Ouagadougou
on Wonderous Wanderland (Burkina Faso), 03/Mar/2011 14:29, 34 days ago
Maybe it's time I put down some thoughts and first impressions aboutone of the world's most beautifully named capitals.Apart from the heat and the red dust - which crawls in your hair, noseand ears, and which seems to make it impossible to keep yourself oryour clothes clean for more than 10 minutes every day - Ouagaimmediately makes you feel at home. Like any big city in the world thestreets are bustling with people but it's not overcrowded like e.g.India and people are also not pushy....like in India :-). They arecurious, the Burkinabé, and on the 'Grand Marché' they can chase youaround for a while, but generally speaking they are really friendlyand welcoming.Burkina is a French ex-colony so the city is filled with remnants andreminders of its former occupants: french baguettes everywhere,boulangeries& pattiseries, wine tasting bars, a club called 'LeMoulin Rouge', the French Cultural Centre (with library), theBoulevard Charles de Gaulle, the big modern supermarkets 'Marinamarket' with imported European goods, etc.It is also a very lively and cultural capital with lots ofopportunities to go out at night: cinema - at the moment Fespaco ison, the bi-annual West-African film festival - music, theatre, musea,restaurants& bars with food and drinks from all over the world, etc.Not exactly what you would expect from a country dangling at thebottom of the Human Development Index.On the other hand, you cannot miss that you're in Africa and that thecountry is in fact very poor. There are colourful markets on almostevery corner, battered cars in crazy traffic and daily road accidents,maquiswith great local food and drinks, children on bare feet anddirty faces, women with big trays on their heads and wearingbright-coloured outfits, funny advertisements, manual labour - in factOuaga seems to be one huge construction site, etc. And everywhere youhear "Bonjournazarra" - Hello white person - coming frombig-broad-smiley-happy faces.... I am very curious about the rest ofthe country but Ouaga, so far, has definitely been a great and verywelcoming introduction to the African continent.