approach of the Harmattan

I might only be imagining things, maybe I’ve just gotten used to the heat, but it feels like it has gotten slightly colder here since we arrived. At least at night. The temperature in the evenings is actually quite comfortable, and at night I have to sleep in my silk sheets, not on top of them like in the beginning.

According to the internet, this is what should happen. We’re moving into the dry season, and up here in northern Burkina, that is characterized by slightly colder night temperatures brought in by the dry, Harmattan winds from Sahara. Days still stay hot, though, so it’s not a complete rest from heat.

I have been sitting in the wifi area at the hotel all morning today, since seven, and managed to make maps of my transects using Google Maps, despite the internet being uncommonly uncooperative today. Now I have five extremely ugly maps sketches drawn on high resolution satellite images. I don’t know if the villagers are going to understand a thing from them, but the plan is that I will go back and ask the them if they agree with my interpretation of the landscape types in their villages. At least, it feels good that I’m attempting some kind of feedback. If it leads to something interesting for the villagers, or only makes them confused, we’ll have to see.

I’ve listened to four albums with Bright Eyes while map making. I probably haven’t listened to them since I left my teens behind. Somehow it felt suitable now, Conor’s desperation, the roller-coaster internet connection and my cut and paste map making on a porch in the Sahelian heat.