Last mango in (petit) Paris

Oh no! The mango season is coming to an end - in fact has done. Until recently every roadside was peopled with mango-sellers; now there are virtually none left - the last few mangos are squishy, or sometimes wormy. I've been eating mango every day since I got here, and I am still not bored of them - they are the best of mangoes and satisfy hunger and thirst. Not at all sure what I am going to eat instead.

The caterpillars, in contrast, are now plentiful and everywhere. I have now eaten a whole caterpillar meal - fried caterpillars, cucumber, mustard and bread - quite palatable, but I have not become an addict, and it's no substitute for mango.

As for Paris - the area where I work is known as 'Petit Paris' - I'm not quite sure why. It contains a few affluent houses, and some nice looking gardens and big cars, but it is singularly lacking in most of the things for which I would go to Paris...

Last week there was a rumour that the 'Autogare' - the big lorry park - was going to relocate to the abandoned customs building opposite, and a flurry of market people arrived to stake out their preferred pitches, which were marked with posts and paint. But now it seems the Autogare is going somewhere else, which is probably good news for a cyclist.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the area around where I work... see if you can spot the Seine, or a cafe, or a charcuterie...

School's Out

The school year has ended. It's the season of cultivation, and in the countryside, everyone is out in the fields, men, women and children - the villages are almost deserted. The fields can be a long way from the village, so people stay out all day and sometimes even overnight. Whether the school year was originally based (like the education system) on the French, or whether it's aligned to the agricultural year, I don't know, perhaps it's a happy coincidence. So the rural kids are busy, out in the fields weeding, taking care of some animals (actually that happens in town too) or rampaging around having fun. School is out until the end of September - that's 3 months off. And in town, the kids are bored, bored, bored. The town is full of kids, and some have jobs to do, like taking care of a little brother or sister, chopping wood, cooking, washing up, endless sweeping and washing of clothes, which get filthy and covered in red dust and, with the rains, splattered with red mud (all work for women and girls) . Little boys get sent on errands - to buy cigarettes or matches, or to get change, or to give a message.

But a load of kids have nothing to do. I asked some neighbourhood kids what they had done today, and they chorused 'rien' (nothing). Some of the more enterprising have been playing hide and seek. And some of them have discovered a new game, which is to go and call on 'la Blanche/Toubabou', ie to bang on my door to say good day to me! So sometimes the balcony is full of kids - I don't have much entertainment to offer them, unfortunately, and conversation can be limited as the little ones who don't go to school (and sadly some bigger ones who appear not to go to school either) don't speak French. But we get by. And the novelty of sitting on my garden chairs on my first floor balcony (most buildings here being single storey), with a view out over the street, seems to amuse them for a bit. And sometimes the things they say amuse me too and their smiles would brighten the dullest day.

New Experiences

Yesterday I felt cold for the first time since I got here. We were going to hear the launch of the new album of one of the singers associated with the Association where I work, and got caught in really heavy rain - must be the heaviest rain I have ever seen - and got a bit wet, and hence cold (I was in a sleeveless t-shirt as it was hot when I left the flat). But soon dried out and got warm again. The event was much delayed because in rain like that no-one travels, and we had to wait an hour or two for they mayor, who was the patron of the event, to get there. Luckily there was a bar.... The event was held in the church hall of the local Catholic church, which was by far the poshest and best equipped building I have been in here - posher even that the banks I think. It was a great atmosphere, but fewer people than anticipated, because of the rain - a shame for the band.

And today I ate my first caterpillar. Caterpillars are a seasonal delicacy, whose arrival is eagerly awaited - they have just turned up, and are still quite expensive, but will get cheaper as they come into high season I am told.



But they are starting to appear around and about - women sell them door to door (we get quite a lot of travelling salesmen and women at work, rather more than just the book man we used to get in Warwick..), to take home and cook, but they are also on sale as street food, as I hope the pictures show. Crunchy, a bit oily, a sharp flavour which is difficult to describe, I am prepared to try another one or two before I commit myself to a considered opinion.

End of term

Last weekend I went to the end of term ceremony - 'cloture' at Farida's school - Farida is the niece of my friend and neighbour Koro.

It was a lovely event - parents, mostly but not all women, many dressed up for the occasion, sitting on benches under a canopy, while the over-excited children performed a series of dances, a little play and even some poems in English. Lots of running around and giggling!

Farida is a good student and won a prize - she came second in her class, but was disappointed not to be first. Here she is with her certificate, and with her mother, auntie and friends.

