Bye Bye Ouaga

Good news! GOT GHANA VISAS! We have been here for almost 2weeks now but it has paid off. A few days ago the British Honarary Consul kindly gave us a letter of introduction and with that and a (fake) hotel reservation in Ghana we went back to the embassy. Two days later, we have our visas. We have been relaxing around the pool for way too long now so it will be good to get back on the road again, what a great birthday present for me!
Apart from that, two nights ago we went to bed after having a meal and drinks with some friends to what we thought was the sound of a firework display (wow they must have spent thousands). We couldn't sleep with all of the noise so everyone got out of bed only to find it was actually a military protest as 5 soldiers had been convicted of some crime or another.
The military spent all night driving through the town, firing live rounds into the air and vandalising/looting the local businesses. We had security guards at the hotel all night and the staff were not allowed to go home so they tried to sleep in the hotel reception.
The next day everything was calm except there was nobody in the streets and everything was closed and there was also talk of a curfew in town but we didn't mind as we were not going anywhere! Our only concern was that our passports were in the middle of town at the Ghana Embassy.
Finally we are saying bye bye to the capital with the coolest name in the world and the OK Inn and heading South into Ghana. Still no luck with the Nigerian visas but we will keep you posted.

Buenas noticias, CONSEGUIMOS LOS VISADOS DE GHANA!!!!. Llevamos aqui dos semanas casi pero a merecido la pena, gracias al consulado Britanico de Burkina, quien preparo una carta de introduccion y con una reserva de hotel en Ghana (falsificado)conseguimos entregar los pasaportes el Martes y recogerlos hoy.
En el tiempo que llevamos aqui hemos estado relajando a lado de la piscina y cenando con un grupo de amigos Franceses. La otra noche nos acostamos despues de cenar y escuchamos lo que creimos que era fuegos artificiales, pensamos que era algun fiesta. A las 4 de la mañana no podiamos dormir y salimos a la calle, resultó ser una manifestacion por los militares. Habian sido condenado cinco de ellos por unos crimines. Así estaban todos dando vueltas en Toyotas pegando tiros al aire y robando/destrozando locales comerciales etc.
Hasta los empleados del hotel se quedaron durmiendo en recepción por miedo de salir a la calle.
Se tranquilizo todo al otro día, pero tardo un día mas a volver a la normalidad.Lo que nos preocupaba mas es que teniamos los pasaporte en la embajada en el centro de la ciudad y no ibamos a poder salir si quera!
Por fin nos despedimos del capital con el nombre mas chulo del mundo Ouagadougou y del hotel OK INN, vamos a coger camino a Ghana. Aun no hemos conseguido los visados para Nigeria, seguiremos intentando en los otros países de camino. Un saludo, hasta pronto!!!

Photos Morroco / Mauritania

Photos Mali / Dogon

Ouaga Bukina Faso

Hi everyone, finally we know what our plans will be for the next stage of the trip. We haven´t managed to get our visas for Ghana or Nigeria due to changes in the visa application at the beginning of the year, so looks like we can´t go any further south this time at least! We´ll still try in the next few countries anyway.
We´ve managed to get a multivisa for Togo, Benin, Bukina Faso, Ivory Coast and Niger.
So we plan to travel to Bobo in Bukina Faso to see the elephants then on to Togo to the beaches,
Benin then explore Niger which we hadn´t originally planned to see, for the giraffe and dinosaur remains etc. Back through Bukina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Gambia , up the coast of Mauritania then Morrocco. We´ll be staying here in Ouaga capital of Bukina Faso until Monday then head to Bobo. Hopefully we´ll upload some more photos here before we leave so you don´t get bored with the blog. We´ve really enjoyed the last few days, chilling out and met some cool french and belguim people whom we went out with the other night for a meal and saw a bit of West African night life, quite an experience! Found Michael Jacksons twin brother, groooovy!!!!

Hola todos, seguimos aqui en el capital de Bukina Faso. Hemos tenido un monton de problemas con las visas de Ghana y ahora con Nigeria tambien. Seguiremos intentando en otros paises, pero no creo que tengamos suerte. Han cambiado las normas en Enero y nos han jodido bien el viaje. Pues bueno, hemos conseguido una multivisa para Togo, Benin, Bukina Faso, Ivory coast y Niger, por ahora nuestros planes son, ver todos estos paises y volver por Bukina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania y Marruecos.
Hay muchas cosas que ver en Togo, y Benin. Y Niger suena interesante con restos de dinosarius etc. Por ahora nos quedamos en este camping hasta Lunes, cuando cogeremos camino a Bobo a ver los elefantes etc. Subire mas fotos este fin de semana para que nos se aburren del blog.
Hemos disfrutado estos dias de relax, conocimos unos franceses de nuestra edad, salimos una noche para comer y vimos la marcha de Africa del Oeste en las discotecas, encontramos el hermano gemelo de Michael Jackson, como se movia el cabrón!!!!!!! Hemos estado todos los dias bañandonos en la piscina y bebiendo cerveza de Bukina.
Animo!!!!! Un saludo Adam & Sophie.

Leaving 15/02/11

Dogon Mali