Masks and More

Welcome to the new home of my blog.

A few weeks ago a bunch of friends and I went to an international mask and artisans' festival in Dedougou, my regional capital. There were about 20 of us, and we had a great time. We saw masks from all over West Africa- including Burkina, Togo, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and Mali. "Masks" doesn't really do justice to the get-ups worn by the performers. They are more like full body costumes made from dried and live plants and elaborately painted. I have no idea how the performers got into the costumes, or for that matter how they survived on what was undoubtedly one of the hottest weekends of the year so far. You'll have to check out the pictures. It is also kind of amazing how so many people from around the continent could manage to arrive in Dedougou, a small and difficult-to-get-to city in Burkina. A few of the gang stayed at my place on Thursday night before the festival, and we were treated to a soccer match between the 6th and 8th graders as well as some delicious chicken.

We're on spring break right now, and last week a few friends and I took a little trip down south to check out Sindou Peaks. The peaks are a series of neat rock formations, and we spent a few days camping, biking and hiking. According to our guide, the Peaks are part of the same rock formations that run up Cote d'Ivoire, through Burkina Faso, and into Mali's Dogon Country. It's unbelievable how different the landscape is in southern Burkina: trees and greenery everywhere, hills...and cool weather. I woke up one morning around 4am too cold to sleep. (You don't want to know what temperature it was. What am I going to do next winter in Minnesota?) It was quite a good trip, despite a 2 hour bike-ride up the hills on the wrong road. Oops. Guess we'll have to come back another time to see Addy's village.

The second trimester at school finished well, though the students may not have thought so. All the teachers were really tough on them, so the grades were pretty low. It's OK though; we'll let up a bit the third trimester, and everyone will be happy at the end of the year. Which is in five or six weeks. Every year it amazes me how short the third trimester is- this year five and a half weeks. Yikes! Then I'm done with Peace Corps. My last day as a volunteer in June 24. After that I hope to travel around West Africa a bit and be back in America sometime in August or September. Anyone know of any good jobs opening up? Haha.

Hope all is well. Happy Easter!