Yesterday I arrived in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. A marathon journey had preceded the arrival, two days ago I left Agadez for Niamey at 7am in the morning, arriving twelve hours later. Then I 'slept' at the bus station and caught a 6am departure for Ouagadougou which got in at 2.30pm. So that was a lot of travelling for me.
Well; I was happy to leave Niger. Here the poverty is not nearly as obvious and people are generally friendly. The hassles appear to come from people trying to sell you things.
I have been tryng to work out if it's a government initiative in the whole region which has people out in the streets with lots of various goods to sell to anyone who walks or drives by. This includes shirts; clothes, shoes; sandles, medical tablets (I never knew there were so many brands of paracetamol in the world!!) perfume, and recharge cards for mobile phones. Yes, the mobile revolution is huge in West Africa!! Lots of people have them; seems to be far cheaper than the land lines.
Ouaga is much more laid out than other cities I visited, and laid back as well. It has a friendly vibe and is nice to walk around, found a place with half decent pizza as well...mmMMMMmmm pizza. Yes I seem to be having a better time now. But I'm off to a new town tomorrow. I get my Senegalaise visa this afternoon (touch wood) which is the last one I need and I'll be off to Banfora where I aim to relax for a couple of days, hire a mobylette and see the surrounding area....
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