I decided to take a flight back from Ouaga to Accra. Although I enjoyed the bus trip, the recovery slowed me down a it for a day or two. So I found the airline offices on the main street and made a few queries. I ended up booking a flight on Air Burkina for 180,000 CFA which was around $300.
At 6am the next morning, I was picked up by a taxi arranged by the hotel and driven to the airport. When I say airport, I mean a building site with a door surrounded by scaffolding. The driver had already told me that there was coffee there this time of morning. Wonderful, I thought, there is a Qantas lounge here! I can check in, relax, catch up on emails and have some fine brewed coffee.
There was no Qantas lounge. But there was a guy with a thermos of Nescafe on the road outside the airport. It went down well. I then checked in, which was easy as there was jusy one counter and one terminal. Another western guy came in and sat down next to me. We chatted for a bit about the usual pleasantries and the festival. then he asked me, ‘Vous etes de quel pays?’ or what country are you from? Australia. Which city? Melbourne. Me too! Switch to Aussie dialect. Turns out Malcolm moved here 6 years ago and is a resident with a church group. He has 3 children, all bilingual, and the 5 year old was born here. He loves it here. He said that on a visit to the States, the kids hated the food and wanted kenke and yams. Coincidence? I’ll give you coincidence. We talked about the bushfires and I was more up to speed and filled him in. When I mentioned Noojee, he said his parents lived there: the Hubbards. Just a short distance from where I used to live.
It wa really refreshing to relax and chat in the native dialect. You do miss it. It reminded me that in a volunteer/refugee environment, you really look forward to the end of day debrief with other volunteers.
Air Burkina is a great airline! I was hoping to have an Indiana Jones experience, with a propellor plane, mid air drama, and a walk along the wing to repair the engine. But instead we were in a modern MacDonnell Douglas MD40 (an Air Delta mid range workhorse) with perfect takeoffs, landings (stopover at Abidjan) and friendly service. Air Burkina has a fleet of only 5 I think, all modern leased planes, and a mix of local and overseas pilots. Dull really. Some peope like that in a plane.
Back in Accra, which felt familiar. I navigated the taxi drivers who meet you in the terminal, wanting $10 for the trip to town, and walked to the ranks to negotiate the more correct $5 fare.
I never thought I would ever say this about Accra, but everything is relative. After nearly a week in Burkina faso, Accra was Silicon valley.