Adventures in Ouaga

After a delicious breakfast of omelettes and a church service at a local missionary church, we ate a lunch of rice and sauce at an area restaurant. We relaxed for the rest of the day in order to catch up on lost sleep from the journey here. For dinner, we broke up into groups of 2 or 3 and were given 40,000 CFA (approximately $80) a direction and a map and told to buy a small list of groceries. Most stores here have enough change to break the 10000 CFA notes, but many in Mahadagha will not. So one of the rules was to come back with all bills smaller than 5000 CFA, which would necessitate going to a different store for each item. Since no one on our team knew french, this proved to be quite the experience. 

My group consisted of Lindsey, Matt, and myself (Zach). We walked for a while and found a more upscale restaurant, then sat down to eat. The menu was mostly in French, so it was anyone's guess as to what we would end up with. I ordered something with a long name starting with steak, which just turned out to be steak with butter on top, and I think some sort of garlic flavor. Lindsey ended up ordering veal cordon bleu, and Matt, who more or less knew what he was getting, got Au Gratin potatoes with fish in it. We ordered a side of fries and green beans as well. 

After our meal, we headed to the stores for our groceries. We ended up buying the following:

-1000 CFA phone card ($2)

-4 Bananas (350 CFA) ($0.70)

-A bag of popcorn kernels (900 CFA) ($1.80)

-3 Ice Cream Bars (350 CFA) ($0.70)

-Jar of Jam (2200 CFA) ($4.40)

The smaller stores, which we tried to go to, were mostly a counter with things on the shelf behind them, were the most difficult, as we would walk in say what we wanted (most likely grossly mispronounced), and then listen to this stream of rapid French and not have a clue what they said. After much pointing and gesturing, we would manage to get a hold of the item we wanted and then pay for it. There were mixed reactions when presented with the larger bills. One store didn't have the change or didn't want to give out the change. Another lady selling the bananas was shocked to see the 5000 CFA note and had to dig around to find adequate change. I'm pretty sure we didn't get back the right amount but that's okay. 

All in all, it was a rather exciting experience to see the differences in something as simple as buying groceries. There is no "Giant," no one stop shop. Getting all of the necessities for even a simple meal could require multiple stops. The people were quite helpful, and generally pleasant. 

Tomorrow we will be installing an HFM filter at the SIM center and exploring Ouaga a little bit more. Stay tuned for more updates!

-Zach