On The Road Again

So I'm back in Ouahigouya for the night. I biked in this morning for the fourth day in a row, and my butt is beginning to hurt. Luckily, I won't be needing a bike for nearly a week. I am going on what PC calls a ¨demystification visit.¨ Basically, we go in small groups to crash at another PCV house for a few days to see what life is really like for them. I will be staying with a volunteer southwest of Ouaga. I am excited to finally experience a tad (martin, inside joke) of how I might be living for the next two years, and it will be great to get some new foods. I haven't had a piece of meat since I arrived in village. I'm craving some chicken. We got a sheep as a gift from the chief of Ouahigouya, and he's looking pretty tasty right about now. But we named him Turkey because we are planning on eating him for Thanksgiving. C'est la vie!

Just a side note about money here, while I think about it. Money goes a long way here as you can imagine. When we first got here, we were given 9,000 CFA to last two weeks. That's about $18, FYI (500 CFA = $1). In village there is not a lot to spend it on, but in town there are plenty of restaurants, boutiques, and the market. To give you an idea, a bottle of Coke or Fanta usually costs 300 to 350 CFA (about $0.65). My meals usually cost about the same, between 300 and 400 CFA. I just bought a plug adapter for 300 CFA. I bought a bag of sugared peanuts this morning for 25 CFA (about $0.05). Fruit, like apples or bananas, is usually 100 or so CFA ($0.20). So yeah, the money is good. Toilet paper comes in packages of two for 500 CFA ($1). The only problem is that nobody can ever exchange large bills (by large I mean more than $4 or so), so carrying coins is your best bet here.

Anyway, we have to be at the bus station at 5:30am tomorrow for Ouaga, so it will be an early morning for me. And from what I've learned about Burkinabe public transportation, it should be an interesting trip. I'll probably update again next week when I make it back to town. Hope all is well in the States and talk to you all soon. Bon nuit!