Long overdue - but here are the remaining photos from our trip in October
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| Mognori village tribal chief |
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| I always marvel at a scene such as this |
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| The first of several 'one-syllabal' towns on this trip |
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| Hard to tell, but this tro-tro is packed to the hilt; even the tailgate is open but bungie-tied down to 'hold-in' the riders' wares. |
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| more Boabab - Trav's favorite |
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| Good-bye Ghana |
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| Hello, Burkina Faso! |
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| standard gas station in Burkina (most vehicles in Burkina are mobilettes, doesn't take much to fill-er-up) |
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| humans, onions, grains...and cattle |
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| Bessie, er, Billy's goin' for a ride! |
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| Beautiful mosque in Bobo - love this style |
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| The Relax Hotel - aahhhhh. |
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| Cattle Crossing |
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| In Bama (the village of one of Trav's research sites). The women were sifting the rice. |
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| I got to join in the fun (work) - they said I was pretty good and could stay on to help them for a while. |
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| The village school in Bama, Burkina. The is 6th grade - 95 students. Try to find Rockwell - it's like a "Where's Waldo" game |
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| 2nd grade - total of 132 kids. The headmaster told Rockwell he could choose a girl and they would 'save' her for him to marry upon his return in a few years. He was not cool with that idea. |
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| Machete, sling-shot, what's next? |
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| empty market stalls in Bama. |
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| mud/straw huts, no electricity or running water - but happiness can thrive anyway |
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| So fun for me to see Trav in action - this is one of his research sites. We're interviewing one of the shop-keepers who supplies the nutritional supplement they're studying. |
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| Entering a market scene in rural Burkina |
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| Medicine man performing at the local market. He was vanquishing fetishes. At one point, in the dramatic performance, he sharpened a knife and used it to slice his tongue several times and scrape the blood off (using his front teeth) onto the fetish wand. The kids lost it when he started cutting his tongue, and ran off. |
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| Love the markets~ |
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| cotton pickers |
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| Who would have ever suspected that foosball (or baby-foot as they call it) would be popular here. There is at least one table in each village. The competition is pretty fierce. |
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| They're saying au revoir ~ |
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| Just when you think they can't fit one more thing..... |
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| They find a way. |
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| Top heavy? No, the entire back half of the truck is off-kelter, alignment is out of whack.. And yet, it stays upright (but for how long?). |
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| Pumpkins! Just in time for Halloween |
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| Trav's speeding ticket in Burkina. I wanted to take pic while he was out seated talking w/ the officers, but that would have been very bad form, and could have resulted in a heavier fine. |
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| You can't tell, but there is a family riding in the front of this stack. Father, mother and two children. Love it. |
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| Davis is not the only town that has bike lights! Ouagadougou has them, too! And for good reason...... |
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| You can't tell, but there are people on top. |
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| I could create a coffee table book w/ the pics I have like this. |
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| Is it only me, or does anyone else notice the baguettes? |
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| Rural Burkinabe taxi |
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| onions - 150kg bags stacked to the brim and then some |
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| monitor lizard crossing |
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| Bikes! |
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| another single syllable town |
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| The elephant ranch we chose not to go to - with grasses 10-12 feet high, we'd hit an elephant before we ever saw one. We'll save it for the spring. |
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| The hotel we stayed in. We arrived in the dark, not knowing if it was even functioning as a hotel anymore. They had to start the generators for us so we could see our way to our room. |
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| entrance to our room. We were grateful they turned on the lights so we weren't decapitated as we approached. |
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| South-central Burkina |
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| Northern Ghana - a former slave encampment. This is a re-enactment of how they would 'entertain' the captured slaves. Singing & dancing. |
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| Punishment Rock - if the slaves tried to run away, they woud be tied to this rock with their heads pointed to the sky (for the entire day. They would eventually go blind from staring at the sun, and perhaps lose a limb from the tightly-bound cords. |
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| The slaves would take their meals out of the holes in these rocks. |
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| Biking w/ bundles of sticks (heavy!) |
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| Climbing inside a large ficus tree |
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| Monkey sanctuary - they know what they're looking for and where it's usually found. I let the kids post the better pics of the monkey's on their blogs. |
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| Kintampo Falls |
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| The final Sunset - on our trip |