the search continues...

I've just lost two consecutive attempts to post about our first few days in Burkina Faso. So now it's all dot-points only:

- people here are called 'Burkinabes' but Dave and I reckon that 'Burkinababes' is cuter

- it's Francophone; yay, much yummier food (couscous! yoghurt! palatable beer! no fufu!!!)

- it's very very poor, even compared to Benin (which is apparently 7th on the under-development list while BF is 6th); lots of beggers everywhere, we are constantly assailed in the street; but there are still the usual rich few with Mercedes.

- there's much more corruption than we've seen in other countries - numerous roadblocks where passengers have a whip-round to pay bribes; but strangely tourists are not expected to chip in.

We went to Gorom Gorom market on Wednesday and returned last night. It's in the far north-west, apparently the biggest market in the Western Sahara with Tauregs, Bellas, Fulanis etc making the trip there to sell livestock and other wares. I couldn't believe how dry it was (although that made the 50-degree heat relatively comfortable). Loads and loads of hassle to go on a camel trek into the dunes; photo opportunities were even more difficult than usual as the desert people are very camera-shy; bus broke down for 4 hours so it took more than 12 hours to get there (although the trip back was *much* better).