Done and Dusted

THE SPONSOR OF MY BICYCLE SPARE PARTS IS COMPANY PRODUCING FINE BICYCLE SADDLES www.abi.com.pl

I think I stayed too long in Ouagadougou, not that I didn't like the company of my polish host there! It was great to rest in his comfortable fully air conditioned house with cold beer in the fridge, but as I started cycling on Monday after a few kilometres I started to feel a bit weak. In the beginnig I thought that it might be the difference between the airconditioned comfort and the full heat of the Burkina Faso weather. But it wasn't that, or maybe partly? I was worried about that for a while but the next day I felt ok so it was probably just dehydration.
On the way out I met two Americans on their weekend cycling trip. Both of them worked for the US embassy and once again I heard warnings for north Mali which of course I had to take into consideration.
The way to Gorom-Gorom passed fairly well although I had to ride into the wind most of the time, The scenery was as anyone could guess began to change into very dry desert scrub. It was good because finally I could see things for more distance than just a few metres. The constant greenery on both sides of the road has been quite boring for last few months!
Gorom-Gorom is indeed an outpost on the outer edge of Burkina Faso. It is dusty and very hot. But right here is one of the biggest markets in this part of the country, and a lot of different people come here from different tribes in the region.
Sometimes a few tourists come here just to have a look at this spectacle of colour and diversity.
I got there on Wednesday afternoon just before everything opens on Thursday. It was fairly early afternoon when I reached the town and I had time to look around where a nice spot for photographs would be and to generally make my impressions. In the evening I met the only other tourist who would be watching all of this great spectacle tomorrow with me. It was a lonely traveller from Italy, a very interesting character. We had a long conversation about Africa, of course!
I spent the night camping a few km out of town under a clear sky which doesn't happen here very often because usually there is a storm in the night time, trying to counteract the heat of the day.
The market the next day was really busy with all these people who had arrived!! It was a great place to photograph. Especially because nobody was running away from my camera and we (my Italian frend and I) had no trouble take photos of people. It was quite impressive as I would expect them to try to avoid it by all means usually!
Maybe because it was market day and most of them were busy with their business for the day and they weren't too fussed to find out what the white man was doing with his camera.
Once you are in Gorom, it is hard not to be noticed by "boys with a bucket! " They are usually aged between 7 and 15 years old, and when you sit down to eat something, or you stand with a snack or a drink they will immediatly find you and beg for food.
At the beginning I thought that they were really poor boys, but it still seemed a bit weird.
Later on in Mali I was told that they are students of some coranic school. It is how the school is teaches them to behave!!!

I spent all day looking at and chatting with different people. It doesn't happen very often here as usually, after some time, people want money from me but here was different and I actually had friendly conversations without any duscussion of "money"! wow!

I spent the night out camping again, but this time it was raining, and because I was lazy pitching my tent it was a very bed night!!

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