Another bus, another day, and we arrived in Bobo Dioulasso. The only difference on this bus was that Sana used it to move house! As he had to move out of the house at the village school we had to take all his belongings with us on the bus including buckets, bags of rice and three chairs. It all worked fine to start with but then carrying it all 7km to our accommodation in Bobo was a challenge, especially as it was dark. Next time I need to move house in England I'm going to use the bus.

Bobo seems to be a lovely city but our experience of it was slightly hampered by where we stayed. Sana's uncle very kindly allowed us to stay at his house, or at least in a room in his compound that he rents out to people. It was very hot while we were in Bobo and it was somehow even hotter in the compound where we were staying. It was even hotter in our little room! However, staying with Sana's uncle did mean we had a steady supply of interviewees for the 2 days we were there.

In Bobo itself there is plenty of culture to see including a big mosque, an old colonial style station, an old part of town (including Bobo's first house) and a forest park. At least those were the sights that we managed to cram in while we were there. We didn't go into the mosque as there was a carnival going on outside which seemed far more fun. We did go into the station but didn't see a train as there are only 3 a week. We also tried to sneak into the old part of town without paying a guide (as you are supposed to). It all went well until a mob of guides attacked us as we tried to leave. They all ganged up on Sana (who is a self confessed coward) so I had to step in and defuse the situation with my fluent French...or wave money at them and hope they stopped. So, we went around the old part of town again, this time with a guide.

As for the forest park, we decided to pay a taxi to take us out to the park (far out of town) and then wait around for us for two hours. Our main ambition at the park was to go for a swim so we hoped to spend our two hours lolling in the springs that the guide book told us we would find. When we arrived at the park the driver suggested that I pay for him to come in with us. I was happy to do so but hadn't imagined how interested he would be. It turned out he had never been there before and hung off the every word of our park guide - who insisted on showing us the whole park before letting us in on the secret of where we could swim. It was so hot that I fear Mike and I may have trailed along like spoiled children asking when we could go swimming while the driver and Sana eagerly kept the guide talking about all the different trees we were passing. Eventually we got to have a swim, along with a herd of cattle, and the driver stripped to his pants and was almost in before us! I think he had a good day. Thankfully that meant he didn't mind the wet seats on the way home.

So, two days in Bobo didn't do it justice but it we decided to move on in search of cooler accommodation and yoghurt. And so, we were back on a bus...