Burkina Faso? Ouagadougou pronounced Wagadugo holds one of the biggest artisans festivals in all of West Africa every two years. My boss wanted me to go to check it out and get some ideas to see how we can organize the artisans of my town, and just to get out check out Burkina Faso. Of course I was all for it and excited to go, so I call Peace Corps to ask permission to go and say that the trip is work related and in a way it kind of is, but I was in it more for the trip and to see a country that only a few months ago I did not know that existed. I talked to Peace Corps and flat-out they said its last minute and I need to tell them at least a week in advance so I can do all the paper work and get a Visa, with Peace Corps there are so many restrictions to what we can do and not do, 
paperwork is needed for everything well in general its American bureaucracy. Well I did what any curious Peace Corps volunteer would do - I left the country without Peace Corps per
mission- Since the beginning of the program we are told that these are very clear grounds to get kicked out the program and be sent back home. I was nervous because I had just started my service and did not want to get kick out of Peace Corps. So my boss told me that he would cover for me in case anything would go wrong and the other artisans really wanted me to go with them and had already reserved a seat for me in the van they rented out and the next time the event will be held I will be back in the States, so that was enough persuasion to go, even if I only needed a mere fraction to get me to go.
One the way to Burkina Faso we stopped for breakfast at a town
near the border, were a good friend, Mike from Connecticut is living. Now, a couple a days ago when we were at the whipping festival Mike and I mentioned going a to Burkina, but dismissed the idea since we could not travel out of the country until three months of being volunteers. I asked my boss if we had enough room for one more person and there was room for him, I called Mike and before I even finished telling him he was already to go to Burkina Faso. So we were off, in a couple of minutes we were at 
the border and since we did not have the proper Visa and passport we got some shit from the border patrol which by the way were a bunch of fat men dressed in raggedy out uniforms napping under a shady tree snacking on some melons, but all they really wanted was some cash on the side so we gave them the equivalent of 20 dollars for each of us and we were on our way to Ouagadougou. Things changed from Benin to Burkina Faso, I thought Benin was poor until we got into Burkina and I saw that people here were even poorer, less infrastructure, less houses with electricity, natives rode around in donkey carts and a car or two was seldom seen, more people selling fruits, dead animals and little things on the side of the road, and when we stopped to refuel halfway to Ouagadougou we were swarmed with beggars and children asking for money. An hour to the capital out van breaks down in the middle of the road and while Mike and 
I stayed under the shady trees to escape the scorching heat of the morning the others are working on getting the van fixed. Three hours later we arrived in Ouagadougou. The contrasts were incredible, outside the capital the people are poor and the places are underdeveloped, Ouaga is no New York City, but for African standards, the city is modern. With people selling things and preparing food at every corner, on the streets there was either a beat-up old car that you are surprised that it is still running or either 
a phat new Mercedes-Benz or BMW, I rarely saw anything in between an old car and a brand new ride.We found a place to stay, a university that was out on summer break, the place was very nice and the agricultural work very gothic with arches and domes. That night we were out talking about the day and planning for the next day when Mike said “Alright I am going to bed, I am passing out” and after that he says that he passes-out right in front of me, he hits his head on
the hard concrete wall and I turn him around, then he starts convulsing and shaking. At this moment I am so scared because I
had no idea if he is having a seizure, if he is diabetic, or he has any medical condition that I do not know about. A million things run through my head, “What are we going to do, how are we going to explain this? We are not supposed to be here, we can get kicked out for this. How I am going to explain this to Peace Corps? Is Mike going to need professional medical attention? My mind is racing with a million things at once and I am asking Mike if he is okay. About 2 or 3 minutes later that seemed like hours Mike gains consciousness and comes to, the first things he says is. “Yo, somebody just passed the fuck out” It was you, you dumb ass I said laughing and relieved. After a couple minutes he feels better and we come to the conclusion that he passed out from heat exhaustion. Since we were in the blazing car for 8 hours and outside when the car broke down without water.
Next day and for the following 2 days we went to the artisan festival and checked out the crafts, 
events and things going on. There were expositions from countries all over Africa and some from Europe and the Middle East. It was very interesting looking at all these handmade crafts from all over the continent and outside of Africa. Bronze statues depicting African life, and tradition, there were amazing wood carven figures of animals, people and things for the house like chairs and tables etc, colorful woven tapestry that could have easily taken months to complete, there were paintings that were incredibly well done. There were so many expositions and so many nice things that we were very impressed with the ability of these people create such beautiful artworks. But after the second blazing hot day we were getting tired and the charm was wearing off because everything was too expensive to buy and big to be carrying around, although Mike did by a 
warrior spear that was cool. Also some vendors would be aggressive and grab you by your shoulder so you can go to their exposition and buy something, some vendors would not let us leave until we bought something from them or flat out started to get nasty with them, it was also brought to our attention that we also had a guy following us for about an hour, and he looked 
suspicious. So by the second day the charm of the event wore off and Mike and I dedicated the majority of our time eating street food. One night we ate between us two 60-meat brochettes, a huge watermelon and 4 beers. I puked all night long, I barely slept that night. The next day in Ouagadougou we went to the biggest outdoor market of Burkina that was incredibly large and dirty too, we also went to see the touristy sites like the presidential house and the congressional palace as well as other places of interest and t
hen the next day early morning we were off to Benin again.. In all it was a really good time
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