lozko peuhl/fula. lepsze niz cokolwiek, w czym spalam
monday market in djenne27 August 2008
25 August 2008
mali a fond!!!
just a couple of words cause mali is just too beautiful to let you spend too much time in an internet cafe :)
after having picked up karolina from the airport in bamako, we've visited a bit the capital /beautiful market, amazing musee nationale de mali, good food and a bit of rain/ and then hit the road to segou /BEAUTIFUL little town on the bank of Niger, rainbow, cool young guys wanting to show you around and a lot of older guys that can make you want to leave the town immidately/.
then, after a 6h-long minibus ride (it was supposed to be 3...) we've arrived to Djenne, a bit afraid that we'll just join a huge mass of tourists coming to the monday market. suprisingly, there are hardly any tourists and Djenne is just stunningly beautiful, quiet, all in clay buildings (including the famous mosque) and there are the best 'ciupy' players ever :)
after having picked up karolina from the airport in bamako, we've visited a bit the capital /beautiful market, amazing musee nationale de mali, good food and a bit of rain/ and then hit the road to segou /BEAUTIFUL little town on the bank of Niger, rainbow, cool young guys wanting to show you around and a lot of older guys that can make you want to leave the town immidately/.
then, after a 6h-long minibus ride (it was supposed to be 3...) we've arrived to Djenne, a bit afraid that we'll just join a huge mass of tourists coming to the monday market. suprisingly, there are hardly any tourists and Djenne is just stunningly beautiful, quiet, all in clay buildings (including the famous mosque) and there are the best 'ciupy' players ever :)
21 August 2008
koudougou - segou. it's the rainy season and the rain is coming. after it rains, this "pont" won't be crossable anymore. burkina is really green at this time of the year.
can you see what's on the picture. i can't... but it should be the guardian of the sacred lake pulling a crocodile out of the water, pulling it out by the tail!!!
fete des masques. the masks dance at the chief's funeral ceremony. kibidwe. quartier animiste
lot's of people play babyfoot here. kibidwe, the old town of bobo-dioulasso
fried caterpillars. yummy... and a good way for the local kids to scare newcomersrunning for some shade
hey. just a couple of words, since i had to hide in a cybercafe. it's so INCREDIBLY hot and dusty here, in bamako (the capital of mali). actually, it was only 27 centigrades when i was leaving the catholic mission where i checked in this morning (after a horrible night in not-quite-a-room in one cheap hotel...).
Bamako is a love from the first sight, but a challenging one. last evening was wonderful - only a couple of hours but enought for a short walk and some discoveries:
...cinema vox is closed officialy and unofficialy they're showing the "x" movies (porns...) in the evenings
...there's a great lottery, explained by Assou. keep your fingers crossed - maybe i'll be rich by tonight ;)
...'duru' means 5 in bambara, the local language, but it means also 25fCFA, which means that they count francs by 5. in benin they count them by 25. interesting
...one evening in bamako was enough to meet one girl from holland, two senegalease, one basque (how do you spell it???) and a couple of maliens, of course...
but after an intense cultural week (cinema in ouagadougou, theatre populaire in koudougou, fete des masques and malinke music concert in bobo-dioulasso), i'm a bit tired. and the buzz of bamako is definately a challenge, even for me - the fan of big cities...
ok, i'm going out on the streets again. wish me luck
Bamako is a love from the first sight, but a challenging one. last evening was wonderful - only a couple of hours but enought for a short walk and some discoveries:
...cinema vox is closed officialy and unofficialy they're showing the "x" movies (porns...) in the evenings
...there's a great lottery, explained by Assou. keep your fingers crossed - maybe i'll be rich by tonight ;)
...'duru' means 5 in bambara, the local language, but it means also 25fCFA, which means that they count francs by 5. in benin they count them by 25. interesting
...one evening in bamako was enough to meet one girl from holland, two senegalease, one basque (how do you spell it???) and a couple of maliens, of course...
but after an intense cultural week (cinema in ouagadougou, theatre populaire in koudougou, fete des masques and malinke music concert in bobo-dioulasso), i'm a bit tired. and the buzz of bamako is definately a challenge, even for me - the fan of big cities...
ok, i'm going out on the streets again. wish me luck
19 August 2008
not possible
it's just not possible to post any photos here... i've tried hard, but nimeshindwa...
so i'll just let you know, that i'm still alive and happy. i've had some good time in ouaga and koudougou with the glennies and i'm absolutely loving bobo-dioulasso. tomorrow to bamako to meet karolka!!!
so i'll just let you know, that i'm still alive and happy. i've had some good time in ouaga and koudougou with the glennies and i'm absolutely loving bobo-dioulasso. tomorrow to bamako to meet karolka!!!
