Ferkessedougou and Korhogo are not far away, only an hour's drive, although it is not one of the best roads in the Ivory Coast to be covered.

Before entering Korhogo we stop at the village of Koni, known as the village of blacksmiths.

We divided the visit to this village in two parts, the first part today, the second part will be tomorrow morning; the reason is very simple: we want to witness the whole process of iron extraction and, as it takes up to 24 hours, we must necessarily come in 2 times.

Today we have witnessed the first part of the procedure, but I'll tell you about it tomorrow, when we will also see the remaining part. 

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After visiting the blacksmiths village of Koni, and given them the appointment for tomorrow morning, we head towards Korhogo, where, once we arrive, we look for a place to eat, we do not want to go to the hotel because they are notoriously slow and we do not want to waste time, better a little restaurant in the city.

After lunch, first of all, we go for a walk around the market; needless to say that we adore the markets, especially the African ones, and as soon as we have the chance we visit one.

The market, or Grand Marché at Korhogo

The market of Korhogo, known by the name of Grand Marché, is very large and to visit it all it takes half a day; we want to walk around and see the main things and meet people.

We get out of the car and enter the market, in the part away from the road there is also less heat because the stalls have all a coverage to protect them from the sun.

First we see the area where shells, parts of animal and herbs are found, that serve to bring to the feticheur to make potions and fetishes, here are also rings and bracelets, that are usually bought and then brought to the feticheur so that he can bless them and make them become good luck tokens, finally they also sell the perfumes that are prescribed by the healer.

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Roaming around the market we also see many other goods for sale: blocks of salt coming from who knows where, various musical instruments made from pumpkins, drums of all shapes and sizes, the Fulanihats and every type of clothing.

There is also a part of the market where the tailors are, the women's ones are all lined up on the left and the men's ones all on the right; it is possible to buy a fabric, go to the tailor's stall, agree on the desired dress model and, in a short time, the dress will be ready.

A large part of the market is dedicated to food: fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cereals, dried vegetables and mountains of yam; this is one of my favorite parts: the colors, the smells, the ordered pyramids of tomatoes, the baskets of garlic and onions, the overflowing stalls of every kind of spice or dried fish ... are a joy for the senses.

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One area of ​​the Korhogo market is dedicated to crockery and everything that can be used for cooking, this part is a little less interesting, but we look around anyway; they also sell pottery vessels of all shapes and sizes and also the bowls that are used for drinking and with which they offered us millet beer at the Senoufo village of Lameca3.

Not far away are also the straw rings that are used by women to carry the weights on the head, they have a certain charm and we were tempted to buy one but then we gave up.

The market also sells soap, palm oil, gasoline and any other kind of product; finally there is also an area dedicated to live animals: there are some hens and roosters closed in cages, while the goats roam free in the street waiting to be bought.

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It's always nice to wander the markets, meet people and chat, but unfortunately we have to go and continue our exploration of Korhogo and its surroundings; next stop: wood carvers.

The woodcarving district of Korhogo

In Korhogo there is an entire neighborhood where wood craftsmen are located; the Senoufoare in fact skilled carvers and make very beautiful masks and statues.

We arrive, park and walk around the dirt and dusty roads; in almost all the houses there are artisans who are working, we approach them and they show us how they carve.

Each of them has, behind, one or more rooms full of wooden objects, especially masks and statues.

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We take a tour in some laboratories to see if there is something that we particularly like; we have already bought several things but you never know what you can find.

They are all very kind, they invite us to enter their houses used as showrooms, but without being insistent, indeed they seem to enjoy our presence.

We follow a guy who wants to show us his shop and we end up in the backyard of his house where there is a woman who is cooking rice, even if they have houses and no longer huts, they have maintained the tradition of having the kitchen on the ground with the fire in the middle of the courtyard; she greets us with a smile as she continues to cook.

The shop of this guy is really beautiful and it is useless to say that we have bought a mask, to tell the truth it is a huge mask, who knows how we will take it home, but it was too beautiful we could not leave it here!

