Koro Village -another little 12km mobilette trip out of bobo is the village of Koro. Invisible from the surrounding countryside, it is a small village of about 1,000 people that is perched atop a rocky outcrop and provided safe haven in the 19th century from maurauding armies.

For $1, this fellow took me up the steep climb into the village and showed me around.

The place was completely deserted because everyone was down working in the fields.

But what really made this place eerie, were the fetish/sacrifice spots that seemed to be around every corner. Covered in fresh feathers and blood, these are places where people petition or thank the spirits with the sacrifice of chickens or sheep or such.

There were none of the smells and bells of catholicism here -- just a raw connection between fortune and death. And neither were these little altars hidden in the corner of a church somewhere -- they were bold pedestals in the middle of the village and seemed to dominate the spirit of the place.

Fresh blood, noone around --
I didn't stay long.

We made our way back down the path to the road, stopping just to capture this little flower, a welcome antidote to the more puzzling life atop the rocks.