village Archives - Page 2 of 2

Africa Burkina Faso Burkina Faso Trip 2016

Sindou et Banfora

My second or third day in Banfora began when the roosters started crowing. I showered and headed out in search of coffee. The main, central restaurant here is McDonald’s…that is, a local restaurant with the name but which otherwise bears no similarities to the chain. I went there, as i had had a yummy vegetable couscous the previous day, but it was closed.

So i walked around looking for some place that looked like it served coffee. Success! A little café, typical in that it is basically just a corrugated tin roof, a wooden counter and some chairs. Different in that it had a TV and and espresso machine (most places just boil water for instant coffee). It was a good spot. Men sat around watching boxing and it was on a corner, good for people watching.

After that, Djubrie, my guide, picked me up on the moto and we headed for the country. I’m getting more comfortable with the no helmet thing, but it doesn’t help that the distance markers on the highway are shaped like cemetery headstones.

We had to stop for the police a couple of times to show ID. Apparently this is a recent thing. This area of Burkina Faso is currently in the “orange zone”, meaning that there is some additional threat of violence. A girl i met in Bobo Dioulasso was there working for an NGO and wanted to go to Banfora but was not allowed to go because of the potential for violence. But nothing here seems threatening to me.

We stopped at a village on the way where my guide knew the people. I was shown around. There were women preparing bissap flowers for boiling to make juice, women pounding rice with big wooden poles to separate the husks and then sifting then to get at the rice. Men shelling peanuts. Children chasing chickens and staring at me with curiosity. I learned that the women live in the round huts and men in the square ones. (I don’t know how this plays out for married couples.) Unlike other villages i have been to, there was no electricity. Lots of goats and a few sheep. They were kind enough to let me try my hand at rice pounding and to take some photos and one man filled my bag with fresh peanuts before we left.

We carried on. It was about an hour or so to the peaks, diverting down a dirt road under a canopy of trees. When we arrived we were the only ones there. It was majestic and peaceful, hiking through the wind worn rock towers.

Climbing up we had a terrific view of the green valley.

After that we went to a little camp of huts and a lunch of cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, and onions was prepared. We ate and i relaxed in a hammock with a cigar, watching chickens and goats and children playing with sticks and hoops. Very peaceful.

We then rode back to Banfora, stopping at another village where my guide had some family. I sat with some old men, smiling and not able to communicate (they spoke only Moore), while my guide tended to some business. Then we were on our way again.

Back at the house i slept then ventured out into the dark streets in search of dinner. Rice with peanut sauce. The streets were busy with traffic, women still selling fruits and vegetables and every roadside shack had a fire going, with meat and fish set to grill. I spent the rest of the evening at the house, relaxing under the stars with a book.

Africa Ethiopia Ethiopia Trip 2015

Village Life & Camels outside Harar

Today i left behind the charming bustle of Harar and went into the countryside. We drove for about an hour in a taxi. (I don’t think I’ve mentioned the taxis here and they’re great. You have blue tuk tuks and then these gorgeous bright blue and white Peugeots, some with fins. They look like they are from the early 1950s, but they have driver’s side air bags, so obviously not. I really like them though.)

Anyway, we drove for about an hour in this vintage looking Peugeot. It was a beautiful day and i watched the scenery go by, past deserty expanses and villages, as well as many herds of goats, sheep, cows, and camels. There were lots of people outside by the road, selling apples or tending to the livestock. It never fails: everyone we drove by who looked up either shouted, waved, smiled, or stared at me. Mostly the responses were friendly. Often the children will shout “you you you” or “faranji” (foreigner) until you pay attention to them.

Anyway, we drove through the “valley of marvels” where there are unusual rock formations perched on the top of small hills.

We then drove to Babile (a town) and onward to a village. We parked and walked through the village, which was great. It was hot and sunny and we could see people’s homes and, to some degree, how they live.

We crossed a field and then began hiking down the rocky slope into the valley below, past cacti, large flying insects, and then yet more herds of grazing livestock.

The people here, of whom i took few photos, looked and dresed differently than most in Harar. I was sold they were Somali. They spoke Somali and dressed in a slightly more traditional way (actually, for all i know, it is progressive, but it looks traditional). The wore colorful scarves and load of necklaces, and the men wore tartan sarongs.

