Today is the 4th of July, where we would normally be somewhere near a pool, hot dogs and the occasional legal/illegal fireworks. This year we are spending the 4th in Ouagadougou. We were invited by the Ambassador to the US in Burkina Faso to represent the Peace Corps. So we came into the big city for the day, then are taking a bus down to the south of the country to Burkina's second-city, Bobo-Dialasso.
From there we are going to bike around and explore. There is a well-known waterfall in Banfora and some interesting rock formations as well. This is a nice little break from village life and gives us a chance to celebrate Sonia's turning of another decade (the big 3-0).
Here are some pîctures of people out in the fields and the amazing cloud show:
Shifting gears on you, let's talk about food. This is actually a pretty good time of the year. There are not a ton of veggies at this point, but now there are a lot of good (and some interesting) things to eat outside of the normal fare. We've spoken of the fabulous mangos here. They're everywhere and cheap. We can get a big ol' mango for about 50cfa at our marché. That's $0.12US. How much are they at the local super market back in the States? We eat about one a day, or two if Sonia gets her way. We've also started to get Shea nuts from the family who harvests out in the bush (en brousse). These are the same nuts that are used to make shea butter for cosmetics. There is a soft green skin and then a sweet pulpy fruit on the inside (it's very good). Then the nut (that is then crushed to make oil/butter from). Finally, with all recent rain come the bugs. The other night our family brought out their oil lamp (which attracted a ton of bugs) and began catching them. Huh? They were a specific fat and flying termite that they like to grill and eat. Mmmmmm, yummy. Yes, we tried them. Kind of taste like a butter popcorny taste. Enjoy the photos.
No comments:
Post a Comment