Spa Treatment in Burkina Faso?

Well, we often say that we cannot complain about the heat and the sweat because millions of people pay to sit in saunas. And when you sit in the back of a truck and ride at high speeds, the dust that pelts your face can almost be called dermabrasion. However, this past Saturday, a few of us were treated to something special...a pedicure of sorts.

Okay, so we didn't have the fancy foot bath or the sweet smelling lotions, but we did get our toenails painted with fancy designs. And this cost us a whopping 40 cents a piece! There are some bargains to be had here.

Marguerite came to the orphanage guesthouse with her basket of nail polish and even some fake eyelashes if we were interested. We bypassed the eyelashes and got down to business. While our toes were being made works of art, Marguerite's son was playing with a few toys on the floor.

Pat gets the royal treatment

In the beginning all was good, but then she pulled out glue and press-on toenails. I think my eyes grew 3 sizes. I had to act quickly...do I let her do this or not? I couldn't imagine what would happen to my toenails if I had plastic glued to them, so my tongue caught up with my brain and I said, "Wait!". I asked if it was possible for her to just paint my natural nails. She complied, we picked colors and away she went.

My forty cent pedicure!

I received a lovely design. Emily and Pat had their toes done up in the colors of the Burkina Flag, complete with stars. There was a qualifying soccer match on later that day for Burkina's team and we think they won because of the good luck they brought with their toes.

Burkina toes in progress.

Another interesting day in Africa!