On the Road

Last week the team very generously and courageously took me with them on an overnight trip to perform in 2 villages some way from Bobo. I think there was some concern before we left as to whether it was a good idea to take me - and how I would cope in the village with no electricity, water or mosquito nets... Anyway, we all agreed to give it a go, and I packed long sleeves, socks,mosquito repellent, a 'pagne'- universal item of women's clothing - and plenty of bottled water and some emergency biscuits.

Anyway, off we went, after the inevitable delay due to transport difficulties, in an old and overladen vehicle. The first stage of the journey along the tarmac road was fine - we proceeded gently, stopped a couple of times to buy snacks, and so on. When we left the tarmac, perhaps 25 kilometres out of Bobo, it was something else. The road was a red earth road, quite good quality for the first stretch, and with roadworkers improving it, but quite soon disintegrated into a rutted and puddled track, over which we averaged perhaps 20 kph (there are French milestones to help with these calculations. Some people blame the roadworkers for the lack of rain, which is needed at this time of year for the crops to grow - apparently to avoid rain, which holds them up, the roadworkers have made various sacrifices, which appear to have worked...


The original plan had been to perform in Padema on Wednesday, which is their market day, and the next village, Bangwali, on Thursday which is theirs. But because of the delays we arrived to late to perform in Padema before dark, so we had a look round their market, bought supplies, and installed ourselves. I had thought we would be sleeping out of doors, which some did, but we had the use of a 2 roomed building, not sure what it had been before, so we set ourselves up with a women's dorm (5 of us) and a men's (more of them but some slept outside). There were some dustsheet-type cloths on top of which we laid our pagnes and made ourselves comfortable using towels etc for pillows. Not very far from our building was the village well, where we drew water to cook and wash (none of our group drank that, I think) in a rubber bucket, and nearby was an enclosed, but open-roofed latrine and a couple of enclosures for washing.


We (I mean of course they) got a fire going, borrowed a big cooking pot, and set some rice to cook with a local flavouring of which I don't know the name.



As it got dark it was interesting to see how very dark it is in a village without electricity - a couple of households may have had diesel generators, but mainly it was paraffin lights and/or torches. Very dark, lovely stars... but given that it gets dark around 7 every night, that means that people are cooking and eating every night in the dark.... No wonder they get up at dawn.

I slept ok but woke up a bit stiff what with the concrete floor and the long journey the day before in cramped conditions; woken by cockerels and the sound of life getting going. We set off early to Bangwali, and played there, to a welcoming and friendly crowd. It was very noticeable that there are far more older people visible in the villages - whether this is because in town they stay within the courtyards, or there really are more older men and women in the villages, I don't know.

Then back to Padema, a bit of a rest, and we played again there - to a decent sized audience despite the lack of market. Then back on the road for the long trek home, with pauses for snacks, to tinker with the engine, etc -


In both villages the audience was appreciative, vocal, and engaged in lively debate in the 'forum' bit at the end of the play. The subjects were Malaria and Malnutrition.


The vehicle kept going until we reached Bobo, and finally stopped not far from where I live - so I walked home, while others waited for the mecanicien. I got a bit of a fright when I looked in the mirror - there were tide marks of dirt around my neck, and my hair looked like I had had a henna rise - there was so much red dust!

So I set about getting myself and everything I had with me clean, and was very grateful of my comfy bed! And slept very well. Quite a hard and uncomfortable couple of days, but a good chance to see typical village life.
I am glad I have good facilities here in Bobo, and think I was right not to put myself forward for anything too primitive - I am too old and unfit for squat toilets and drawing water from a well every day!

Tip of the iceberg..

... not a very useful metaphor here, so instead the hippopotamus is used as a model!
Last weekend I went to Banfora, popular tourist/holiday destination not very far from Bobo, about an hour and a half by coach. It was very nice to get away. Banfora itself is a small town much like other towns here, but is surrounded by beautiful and tranquil landscape and some tourist hot spots (by local standards).

There are the Cascades, a waterfall which is spectacular by local if not by international standards, and which provides some very pleasant natural swimming pools, where you can while away an afternoon swimming and watching others - locals and visitors - playing in the rock pool.

Followed by a tasty snack at the local McDo's..



And then there is the hippo lake, where you go out in a little wooden boat (pirogue) and if you are lucky, and go early enough in the morning, you can see hippos - first spotted as a pair of nostrils, but then, with luck heaving themselves in and out of the water. Great fun to watch, hard to catch with a pocket camera.



Lots of birds and trees which I cannot name but enjoyed seeing.


Nice relaxing weekend away, good to be out of town and in open country for a change.