Bobo Burkina Faso

 Today has been fabulous.

We got up bright and early this morning and checked out of our pretty little room at the Pavillon Vert. Upon leaving the room, we were assaulted by a swarm of mosquitos so thick that I could hardly see through them, but luckily we had anticipated such an outcome and were well and truly covered in deet.

We managed to catch a bus to Bobo-Dioulasso that was leaving moments after we got to the station, so that was pretty lucky. It was a nice air-conditioned bus; much better than the one we took yesterday. It was about a five hour ride, and then an easy taxi ride to our hotel. It’s called the Villa Bobo, and it’s very cute. There are only three rooms, but they’re nice and clean and friendly and not too expensive. There’s a fridge full of pop in the kitchen down the hall, and they work on the honour system, which is kind of refreshing. They were very helpful in directing us to a nice Italian restaurant, and towards the downtown core.

Our lunch was glorious.

We had beautiful French bread, and I guess they liked us or something because they gave us a plate of bruschetta with olives free of charge, and it was magnificent. Marika and I both had spaghetti of a variety and it was absolutely delicious. We were very impressed. And our waiter was very friendly and attentive. He was so much so that we asked him where we could find a bank machine (as we were starting to run low on cash). He asked for our numbers, as most people we meet do, and we gave the excuse that we don’t have Burkinabe numbers. As we were walking, we were laughing about how nice he was, and how politely he asked for our numbers, as compared with some men, when he rode up beside us on a bicycle to politely inform us that we had missed the turn. We thanked him and went on our way, and as far as we could tell, he turned around and rode back to the restaurant. I’m still not really sure what to make of that, but it was funny, and nice to be taken care of.

Our explorations of downtown Bobo yielded a bank machine, which was nice, as well as a very swanky-looking restaurant where I tried shea flavoured ice cream, which was delicious, and a not-very-margarita-like margarita. It was essentially tequila over ice in a tumbler, with a lime wedge on the glass. I should have known that it wouldn’t be what I expected, but I was too tempted, and I had to try.

After that we made our way over to the oldest mosque in the area, built in 1880 out of mud and straw and wood. We had a nice little tour and took a lot of pictures; it was quite beautiful in the sunset.

Not much else to report. Tomorrow we plan to be up at the crack of dawn to head toward Banfora and the Sindou Peaks. We don’t know exactly what to expect in terms of getting there, but the view promises to be gorgeous. I’ll keep you posted!