Just got back from a few days in the village with Josh and Melissa. Josh got a chance to reconnect with friends there, and Melissa got to experience squat toilets, geckos on the walls, eating porridge, sauce, and meat with bare hands, and a Kusassi church service. I’m not sure she appreciated the first two items in the list, but I think she enjoyed with the last two :)

We also visited the Nazinga Game Reserve, doing a tour in late afternoon of one day, and another the following morning. We saw several varieties of antelope, a couple of crocodiles, some warthogs, baboons, and elephants. One troop of elephants even crossed the road right in front of us. When we began to drive forward again, the two largest males turned and charged our truck because they sensed us as a threat. Fortunately, they stopped well short after I took the hint and quickly came to a halt (no sense trying to accelerate on the dirt road because they would charge and outrun us before we could get up enough speed to escape!).

Prior to returning to Ouaga, we made a quick detour down to the border of Ghana. There, we could park our truck on the Burkina side, leave our passports with the Ghanaian immigration officials, and walk across the border to have some lunch in a Ghanaian restaurant. Of course, to pay for the meal, we had to exchange Burkina francs for Ghanaian cedis with the local, ambulant moneychangers, always a challenge when you have no idea what the current exchange rate is! But I think we did okay :)

We came back to Ouaga late yesterday afternoon, tired but content with our trip. What Kathy & I appreciated most was being able to sleep in our own bed again!

Tonight is New Year’s Eve. Josh & Melissa have gone into town on the moto to buy some fireworks to help bring in the New Year in proper Burkina style. We wish you all a very Happy New Year 2009!