First Day In Ouagadougou

Last evening after typing up my post and went out and had a beer and wrote into my journal. This place, the Vert Pavillon (or the Pavillon Vert) is sort of like the Via-Vias. There is a large area with tables where the guests can have a beer and eat and they sell various arts and crafts. Another similarity--guides hang out there trying to drum up business with the tourists. So a guide came to me and asked what I was doing tomorrow. I told him I was planning to go to the gare routiere and get a sept-place to Dori. He told me that there are no sept-places to Dori--I'd need to take a bus--he told me the name of the company and that they are at 7am and 2pm. He offered to show up in the morning and take me there, but I declined.

So I woke up thinking I might go to Gorom-Gorom market via Dori. I asked about the bus company, but I couldn't remember the name. Since I had some time, I'd see if I could figure it out. If so, maybe I'd go, if not maybe not. I also did so quick mental calculations and I'm not sure I can make it to Niamey for the election since I'll know an American there and she told me there is an American Center where we can watch the election returns.

So, I walked along the main north-south drag in Ouagadougou. Maybe I'd see a bus and then know the company name. Or maybe I'd find the fast internet cafe. There were restaurants of every type. Ouagadougou looks like a pretty nice place to live. Better than the larger Bamako. I want to eat at these places. Gorom-Gorom is fading.

I did eventually find 2 internet cafes. Both made the false claim of a "salle climatisée". The first charged CFA 300 per hour and they were slow as hell. The second charged CFA 250 and were pretty fast. I'll never quite get how the pricing works here. The second one had fewer computers. Some American was waiting for me while I read up on election at my favorite political websites.

One thing that Ouagadougou does have--guides and persistent merchants. I guess there is no African big city that doesn't. Since the main drag is pretty long, they attach themselves to you and follow you for blocks. The guides especially. I never stop for them but I answer their questions--except for the one question they always ask and that I really hate--what hotel are you staying in. The nice thing about Burkina for Americans is that none of them are any good at English. The tourism here is mostly French. I sort of got a taste of that when one guide wanting to offer his services tried to guess my country. Pas français (he got that from my bad accent), alemanien?, italien?, espangol?, belgien?, canadien?, alemanien? At that point I told him, "vous avez dit aleman". belgien?, canadien?, I was telling him he already guessed those too when he guessed German a third time. Finally he gave up trying to guess and just asked me. I told him. His buddy who joined him pretty soon, then ran across the street and came back with a little photo album that he wanted me to see--tourists at local tourist sights. But I wasn't interested. Finally, we reached an intersection beyond which they must have decided to give up (the persistent people always follow you no further than some large intersection--they almost never break off between streets or at minor intersections).

Another guide started out by telling me he was a guide and wanted to take me around on his motorcycle. I told him I didn't want to break my head and I didn't need a guide. So we switched to telling he was there at a work camp or something and wasn't from Ouagadougou, but was a tourist like me. He tried to get me exchange 1 Romanian Lei for CFA 1000 or CFA 2000 (US$2 or US$4). I remember walking around Romania, my pockets stuffed with millions of Lei, and wasn't about to pay any large amount for a 1 Lei bill. His next plan was to get me to advance him CFA 500 (US$1) and he would pay me CFA 1000 tomorrow after his friend from out of town comes. I told him I wasn't a bank. He eventually started asking me to take him to lunch--he was hungry and had nothing to eat. Again, I am not here to solve the problems of Africans. I am here to see life in Africa. It is not my role to feed people who attach themselves to me. I declined. Finally he broke off.

The last really persistent merchant was a guy who makes and sells little wite bicycles. He had 2 he was selling for about CFA 2000 (US$2) each, but that was his opening price. They were kind of neat--had moving parts and he showed me how they work while explaining it in French. But alas, I have no need for little wire bicycles and no way of transporting them without them getting crushed beyond recognition in my packed backpack. Then he tried to sell me an elephant puzzle. I told him "l'elephant est la symbôle de la partí republicaine." He smiled and said "voilà!" I then told him, "je suis de la partí democratique." At that point he noticed a white couple and said goodbye to me and started talking with them.

I ate lunch the the Restaurant Chine, a Chinese place. It was OK, but not great. The Chinese place in Conakry was much better. But I got stuffed and came back and rested the rest of the day.

Lately, I've been having too much beer and I've been gaining weight. I tried to figure out why that was. I decided that when I went to Mali and they had small and large size beers, it was because I switched from a small beer and a bottle of mineral water, to large beers. So I'm switching back to small beers and bottles of mineral water. Healthier, too. It's good to stay hydrated.

Well, time to go out and enjoy a small beer and a bottle of mineral water. Besides, it's cooler out there than in my room.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 19:52 Burkina Faso local time