We walked across the valley past ant hills – really more like towers – some more than 5 feet tall, until we reached the other side, where we started climbing. The climb wasn’t terribly difficult, but it was blazing hot and i, not knowing we were embarking on such an adventure, had left my water in the car. It was all worth it however when we reached the top and found about two dozen camels grazing.

I was so happy to see them just hanging out, not working, or dressed up for riding or show. I love camels, i have always found them to be sweet and peaceful and i love their kind faces.

We rested there for a while before hiking back. When we got back to the village, i took ff my sweat drenched army coat and cardigan (listen, it was cold when i left the hotel and i didn’t know i’d be scrambling over rocks); this attracted a lot of attention from the women who were surprised snd concerned about my tattoos. I covered up as soon as i cooled off. I get enough attention as it is.

Back at the car, we (me, my guide, our driver, and some random guy we picked up) were stopped by two policemen. The conversation sounded angry, but it was in Amharic, so i couldn’t tell. I did hear the word “Canada” twice, which made me nervous. I noticed that the cops were armed only with sturdy wooden sticks, not guns. Anyway, as it turned out, the driver’s cell phone was stolen while we were hiking. This led to a bit of a detour as we drove back to Babile to go to the police station. Now, to me the police station looked like a cafe. It was just a dingy two room building with a porch on which a bunch of guys were drinking coffee.

This suited me just fine. I had several coffees and cigarillos, chatted with a few strangers and just watched life go by. That should be an option that guides offer in addition to taking tourists to noteworthy places – they should just take them along as they run errands. It’s great. You get to see stuff you wouldn’t ordinarily. Just regular every day stuff.

We drove back to Harar, apparently not recovering the phone, and i went to a person’s house for a typical Ethiopian lunch (50 cents). It’s weird in Harar. There are lots of places that call themselves restaurants, but serve only coffee and beer. There are few legit restaurants, but most of the places where you can enjoy a meal is in the yard of someone’s home, where they cook and serve fresh food and coffee to locals and travelers lucky enough to be shown the way.

That was it for me today. I’m exhausted and enjoying a cigar and a parade of tiny coffees with a cigar outside at my hotel, watching lightening in the distance.

Peru South America

The Village in the Peruvian Amazon

Our third and final day at the Tahuayo Lodge in the Amazon was only a half day, as we were scheduled to go back to Iquitos by boat in the afternoon. After breakfast we took a boat downriver to a nearby village, nicknamed Los Chinos, for reasons i couldn’t really determine. The village was simple. Huts with thatched palm roofs and many sitting on stilts were located around a central field along the river and on the edge of the forest. The houses were very simple and were open at the sides. Few had walls, or had only half walls.

One man invited us into his home. It had a single room which served as living room, kitchen, etc. and then a separate area as a bedroom for him and his family. It was very simple and completely open. on the fire freshly caught river fish were grilling.

Most houses did not appear to have electricity, but some central, shared buildings had wires and satellite dishes and there was a public phone outside under a palm shelter on a wooden stand.

We spoke with (through our guide) a woman who was picking tropical fruit which could be used as both a medicine and a pigment.

Then it started to rain, gently at first and i naively said it was not a problem. Then it became a torrential, tropical downpour so heavy that it was blinding. We took shelter under an outdoor but covered area where a couple of women were cooking lunch for the whole school of kids. They had a fire going and were making fish, rice, and spaghetti. We warmed and dried ourselves by the fire (a smell, as it turned out, we would wear for the rest of the trip) and then pitched in helping with lunch. It was a marvelous way to wait out the rain until it was time to head out on the boat.

We said good bye to the lodge and sped back to Iquitos in the rain (this time taking half the time as it had to get there). We returned to the Casa Morey hotel where we found we had been upgraded. Our previous room was huge and more than adequate, but this room was so grand that we simply giggled upon entering. It was easily bigger than the main floor of Betty-Lou’s house and was many times bigger than my apartment. It had three big beds, 20 foot ceilings, and giant french door type windows that opened up with views of the Amazon and the city. There was a sitting room and a giant bathroom with an antique tub, and outside was another sitting area looking down on the pool. The hot shower was the best thing i could have imagined.

Wandering North

Tag: village

Sindou et Banfora

Village Life & Camels outside Harar

The Village in the Peruvian Amazon