“The Last Picture Show” (Scenes from Ouahigouya)

Picture it - Christmas Eve 2008 – Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso. If you’ve been following this blog, you can probably guess where the crowd congregated on the eve of the eve of our departure from Ouahigouya.....

If you guessed Le Pandore, or “The Field Bar” as we affectionately call it (due to its proximity to a soccer field), you are right, and we are unfortunately that predictable. However, a new star emerged in the East, not unlike a certain other story of Christmas Eve… But this new star did not signal our savior but rather a chiot named Justice! Isaiah, our favorite Pandore employee, got a new puppy and we all got to take turns holding and loving it.

------------------------------

On Christmas Day, our last day together before getting shipped off to our permanent sites, we had both Secret Santa and White Elephant gift exchanges. Voilà the action shots... I have excluded the tear laden shots from White Elephant, aka Nasty Christmas, as it got a little dirty (and MIF-kit-y).

------------------------------

These lovely models are Ilana and Erik, showing off our class’s Peace Corps t-shirts. I designed the front of the blue shirt and Erik designed the back. Kat designed the red one.
------------------------------





Christmas dinner was at Hotel Dunia, where we had a very expensive Lebanese feast ($7 per plate!!). It wasn’t as good as Reef Café in Allston, but now I have at least one reason to return to the States.

------------------------------





As you might expect – one more stop at the Field Bar before heading out of town (and one more cuddle with Justice).

------------------------------

The bus ride from Ouahigouya to Bobo-Dioulasso was 9 hours of reading, napping and general uneventful-ness, for which I was grateful. I took some shots from the bus window of vistas that are now pedestrian to me but may be interesting to those unfamiliar with Western Africa. The bus driver delightfully included the following music on the soundtrack for the roadtrip: reggae version of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Celine Dion (French and English), Akon.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!