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| Day 1: Des, Denise and I |
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| Ghanaian spot in Burkina |
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| That goat was alive an hour ago |
150 hours. That’s about how long I spent on a bus traveling from Ghana to Senegal by road total. When I first got the idea to sign up for a 16 day road trip traveling through Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal, I thought it would be easier and less tiresome than it actually was. I knew that it would take a lot of patience and sleepless nights but I figured I had my best friend Des coming with me so the two of us would make it fun and make it all worth it. The plan was to leave Sunday, January 9th get to Burkina Faso on the 10th, spend 3 days there, take another day to get to Mali, spend 2 days there, take another day to get to Senegal, spend the rest of the time there and take 3 days to come back to Ghana. During the time in each country we were supposed to see what the country had to offer. I should’ve known that plans don’t really ever work out, especially over here. Either way, it was going to be an adventure.
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| Sly, Suzie, Des, me & Farita |
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| Mosque |
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| Effects of food deprivation |
Since we were traveling in a university bus filled with about 40 people, it was going to take a little longer to get everywhere than usual, especially when everyone runs on Ghanaian time. This means that when we are supposed to leave at 9, we leave at 12 and when there is only supposed to be a 20 minute break, it turns into an hour. From Accra (which is on the coast of Ghana) to the border between Ghana and Burkina Faso, it took us roughly 19 hours. It was supposed to be a quick transition to get all our passports stamped and processed. We ended up spending 4 hours there. This is how we knew things weren’t going to go according to plan. Since Des and I did not get a visa to Burkina Faso in Accra beforehand, we had to get it there at the border. The only problem was that the price was tripled what it would’ve cost if we had gotten it before and it was going to wipe out over half of the money we brought for the whole trip. So we tried to negotiate to try to lower the price or get some way around it but it did no use and since we couldn’t necessarily go back because of all the time and money already spent, we had to pay it. Not a great way to start the trip but hey, we were in Burkina Faso now.
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| Memorial for all Martyrs |
What you have to know about Burkina is that it is ranked the 3rd poorest country in the world. This being said, I wasn’t expecting to see the urbanization you see here in Ghana. It took us about 8 hours to get from the border at Dakola to the capital city and where we would be staying in Ouagadougou. During that time we saw nothing but desert-like plains, the occasional donkey drawn carriage, and hazy skies caused by the harmattan winds. Once we got to Ouaga, it was a completely different story. It wasn’t as busy as Accra but it was busy. I was looking forward to touring the city. That’s when again, the plan went awry. The trip coordinators were hell-bent on wasting our time and money by taking us to useless places like a recreation center and a mall. This is not what we wanted to see, at least not what the four of us California girls wanted to see. However, since our knowledge of French was lacking and there was no concrete plan for each day, they refused to let us go on our own. We complied and went along with it, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see Burkina like I would’ve like to. During the time we did spend in the city, I loved it. Yeah, I knew only basic French but it was enough to help me communicate and the Burkinabe people I did meet were very friendly and welcoming. I just wished we would’ve had more time to spend there.
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| My favorite Ghanaian dish: Fufu in light soup |
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| Useful Advice? |
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