After a week in Banfora and therefore 2 weeks in the southwest of Burkina Faso we headed back to Ouagadougou...on the bus. We tried to select our bus company carefully. The first section of the route from Banfora to Bobo was done in relative comfort but, when we changed buses for the 5 hour stretch of the journey to Ouaga, we were assigned the worst seats on the bus! We were seated right at the back in the very corner of the last row of seats. These two seats happened to be the only ones on the bus with absolutely no legroom. We stayed crammed in these seats for about an hour before we managed to negotiate a swap elsewhere. We also managed to jam a window open allowing a cool breeze for the entire journey. People here prefer to travel in stifling heat on buses rather than have any windows open. We figured that, as we had the worst seats, it was only right to break the window so that no-one could close it!

For the last week we have been in Ouagadougou. I have been doing a lot of typing up of past interviews. We've dined pretty well and have succumbed to the extortionate price of cereal and milk. Breakfast is one of the three most important meals of the day though so we figured the expense was worth it. We've also been taken out both for lunch and one evening meal. Some Canadians working at the university took us out for lunch and an American family who work for the American embassy treated us to cheeseburgers and pizza one evening. They also took pity on our food budget and raided their cupboards in search of home-feeling food! They import loads of food from the States and so had all the American favourites. We ended up with peanut butter, shreaded wheats and cheeze-its. Food never tasted so good and the box of cereal was consumed in a flash. It is amazing how friendly everyoe is here, locals and non-locals alike. The picture above is of Mike holding our 'groceries' from the Western world in the dark of our guesthouse. We got back from the splendour of an embassy house complete with labrador and pool to a powercut. Hence the candle.

Today we are setting off on our voyage north to Dori and Djibo, two towns located on the edge of the Sahel. It will be interesting to see the contrast between the north and south although I fear there may not be as much swimming as we became accustomed to in Banfora. What I'm really excited about however is the prospect of another bus journey!

Take care anyone and everyone, and you'll hear from me again in a couple of weeks.