Exploring Tougan!

**July 22-24: Exploring Tougan – My Regional Capital!

After getting on my bus safe and sound and plopping down next to my fellow Peace Corps friend, Vida, I was on my way to Tougan, the regional capital (aka “big city”) for my area of Burkina Faso.  Tougan isn’t too far from my village – 47 km away, which is about a 45 minute bus ride.  Although, if I really wanted to, I could bike that distance rather than take the bus.  It’d probably take me a few hours to bike it, and I’d be really tired and sweaty.  But, on the other hand, it’d also be good exercise and I could always spend the night in Tougan at a hotel (with electricity, showers, and air conditioning!) or with either Eric or Sudakshina, current Peace Corps trainees in my group who will be doing their 2 years of service in Tougan.  As of now, I plan on visiting Tougan about once a month to get food/supplies not found in my village, check my mailbox, visit friends, and relax at one of the Internet cafes while taking care of email and any other computer-related business.

The bus ride from Lanfiera was to Tougan was short and sweet, and before I knew it, I was in Tougan and being greeted by Eric, Sudakshina, and Jessi & Tyler (the current PCV’s stationed in Tougan).  Jessi and Tyler are a cute, young, married couple who will soon be returning to America, and ironically, will actually be living in Minneapolis!  Yay Minnesota!  It seems like I’m constantly bumping into Peace Corp people that have Minnesota connections!  We first went to a restaurant for breakfast, where I ate some of the best yogurt I have ever had -- plus, it was cold! Almost to the point that it was frozen-ish! And breakfast we went to our hotel to drop of our bags.  I was excited to see that our hotel had running water (showers) and toilets in each room, and though there was air conditioning, it cost twice as much so we all opted to do without and just use the ceiling fan that was provided.

Our 2 days with Jessi and Tyler were a lot of fun and they were wonderful hosts, making us yummy food and giving us lots of advice.  We made chocolate cookies using a gas burner and a frying pan, had a “picnic” with fried chicken and cole slaw, ate some of their M&M’s in their chocolate stash, and were treated to homemade pancakes with powdered sugar, butter, syrup, and peanut butter!  Mhmm, it was so nice to have something other than dry bread for breakfast.  Plus the powdered sugar, syrup, and peanut butter (Skippy brand) were all sent from America, since you really can’t find them here, and so for Jessi and Tyler to share them with us was SO nice of them!   It was also great to see how they’ve decorated their house and turned it into a home.  They moved into a new site 2 years ago, and so their house was bare and there were no plants or trees in their yard.  Now, their house is painted and has curtains, and their yard is gorgeous!  It seriously looks like somewhere you would go to have tropical vacation, with all the trees, flowers, and garden plots that now fill their yard.  It was nice to know that they did all of this within 2 years and got to enjoy some of the benefits/beauty of their landscaping before they return home to America.  Plus, all future volunteers who live in their site (which in our case, will be Eric), will have an absolutely beautiful house and yard.  Some future volunteers will eventually get to enjoy mangoes, cashews, and papaya, right from their own yard!  Although those trees will take a few more years yet before they start to produce any fruit…

While in Tougan, we were invited to supper by some of Jessi and Tyler’s friends and counterparts….and my computer battery is about to die…so the rest of my Tougan story will have to wait until next time!