Well, it's been awhile since my last post, but with good reason. Out in Dakoro, internet is SLOW, so slow that I could barely check my e-mail, and loading my blog was right out of the question. Even now, back in the big city of Ouagadougou things aren't a whole lot better, but hopefully I can manage to get a few pictures up.

Anyway, 5 weeks in the middle of nowhere, with no running water and limited electricity, is quite and experience. And not all bad in fact, I had good food (although variety was a little lacking) and my work was really interesting (thank God). My host, Abou, was a really fantastic guy who took great care of me, and in some ways I almost miss Dakoro. Almost. By the end, it was getting so hot (over 40 degrees during the day) that I couldn't sleep or read or do anything. In fact, I started getting heat stroke just sitting in the shade. Needless to say, I'm really enjoying A/C right now.

So, what did I actually do out in Dakoro? Well, for starters I helped get the gasifier up and running again. I also recommended some new design and operational changes to make future gasifiers easier to use (and hopefully mores successful). Then I did a "feasibility" study, looking at gasifier economics. Basically, gasifier's are an awesome technology, and probably worth investing in if you have a reliable fuel source (eg. cashew shells in Dakoro). Free, carbon-neutral energy is always a good thing, and gasification has many other benefits as well (which I won't go into here, if you're interested I can send you a copy of my reports). All in all, this was a really cool project and I'm glad I got to work on it.

And now what you've all been waiting for, some cool sights from around Dakoro:

Me and Abou, visiting Les Domes.

 Weird rock formations? We've got that.

And waterfall showers? No problem.

Not the most epic waterfall ever, but nice.

Really cool old mosque in Bobo.

Swearing in the new Mayor, quite the celebration.

Ah! Tiger! Where did I put those lemons!?!

The advantages of life without distraction.

Beautiful sunsets (and stars) out there.

And then there's camels, who knew?

Anyway, that's all for now. It's hard to capture life in Africa using pictures, but it is a cool experience, worth checking out.