would a rose, by any other name, smell as sweet? certainly yes. would ouagadougou, by any other name, be so enchanting? presumably not. ouagadougou (wah-guh-doo-goo). the city that sounds like it adorns a lakeside catskills sleepaway camp for privileged manhattan debutantes. the city that sounds like it was carved in steel using the world's sharpest ulu, then marinated in whiskey and branded onto a lion's ass. ouagadougou. for fun, say it in rapid succession to the tune of the theme from the twilight zone (ouagadougououagadougououagadougououagadougou...)
and though the actual city cannot live up to its name (but really, how could it?), i must give it its due for being a pleasant place, especially by african standards. ouagadougou is characterized (by me, and in less than 24 hours of being here) by being fairly spread out yet easily navigable by one's two feet. there is a bustle, and while hubbub in african cities can be overwhelming to say the
least, here it is endearing in the same way as the neighbor kids in a water balloon fight on the fourth of july: it's great for the occasion but best not as a permanent presence.among its ornaments: numerous bars with ample outdoor seating, wide lanes for traffic, fairly modern buildings, people in all directions with most indifferent to your presence, streets named for the who's who of communist heroes, and wonderful restaurants. i just came from a well-deserved pizza at an italian restaurant lauded by expats, figuring that after a month of rice and fish, rice and meat, couscous and fish, etc., i needed a little thin-crusted western treat. the only downside to the tourist-frequented restaurant was having to steer past the artisans shouting 'ey bro-dere' on the way out, but i've pretty much become inured to that already.
day 2 addendum
the thought of more comfort food and the need for a benin visa has kept me in ouaga
dougou an extra day, giving me a little more time to form a better impression. here are two: 1) there is more or less not one single photogenic corner/nook/cranny/monument in this entire city, yet the whole thing is visually appealing, and 2) years ago a building in the center of town burned to the ground, giving somebody the idea to raze the entire city center and create 'the next wall street of africa'. it is fascinating to walk through the pair of square kilometers in the heart of this city and see only sporadic buildings and the constant presence of litter.silver lining to the most painful three-hour bus ride i've ever endured...
i'm pretty sure they were locusts. at one of our numerous stops on the trip between ouahigouya and ouagadougou, the sky was full of winged insects flying in the opposite direction of our travel. the splatters on the windshield, though a bit far from my seat in the back, seemed to verify this. it was obvious that some sort of counter-measure is fire, as we saw numerous roadside fires with several people gathered around. for the next 100 kilometers, we passed through the dark countryside, with several fires and silhouettes near and far on both sides of the road until we reached the city limits.
a most splendid, pleasant scene
today, i walked into the ghanian embassy to pick up my visa for onward travel. i sat on the couch as the family in front of me, a british gentleman, his burkinabé bride and child, were sorting matters out about their own visas with the secretary. the man was incensed that he would have to pay the 15,000 cfa fee for his visa, and verbally tore into the kind secretary. she went to a back room to fetch her boss, who came out and told the surly brit 'what is your problem? you will either shut up or i will revoke your visa.' the man humbly paid the fee for his visa, then mumbled under his breath about the article he was going to post on the internet about how the ghanian embassy in ouagadougou is 'racist' and 'corrupt'. i'm sure this has already hit the airwaves back home.
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