling and the time it takes to travel.

Ann has decided to stay in the hotel all day; so Dave went to Halidou’s to work on the blog and try to upload pictures and yesterday’s blog. Sanga will pick him up around five. They will go back to the hotel picking up some bread and possibly cheese; and see if Ann wants to do supper.

... and we paid the fee for the three of us and our two cameras. She gave us a bit of a deal on the camera fee. She only charged us 10,000 cfa ($25 CA) for the two cameras as if they were both only capable of taking still pictures even though Ann’s can take movies!! We went to the vehicle to eat our lunch while she got the form signed and then Sanga went back to get the form and the tickets. She also gave him a few documents to deliver to the head ...

... for the three of us cost 9800 CFA which is about 25$.

We spent most of the rest of the day at Halidou's internet business center working on the blog. The temperature outside was 40 C but we were in air conditioning and did not really feel the heat.

We went to Sanga’s house, where he has ten guests. Met his older brother Moussa and his family as well as a Halidou’s little brother. A wind came up ...