Transportation in Burkina is Really Fun…

Have you ever been in a taxi or a bus with no break pads, one that has run out of gas in the middle of the road, one that has broken down on the side of the road for 13 hours, or one that has left 6 hours late for no apparent reason? All of these things have happened to me here at least once, and some on multiple occasions.

I have two methods of transport: my bicycle and public transport. My bike I use on a daily basis to do everything in close proximity, which includes rolling (literally) up to school to teach while I’m hot, sweaty, covered in dirt, and don’t forget my helmet. Although this is a pain, and I’ve had my share, or more than my share, of bicycle accidents, this is the preferable method when possible because the other option is public transport.

Public transport… how do I even start to describe it? When you step into the bus station, which is literally an empty, dusty, dirty lot with a latrine if I’m lucky, you have no idea what lies ahead of you. I have been on plenty of trips that went off without a problem, and I have been on a lot of trips that make me never want to leave my house again.



Public transport comes in two types: somewhat reliable buses, or bush taxis. Now, I’ve had my share of ‘fun experiences’ in the reliable buses, including have the door fly off on the highway, the tire fall off, and having a baby poop in a cup next to me. Once, after a much anticipated departure, the bus pulled out into the road, then immediately broke down horizontally across the road blocking the entire thing.

But the real fun starts with the bush taxis. They cars they used change on a daily basis, so it’s all luck of the draw what car you get. Sometimes you get a ‘good’ one with real seats and all the windows. Sometimes you get the bad ones where you sit on crates, and there are holes big enough in the ground that a baby could fall through. One of my favorite times was sitting behind the driver, who had no seat (see picture below). He was sitting on the metal part that one would normally hook a seat on. Then, as we prepare to take off, he starts the car by hot wiring it. Almost every bush taxi I’ve ever been in has to be pushed by a few people to get it started.





No matter what type of transport you get, two things will always be the same. One… they will always pack in at least double the amount of people than the car should normally hold. And two… they will pack any luggage, no matter of the size. This includes any amount of motorcycles and bicycles, any living animal you can imagine, or even a car (which I actually saw once). Often times, the crap piled on top of the car is at least 2-3 times higher than the height of the actual car. Thank god the cars are so crappy that they can’t go very fast.





After living here for a year and a half, almost nothing surprises me about transportation anymore. But, I must admit that funniest part of all this is imagine my parents doing transport here. They are planning on visiting here, and I can’t wait to put them on public transportation. The thought of them cramming into a car like cattle, or holding some woman’s baby who’s peeing on you, or having a chicken flapping around at their feet… priceless.

Fishing & Hiking

A few weeks ago, I took a nice trip away from my busy city life into “the brousse” (AKA the middle of no where) to visit another volunteer’s site. Despite its close proximity to me, it took a whopping 11 hours to cover the 90 kilometer distance. The road is bad… to put it nicely. But on the other side of the 11 hour trip was the gorgeous Burkina landscape.

Most of the weekend was spent relaxing and taking in the beautiful scenery. With a backdrop like something out of ‘The Lion King’ how could you not enjoy it? The two highlights of the trip included me fishing and a trip out to one of Burkina’s lesser known tourist attractions.

I have to say, if I was a Burkinabe man, I would choose fishing as my occupation. The one hour I spent out on the lake collecting the fish was a most serene and peaceful experience. I’m saying this because I wasn’t the one who had to spend the energy paddling me across the lake and scooping buckets of water out of the boat. I’m sure his job was less relaxing than mine.



The fishing experience started with the fisherman taking me to his boat, which looked like something a boy scout would’ve made, and was half drowning before I even got in it. Anyway, then we headed out into the middle of the lake where he set up large nets spanning the distance of the lake. We (and by we, I mean he) would pull the boat by the net, and at the same time, lifting the nets out of the water to see if any fish were caught in them. There were four nets, which were set up in a square around the lake. In only an hour’s time, we caught 6 pretty big fish! Then, afterwards, the fisherman, thanking me for all of my ‘help’ gave me 4 of the fish for free! Needless to say, after de-scaling them and gutting them, they were delicious!





The next day after fishing, we biked out to a small village at the base of cliffs. In the 60’s in these cliffs, the people used to live in small mud huts, some of which are still there today.



This is a picture of the inside of the king’s house. There are two “rooms”, which housed a total of 8 people!