14 August 2008
abomey was great till the end. i've spend a lot of time talking to a local radio dj then to mr 'la lutta' and his brother and then even more to morvan (who's working for a german development agency in abomey).
abomey's colors. the bottles on the left it's the
illegal petrol from nigeria (0.5 euro per a small bottle)
tanguieta. our beautiful "9 places3 (even though we were 12...).
and a mosque, since the north of benin is mostly muslim
what i've learnt:
...the seson for mangos in abomey is now over...:(
...yayi boni has good ideas but never finishes anything
...the government's solution to the food crisis is ridiculus - they order everyone to sell their crops to the government and then they sell it at an even higher price...
...benin's two biggest problems are poverty and sorcellery
...voudun makes it sometimes really hard to have good contact with people
...in cote d'ivoire people are much more open than here
...it takes a lot of patience and resistance to frustration to work in development in benin
...and many more...
then i went up north - to nattitengu, the weirdest of towns
...there are regional specialities: near allada - there are pleny pineapple sellers, near dassa it's gari (ground cassava)
...atacora mountains are BEAUTIFUL
...there are huge rice containers in natti - leftovers from a development project. the project ended and nobody is taking care of the containtrs anymore. what's with the ODA quality, huh?
then the most frustrating day of my life (13 aug), overnight at the border of burkina and benin (in the middle of nowhere) and i'm safe and sound in ouagadougou
...the seson for mangos in abomey is now over...:(
...yayi boni has good ideas but never finishes anything
...the government's solution to the food crisis is ridiculus - they order everyone to sell their crops to the government and then they sell it at an even higher price...
...benin's two biggest problems are poverty and sorcellery
...voudun makes it sometimes really hard to have good contact with people
...in cote d'ivoire people are much more open than here
...it takes a lot of patience and resistance to frustration to work in development in benin
...and many more...
then i went up north - to nattitengu, the weirdest of towns
...there are regional specialities: near allada - there are pleny pineapple sellers, near dassa it's gari (ground cassava)
...atacora mountains are BEAUTIFUL
...there are huge rice containers in natti - leftovers from a development project. the project ended and nobody is taking care of the containtrs anymore. what's with the ODA quality, huh?
then the most frustrating day of my life (13 aug), overnight at the border of burkina and benin (in the middle of nowhere) and i'm safe and sound in ouagadougou
abomey's colors. the bottles on the left it's theillegal petrol from nigeria (0.5 euro per a small bottle)
tanguieta. our beautiful "9 places3 (even though we were 12...).and a mosque, since the north of benin is mostly muslim
ouagadougou. the capital of african cinema.
and cinema oubri in the capital ;)
and cinema oubri in the capital ;)
11 August 2008
abomey
it's been an intense day-and-a half in abomey :) a few snapshots:
... it's MUCH smaller, cleaner and quieter than cotonou (110 000, not 800 000)...
... in abomey you can visit the palaces of the last kings of abomey (the last of the kingdoms in this region - still in power in the XIX century). there are also many temples listed on the must-see list, but what i find much more interesting are many other, small temples build between people's houses with paintings often copied from the big, official ones. there are still fetiches and sacrifices inside
... you get to here 'yovo' ('white') way more often than in cotonou. it's true - i haven't seen many around. you can see how it looks like here ;)
... the market is full of onions, tomatoes and piment. there is also wonderful bread from the bakery at the market - you don't get to see the food crisis too much. only the bread is much smaller than it was two years ago. there are also grapefruits that pretend to be oranges!!! scandal!!!!
... there are many more muslims, even though it's only a bit more north than cotonou...
... there is always a problem with change. everyone knows it here...
... i'm totally immersed in 'everything is illuminated'. i could just keep reading all day long... it gives me strange dream though (like the one where paul banks from interpol was a superhero...), especially in the auberge la lutta, where voudun dolls hang from the walls and lizards trot on the roof all night long
now i'm waiting for morvan. he'll be here in a couple of hours. and then i'm going north. bamako's calling :)
... it's MUCH smaller, cleaner and quieter than cotonou (110 000, not 800 000)...
