I am having fun.

  These past days, I’ve had fun doing a local art, sand painting.

   The artist (nom du gars) who comes twice a week sells his pieces and you can also make some with him. As I’m not the best drawer and that I wanted a local design, he drew the chosen drawing on a map of Africa in a few minutes. Then, the idea is simple as you have to paint some glue onto the areas of your choice and then tip some sand onto it. Drum your fingers underneath for a few seconds, flip the piece over and the surplus has gone. Slightly… quite a bit… the Mako flocking of my childhood so to say.

  The 1st time I only did the black outlines and let it dry. In the sun, drying takes about 1 hour so it’s easy to go for a dip then come back later to do another section.

  The most difficult part is dosing the glue which should be liquid enough so that: there isn’t too little or too much. I had a lot of fun and I now have my own creation for D300 (about €7/$9.50/£6).

  On the market, the smaller paintings start at D400 and you should negotiate which is sometimes a nuisance. Where is the cut-off point between getting conned and abusing the vendor? Cut the price in half and go up a bit is what I’ve been told… including by sellers. If anything they’re amusing. They also immediately say: “It’s the starting price” or “how much do you want to pay”?

  In the hotel, (nom du gars) has made many paintings which are used for decoration, be it in the restaurant or in the games room. Recently, he was even trying to make door panels (private, kitchen, cellar…) the final product of which looks very good.

  I very much like all these little scenes of life, even more as they totally reflect the present. Everywhere you can see wells, people who crush rice using their giant pestle or carrying faggots of wood. For huts, I think that we’ll have to dive deeper into the country.