Ouagadou-dou-dou

Checked out of the hotel as early as we could and got to the main road, where we threw our stuff on the bus that was "leaving at 8am". We went and got some breakfast from an omlette stand (we do need our tea in the morning, us English!), and got back on the bus in plenty of time. Much to our surprise the bus did leave just after 8am - unlike every other form of transport we've got in Africa - "leaving now brother", "ten minutes" and so on.

Chickens galore got loaded on the roof, and inside the bus, and we pulled into Ouaga a few hours later. We got a taxi to a Catholic Mission, within the grounds of the cathedral, but they were full - possibly because of a massive convention. We walked a few blocks across to Hotel Yennenga, next to the old mosque, getting hassled along the way by more hawkers who wanted to show us their shop. Booked for three days (8400 CFA) as we had to get our Benin visa here in advance. After a hard couple of days travel, we pigged out a bit for lunch and had a burger and chips, but it wasn't too expensive. Also got some money out, before hailing a taxi to take us to the Benin embassy.

After a drive around the area, and our nice taxi driver going above-and-beyond, and going into the French embassy to ask on our behalf, we discovered that there was not a Benin embassy in Ouaga. Could cause a bit of a problem, trying to get the visa on the border, but we couldn't get it anywhere else. We tipped the taxi driver and got taken back to the hotel. On the way we passed a supermarket (first one we've seen since the UK!) and so headed in to splash out on some luxuries. I got a cold, cold Heineken and a bar of cooking chocolate - so goooooood - and everyone else also got a few items. That night we also went to a Chinese restaurant, which was okay, but far better was the street food in later nights. But it was nice to have a break from chicken and chips, spaghetti or riz gras.

The next day I spent a lot of the day on the Internet, catching up on a backlog of the blog, while the other guys went around Ouaga, saw a few museums, and checked out some shops to get some souvenirs. Bit of a shame we couldn't buy things there, but we still had 8 weeks left to carry anything unless we sent it home. On a side note, Dree somehow locked himself in the toilet and had to climb out.

One of the best things about Ouaga was the street food - stews, brochettes/kebabs, sandwiches, soups, rice, veg and sauce - all really good food for almost nothing; about 10p a brochette, or one pound for a good-sized sandwich. We ate from these stalls most nights, to keep costs down to begin with, but after the first time because it was really tasty! Looking forward to more good food in Burkina.