... in abomey you can visit the palaces of the last kings of abomey (the last of the kingdoms in this region - still in power in the XIX century). there are also many temples listed on the must-see list, but what i find much more interesting are many other, small temples build between people's houses with paintings often copied from the big, official ones. there are still fetiches and sacrifices inside
... you get to here 'yovo' ('white') way more often than in cotonou. it's true - i haven't seen many around. you can see how it looks like here ;)
... the market is full of onions, tomatoes and piment. there is also wonderful bread from the bakery at the market - you don't get to see the food crisis too much. only the bread is much smaller than it was two years ago. there are also grapefruits that pretend to be oranges!!! scandal!!!!
... there are many more muslims, even though it's only a bit more north than cotonou...
... there is always a problem with change. everyone knows it here...
... i'm totally immersed in 'everything is illuminated'. i could just keep reading all day long... it gives me strange dream though (like the one where paul banks from interpol was a superhero...), especially in the auberge la lutta, where voudun dolls hang from the walls and lizards trot on the roof all night long
now i'm waiting for morvan. he'll be here in a couple of hours. and then i'm going north. bamako's calling :)
09 August 2008
huh!!!!
finally!!! i feel sooooo goooood :) maybe it's because i have finally left cotonou - great but extremely tiring. i have said re-goodbye to my friends and i'm off up north!!! light at heart and ready to explore!!
latest news!! there was a military coup d'etat in mauretania!!! should i still try to go there???
time to explain what i've been up to the last days ;)
latest news!! there was a military coup d'etat in mauretania!!! should i still try to go there???
time to explain what i've been up to the last days ;)
the farm. now you can take a boat ride in that tiny corridor
fish market in calavi, near lac nokue. beautifull!!!!
what i love all around the world :) this one says 'Moussa is the best! Republic of Benin'
a white girl teaching an african boy to count? WRONG! Brilliant I. teaches A. how to solve sudoku puzzles :)never enough time.... :/
small things
it's hard to keep up with what's going on in here, even though i have a feeling that everything that i try to do takes AGES... ;)
i'll be leaving abomey-calavi quite soon and will continue north - to abomey, then maybe to niger, maybe straight through burkina to mali. i'll see. any ideas for the route?
oh... i got to go! i'll put some picts and more stories later....
i'll be leaving abomey-calavi quite soon and will continue north - to abomey, then maybe to niger, maybe straight through burkina to mali. i'll see. any ideas for the route?
oh... i got to go! i'll put some picts and more stories later....
06 August 2008
la retrouvaille
what should i write about? it's funny but since not many things have changed in benin since my last visit, nothing seems interesting enough to write about.
i could write about:
>> friends graduating from the university and taking on new challenges
>> children growing up, becoming more and more responsible and helping out their parents a lot
>> frisbee, joggling and polish sweets that have found their place forever in the beninese culture :)
>> regional globalisation of benin (regionalisation?:)). some time ago attcheque could only be found in rare ivoirien food stands. now it's everywhere and so are other products from all around west africa. now you don't have to go to ghana or other places to find ghanian food and clothes.
>> roadworks - hopefull but extremely slow and annoying.
>> private initiatives, like the one of people fixing local dirt roads: anyone can fix a large hole in the road by putting there a heap of trash. then he'd block the road with a rope and collect donation from those who want to pass. it's a brilliant example of self-employment (in the country where 90% of people are working in informal sector) and working for the community. the only problem is that it doesn't guarantee the quality of work nor enough revenue for the worker
>> the beauty of porto-novo. uncomparable to cotonou - quiet, beautiful and relaxed.
>> brilliance of songhai, the educational farm in porto-novo. they develop easy sollutions for agriculture, animal farming and production that can be adopted with very few resources. it's criticised for being too commercial but i have lots of respect for them anyway
... but i won't write about it. the most important thing for me is now drinking youkki with my friends and cathing up on their lives :)
i could write about:
>> friends graduating from the university and taking on new challenges
>> children growing up, becoming more and more responsible and helping out their parents a lot
>> frisbee, joggling and polish sweets that have found their place forever in the beninese culture :)
>> regional globalisation of benin (regionalisation?:)). some time ago attcheque could only be found in rare ivoirien food stands. now it's everywhere and so are other products from all around west africa. now you don't have to go to ghana or other places to find ghanian food and clothes.
