Jan 8/04
Woke up to roosters this morning got Luanna some ear plugs & slept some more.  Woke up at 8:50.  Had breakfast and then waited for Luanna & Carmela and some others to come back from sending email.  Bus was there at 9.  At 10 most of the luggage was loaded & we were still waiting.  Finally left around 10:30.  Ouagau is sure a spread out town.  Driving is different here.  There are lots of moped & bycles.  When you pass them with oncomming traffic you blow the horn & mostly they get out of the way.  We stopped for a 30 min dinner break & to strech our legs.  Our driver pulled off the road & we ate our prepared sandwiches.  Most of us prepared our own in the morning.  Stopped later on for a nature call by the side of the road.  In Bobo we stopped for gas and to buy more water.  Our driver stopped at one place and we picked someone up and we went to a shell station & got gas & then he brought him back.  Ann's husband stopped in when we first in Bobo & introduced himself.  Ann take's care of the guest house we stayed at in Ouagau.  We drove about 430 km today and arrived at Paul & Lois shortly after 6.  We ate supper before 7 and visited some & then handed out everything that had been sent along with us.  We made many stops at various check points and our driver went to talk to the police & then we carried on  Oradara is at a higher elevation than Ouagau.   Close to 650' difference.  The highest elevation we reached was 1724'.  The country is very different from home.  Houses are mostly made of mud bricks.  Labour appears to be mostly by hand.  Saw one trencher & 1 cat today, both working.  Cotton was in big piles at a number of places, I assumed for sale.  Carmela was our tour guide for the day and our only way to communicate with our driver.  Everywhere we stopped people pressed in on us trying to sell something.  I experienced far to much to write it all down.  Have to go to bed.

This was our first morning in Burkina.  Almost like a motel, each couple with their own room.  We are just getting ready to pack our stuff on the bus.
We stopped just beside the road and under a tree for shade.  Regular picnic lunch.  The charter bus had A/C and it was nice for travelling.