Korhogo's antique dealers

In addition to the artisans' area, where you can find beautiful but new items, there are some antique dealers in Korhogo, who over the years have accumulated a large quantity of wooden objects, such as masks, statues and other objects of common use. as jewelry or other containers, spoons or small decorations and bronze statuettes; we go to Souleymane Arachi, who is located in the Hassabougou district.

We enter his courtyard and almost all the buildings of his compound overflow with objects, it is also difficult to distinguish the objects so much they are crammed; he has so many objects that he has filled some rooms even on the opposite side of the street.

He has many wonderful objects, we would buy everything, in particular he has some beautiful Baule statues but, besides being enormous, they are also very heavy; it's a shame but they are really impossible to take home by plane.

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We separate and begin to look in the various rooms for objects that, more than others, strike us; we would really buy everything, but in the end we have to make choices.

We take two Senoufo masks and a head that looks like a crocodile, very reminiscent of the mask that the Senoufo use like spitfire, .but we do not know if it is just that or another mask, maybe it is a Senoufo mask or another tribe; we will have to do some research to find out its origin.

In a corner of a dusty and full of objects room we saw what, at first glance, seemed a statue but, looking at it carefully we realized that it was actually a container, then the antiquarian tells us that it was a jewelry holder; it is beautiful the lid has the shape of a head of a man with a beard carved in the wood, while the body is rounded, it is wood and covered with shells, that seem to have been set a long time ago.

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Impossible not to buy it! I already imagine how it will be on our furniture along with other African objects, bought during our travels.

Better to go away from here because otherwise we squander our heritage!

Fakaha, the village of painters and of Pablo Picasso

We leave Korhogo and take a dirt road that ventures into the lush vegetation, the earth is red and the contrast with the bright green of the plants and the blue of the sky is spectacular.

It takes about an hour to reach the village of Fakaha.

This is a village of painters who use a particular painting technique and make paintings that have an unmistakable style; we could have found similar paintings in Korhogo, but we wanted to come up to here because this village has a unique story to tell.

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Pablo Picasso, during one of his African travels, came to this village because he had known that in this area there were painters who made some paintings and intrigued him a lot.

He came here in all 3 times, the first time he was so impressed by these painters so much to push him back twice.

We met a painter who remembered very well the visits of Pablo Picasso, the first time he was still a child and therefore had no special contact with him, but the third time he had the privilege to paint with him and remembers very well every detail of those moments .

When he talks about it, we understand how important it is for him, even though he cannot fully understand how much his experience has been unique; here in the village they also keep a painting made by Picasso during one of his visits, I wonder if they know how much it is worth ...

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Our friend painter tells us that originally here in the village they painted only using a piece of triangular iron, the triangle was, and is, very tall and with a very small base; they dipped the base of the triangle in the color and drew lines on the cotton canvas.

It was Pablo Picasso who brought them the brushes, from that moment the painters of the village adopted the brushes, or similar objects, to realize their paintings; our friend, for example, is using a toothbrush, but they have not completely abandoned the iron triangle.

They use only 3 colors, all of natural origin: a brick color, that is derived from the rocks of this area, brown, that is obtained from the bark of a tree, and black, that is made from fermented corn.

Black has a unique particularity: to obtain a black painting, first it is painted with brown and then, with a sponge, the black is passed; this procedure turns brown into black but does not color the canvas, that remains white.

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They tell us that it is the only Senoufo village where they still paint using the traditional method, in the past they had several visitors and were able to sell their paintings, but now at Korhogo there are some painters who make similar paintings and many travelers do not venture here anymore, in my opinion this is wrong because for us it was a unique experience.

Obviously we bought a painting, they are really beautiful and special; the village deserves a visit, not only for shopping, but also to discover a unique story about Pablo Picasso and to meet genuine people who welcomed us with open arms.

We also meet some women who are spinning cotton, probably making canvas for the painters.

When we decide that the time has come to return to Korhogo, we are sorry because we loved this village and the people who live here and who make these masterpieces; I invite everyone to come and see them!

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