>> roadworks - hopefull but extremely slow and annoying.
>> private initiatives, like the one of people fixing local dirt roads: anyone can fix a large hole in the road by putting there a heap of trash. then he'd block the road with a rope and collect donation from those who want to pass. it's a brilliant example of self-employment (in the country where 90% of people are working in informal sector) and working for the community. the only problem is that it doesn't guarantee the quality of work nor enough revenue for the worker
>> the beauty of porto-novo. uncomparable to cotonou - quiet, beautiful and relaxed.
>> brilliance of songhai, the educational farm in porto-novo. they develop easy sollutions for agriculture, animal farming and production that can be adopted with very few resources. it's criticised for being too commercial but i have lots of respect for them anyway
... but i won't write about it. the most important thing for me is now drinking youkki with my friends and cathing up on their lives :)
03 August 2008
le changement
i'm there: safe, sound and happier than ever!!!
my luggage is lost somwhere between tripolis and cotonou but it doesn't bother me much. it seems that a tshirt, a pair of pants and lots of people that you love is quite enough for a good life :) i wouldn't even mind my backpack being lost forever if it wasn't for some gifts that i have for the people here and for the camera cable (for now there'll be no pictures)
what's new in benin?
- "le changement" - the new politics brought by Yayi Boni, the president who's been in power for the last 2,5 years has brought mostly road works. people say that he's the president of a construction site ('president du chantier'). they're quite happy with him although thay say that's it kind of a hard period now with the food crisis
- credi-ong hasn't changed much except for the farm that has developped a LOT - now it's really beautifully organized and well managed. wait for the pictures
- probably a lot more has changed... give me some time to really see it :)
what has not changed are the smells, the wonderful people that i've missed so much, the beauty of lamplights in the evenings, the terrifying buzz of dantokpa (west africa's biggest marketplace), the seemingly chaotic traffic of cotonou, zemijeans' (taxi-moto) yellow shirts
now i'm catching up on my friends' lives and trying to figure out what i really want from this journey.....
**** BONUS ****
globalisation a la beninoise
* Iesous (app. 12 years old beninese) teaches Angelique (29, francaise) how to solve sudokus
* Martial (beninese) sings '100 lat, 100 lat' ('happy birthday' in polish) for Nono's birthday
* Damien (french) and Leon (beninese) plant (with a lot of success) vietnamese beans in the farm's fertile soil
* Kasia (polish;)) buys at Dantokpa (benin) a tissue (made in...?) printed all over with Saint Mary (international;)) and inscriptions in swahili (tanzania, kenya, congo...)!!!!!!
i love life so much ;)
my luggage is lost somwhere between tripolis and cotonou but it doesn't bother me much. it seems that a tshirt, a pair of pants and lots of people that you love is quite enough for a good life :) i wouldn't even mind my backpack being lost forever if it wasn't for some gifts that i have for the people here and for the camera cable (for now there'll be no pictures)
what's new in benin?
- "le changement" - the new politics brought by Yayi Boni, the president who's been in power for the last 2,5 years has brought mostly road works. people say that he's the president of a construction site ('president du chantier'). they're quite happy with him although thay say that's it kind of a hard period now with the food crisis
- credi-ong hasn't changed much except for the farm that has developped a LOT - now it's really beautifully organized and well managed. wait for the pictures
- probably a lot more has changed... give me some time to really see it :)
what has not changed are the smells, the wonderful people that i've missed so much, the beauty of lamplights in the evenings, the terrifying buzz of dantokpa (west africa's biggest marketplace), the seemingly chaotic traffic of cotonou, zemijeans' (taxi-moto) yellow shirts
now i'm catching up on my friends' lives and trying to figure out what i really want from this journey.....
**** BONUS ****
globalisation a la beninoise
* Iesous (app. 12 years old beninese) teaches Angelique (29, francaise) how to solve sudokus
* Martial (beninese) sings '100 lat, 100 lat' ('happy birthday' in polish) for Nono's birthday
* Damien (french) and Leon (beninese) plant (with a lot of success) vietnamese beans in the farm's fertile soil
* Kasia (polish;)) buys at Dantokpa (benin) a tissue (made in...?) printed all over with Saint Mary (international;)) and inscriptions in swahili (tanzania, kenya, congo...)!!!!!!
i love life so much ;)
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