So we haven’t been ripped off yet, really…. And then we met Alfonzo. Lets call him Alfonzo because hell its about as real as the name he gave me. Alfie (Alfonzo for short) met me in a jazz club, he is a Burkinabe musician based in Geneva, he is promoting his music…Alfie is all sorts of things, none of them true, Alfie you see is a con artist.
I do take off my hat to old Alf, he was pretty good, he managed to swindle young Greg and I of a bit of cash using a classic technique I should have seen coming. He overheard Gregs comment of wanting to get the music that was playing, he took some of Gregs money and came back with the music. Then he needed change, we had the music so we gave him some and then…..poof, old Alf vanished into the night. In hindsight you think, “stupid stupid stupid”, but in our defence, Burkinabe people are honest and friendly and he sold himself well. So hats off to him, well don Mr Con Man, you got me.
Unfortunately Alfonzo is not too bright and underestimates how persistent I can be. Rule 1 Alfy, when stealing from people, do not pick up a Canadian woman and walk past the food stall where I happen to be getting some guineafowl. Rule 2… you need to be way more convincing of your threats of violence to shake people. I think I followed Alf for about 3 km’s and a taxi ride before he finally told me that it’s not safe to follow people like him in cities I don’t know, because “he can be bad”. Not sure what he meant by bad, because I still made him give his cell phone to the local vendor as a deposit and give me my money back. Only got half my cash back but hey, it was fun nonetheless.
I'm writing this from our campsite in a dried up waterhole in Mali, sunset was incredible, a cold beer and the beautiful warblings sounds of the call to prayer, I really do love that sound...man travelling in west Africa is too much fun.
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