Hop Scotch in West Africa
It's been an exciting few days, making my way here to Niamey. Thanks to the bankruptcy of the only Senegalese airline, there is a dearth of direct flights from Dakar to other West African cities. Therefore, I will have the pleasure of passing through Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 3 times before arriving back in Dakar. (My route is as follows: Dakar, Ouaga, Niamey, Ouaga, Lome, Ouaga, Dakar...a little like hop scotch, yes?) Yeehaw!
This wouldn't have been a bad thing, really, except that I didn't know I would be spending time in Burkina until 2 days before I left to head out. No time to get a visa in Dakar. Luckily, it is possible to get a visa upon arrival at the airport in Ouaga. With one catch...you have to leave your passport there for a day. Ahem. What?I was at the visa counter, being very proud of myself for managing to take care of business in French. When I asked for a receipt, I was told I would get it tomorrow. "Tomorrow?" I said, rather confusedly. Why would I need to wait until tomorrow to get my receipt??? As I proceeded to stand there waiting for them to give me my newly visa endowed passport, he repeated "Not until tomorrow." It dawned on me. He didn't mean just the receipt - he meant the whole kit and caboodle. Passport, visa, and receipt. This was a disconcerting realization at first, except that all of the other people around me were doing the same thing. So, away I went with my little slip of paper that would (hopefully) be sufficient to retrieve my passport the next day before I flew out. I don't know if anyone else has ever had the experience of being without their passport abroad (it's only happened to me once before) but it's like being completely naked. Highly undesirable. But...it worked out in the end. I was able to retrieve my passport no problem before hopping on the plane to Niamey. Upon arrival here, however, I found out I would need to spend 2 more days in Ouagadougou, on two separate visits. But my visa was only good for one entry, so here I go again! I made a stop at the American embassy today, just to get my facts straight and to have my paper work all in order to go to the Burkina consulate here in Niamey, to try to avoid being passport-less two more times. (and they were very helpful!) But, alas, I am passportless again until tomorrow afternoon, while they are processing my visa. Ugh. Hopefully, for the last time. I'm sure it will all work out. I just hope I'm going to have enough pages in my passport to make it for the rest of the trip! :)