Back "Home" in Burkina Part I

Here you go faithful readers. I'm going to do this one in two installments hope you enjoy Part 1.

So I’m back from Ghana. All in all I’d say it was a decent vacation. I hope to do it once again sometime but on a real vacation budget versus the Peace Corps one I had. The total cost for the vacation from my porch in Dori and back again with all expenses was only $250 dollars for 11 days. That gives you an idea of how cheap Ghana can be. Here’s a breakdown of my costs.

Ghanaian Visa: $25
Round Trip Cost of Bush Taxi’s : $50
Average Hotel Room Cost Per Night: $5
Average Meal: $0.75
Passing for an African: priceless

You gotta forgive me for that, I just couldn’t resist…it may be an old joke depending on whether or not Mastercard still runs that same advertising campaign, but cut me some slack it has been two years since I’ve seen an American commercial.

The vacation was good and I just realized that it was the first time that I had been in an Anglophone country since I left the states. Also during my service I went to Mali (which is like Burkina Faso Part II, like most sequels it’s bigger with more action but not necessarily better) and La France, deux pays francophone. So being back in an English world was kinda weird. In my mind due to my limited experience in BF, conceptually Africa was French speaking. In any case, I saw commonalities in both countries that goes back to pre-colonial Africa, and I also saw differences as a result of the different approaches the British and the French took that came from their respective cultures. In any case I would say Burkina is about 15 years behind Ghana on the road to development.

Interacting with people was a surprising challenge. If I were to have talked normally I wouldn’t have been understood. Consequently I had to speak with the elocution of a computer voice (slow, clearly annunciated, and monotone). Furthermore, I had to go through the same thought process as if I were talking in French. Let me explain. Generally to speak with someone in BF you take a look at them and guess their education level (i.e. villager, farmer, merchant, school teacher) based on their how they are dressed, method of transportation, the situation, etc. Then from there you base your French on that. You can’t use the same level across the board because you won’t be understood by everyone. Unless you use the “villager’s level” but an educated person would think that you were really stupid or couldn’t speak French that well. So basically you have to feel a person out and adjust your grammar and vocab as the conversation goes on until you find an “equilibrium of language levels.” I feel well educated Burkinabé or the French (someone who has mastered the language) do the same thing when talking to me, a non-native speaker. So basically in Ghana I had to do all that with English in order to ask directions, buy food, and bargain.

Quick Highlights of what I saw and did

1. The Beach. I spent half a week getting re-acclimated with the other side my old friend, the Atlantic Ocean.

2. Ate Pizza. France and her former colonies consider thin crust pizza the only kind of pizza. I prefer something other than a glorified version of crackers and cheese and took full advantage of having real pizza available.

3. Met other travelers. There was a British couple that was in the middle of a Tran African trip from the U.K. to South Africa by car in a 6 months.

4. Slave Castles. Saw the two oldest ,biggest and most prominent slave castles on the African coast (slightly harrowing experience). Because of the mixed lineage of African tribes and slave masters families I can’t trace my roots precisely but in any case it’s from those castles where les noirs made their way to the New World.

5. Rainforest Canopy Walk. I walked on a suspended plant of wood high in the canopy of the Ghanaian rainforest. I didn’t see any animals as they are mostly nocturnal but it was exhilarating being high off the ground on a small plank of wood supported by ropes on the tree tops.

Next week I'll post what is was like passing for an African in Ghana stay tuned...