Here I am - in another African country - Burkina Faso. All on my own... Because Rebekah went her own way towards the desert in northern Mali in search of her Tuareg and I haven't heard from her since. Who knows, she might be married to a turbaned husband right now (I just hope she received enough camles). I was also heartbroken to say goodbye to Kati who took a plane from here, Oagadougu, first to Marocco where she's spending a couple of days, and then home, that is New York and soon Ecuador where she lives when she's not travelling.

So I'm on my own again, but have to admit, I am lucky with meeting exceptionally interesting people along my way, especially other travelling solo girls, though I don't think there's that many of them around here. At the festival in Segou we met another one - Agnes from France, who travels with her home-truck and does the coolest thing I've ever heard of - in small African villages she sets up a bouncy castle stolen from McDonalds' in Europe. She decided it will be more useful and bring more joy and happiness here. She also projects movies on the white wall of her truck - I guess in villages with no electricity that must be quite an attraction. And she chooses local, African movies. So Agnes took Kati and me with her truck, from Mali to Burkina Faso, and I hope to maybe meet her again later.

I've managed to create new albums and upload photos from Mali - so far just to the Polish version of the site, and am waiting for Chopin to copy them to the English one here (if you can't see them yet, look at the Polish one).
Hot greetings from super hot and friendly Oagadougu!

I didn't realize what adventures were awaiting me when I said goodbye to Kati in Oagadougu. I thought Burkina Faso will be just a country I'm going to pass through, on my way to meet Rebekah in Niger. I was hitching slowly along the less travelled road towards the Nigerian frontier. And here in the north, I got distracted a bit - each time I saw a Tuareg passing, riding a camel. Yes - riding a camel, alone... something I dreamt about doing but couldn't do with the camels in Morcco, as there they're only trained to follow a guide. "Come, I'll take you on my motorbike to Gorom Gorom, tomorow's market day, you can surely buy a camel there," told me a guy in a little town in the north. The market was amazing, with colorfully dressed people from various ethnic groups arriving from far and near, on foot, with donkey carts, by trucks or riding their camels. The white camels here that were for sale, were young, not yet trained. And a good, trained one wasn't white...  But the following day I found myslef riding yet another motorbike with a Tuareg man, about 50 kilometers through the desert, to his village. It's a long story, but to make it short - the motorbike broke down, we walked, slept with his family, watched a couple of camels that people brought the next morning. And... yes - I am a happy owner of a beautiful white camel! Kati wanted me to name my camel with her name. But me... I couldn't bring myslef to do that - she's too unique, and no animal, not even my lovely camel can be called Kati, it just wouldn't be the same. But, in her honour, I just changed the two syllables, and baptised my camel 'Tika'. I don't know when I'll be able to upload some photos. Here they only have internet connection in the evening, very slow and expensive, so probably already in Niger - where I'm going to start heading soon - riding Tika, as soon as I learn enough to be able to leave with a camel on my own. Maybe Rebekah can join me here, even though she wrote now, saying she's already in Niger. Anyway, the dusty village of Gorom Gorom already feels like home, Burkina Faso is one of the friendliest countries I've been to, my camel is munching quietly on the leaves of a tree at my local Tuareg friend's place right now, and generally - life is beautiful.

So OK, I have a camel. But... I guess it will take a while before I can say we're really friends, Tika and I. The thing is - people here treat camels, and all animals, in fact, in a very utalitarian way - a camel is just a means of transportation, slowly replaced by motorcycles, even within the local Tuareg population. So, nobody makes friends with animals - and Tika doesn't really trust or make friends with anybody either. Yes, he will stand up, sit down, walk, turn left or right, but even sometimes for that you need to use some force. And me... I guess I'm just a bit too gentle. But slowly, I'm learning the tricks, attaching the saddle and riding Tika outside the village each day, leaving him there to munch on the desert bushes, guarded by a slave of my Tuareg friend, then returning each afternoon to bring him back home.
With my local friends, we washed Tika two days ago, gave him a good nice bath, to make him even more beautifully white. And the following day, when I returned to fetch him in the afternoon, I couldn't recognize my own camel - he deliberately lied down and turned around and around in the ashes, so that I'm not sure anymore whether I have a white or a dark grey camel now... He did the same thing today.
But slowly, I hope we'll get there. I feel I can learn the most just along the way, and I was ready to leave tomorrow. But tomorrow there's a feast of giving the name to a new born baby of my best friend's friend, so I guess I'll stay one more day in Gorom, and try to leave Sunday morning.