Easter 'à la Bobolais'
on Wonderous Wanderland (Burkina Faso), 26/Apr/2011 08:42, 34 days ago
As we all really needed a break from Ouaga, from the heat, the naughty military, the curfews,...(euhm....naturally one might say‘work’ perhaps but I can/could/dare honestly not say that I needed a break from work already :-)) we organized a weekend away. We stayed with some of the volunteers in Bobo and did some real ‘touristy’ stuff too: a guided visit in the oldest district of town and the mosque, nice meals out (o-u-t :)!!) in the evening and a day-trip to the cascades de Karfiguelaand theDômes de Fabedougounear Banfora, a town 1,5 hours away from Bobo. It was great! We experienced our very first thunderstorm, with all the rain we didn’t have the past 2,5 months coming down all at once - or so it seemed - and tables and chairs, even trees and lampposts falling over and the temperature dropping to as far as ‘only’ 24 degrees....I never thought I’d say this but I was actually cold!! Also, a (too) close and painful encounterwith the dangerous and vicious huge termite, which made us jump around like mad, screaming and slapping our poor bare feet, finding refuge on top of a stone bench - while some locals were witnessing all this with a very calm but curious look on their face. But the heat and the cold, and the bruises and the bites - poor us :)....were completely forgotten when we saw the incredible panorama over the green cane-sugar-field valley, when we heard the sound of the thundering water, felt the cool freshness while having a forceful back massage, and had an improvised picnic of croissants, all sorts of biscuits, mango’s and peanuts. Definitely something to put on my ‘to do again’ list!Traditional masks in Bobo - which are still used in ceremonies and local festivalsBesides raising awareness on the dangers of drugs to the youth, one must obviously not forget to remind them of the two greatest Spanish football teams...!Praying mats inside the old Grande mosquée in Bobo, the largest one in Burkina. Up to 1000 people can pray together in this building.In Australia my pet was‘Joey, the bardi grub’ - here I found ‘Esther, the giantescargot’Since I keep moving house I also decided to get my very own‘movable’ banana tree (Note: the plastic bag was just for transport on the bus back to Ouaga - it will be replaced by a nice big pot. The shell is NOT Esther - she was unharmed and happily released into the wild :)!)After the thunderstorm it was only 24 degrees....and freezing!And finally, the waterfalls and the domes at Banfora:The domes, very similar to theBungle Bungles in Australia but without all the tourists :)!