My time on the Bike Tour

BIKE!

So I just finished up my stint with the bike tour!  It was awesome and hard and fun and sweaty and tiring and great.

The first day we biked from Bobo to Bereba, which we thought would only be 106k.  Little did we know, it was really about 130k and we were not happy at 1:30 that afternoon when we still hadn't had any lunch.  But then we ate and all crankiness went away!  Once we got to Bereba, we were greeted by a soccer team who biked into town with us.  In town we were greeted by the Chef (chief) du Village, who had the coolest throne/seat ever.  It was made from an old car seat welded to metal legs, haha.

After greeted all the appropriate people, we went to the village library and played a BINGO-type reading game with some elementary aged students. We went out for a drink with the Chef, ate some great fried chicken and rice with peanut sauce, then I promptly passed out for the night.  Sleep well deserved.

My first morning! This was before we knew that we'd miscalculated the distance by 20k not in our favor :P

Our uniformed entourage.

 The next morning we headed to Dedougou, which means we passed the turn to my site!! (My site is about 30k directly north of Bereba, but to get there by roads you have to add about 50k)  That day was the toughest for me, mostly because I'd biked 130k the day before.  It was hilly again (my first day was also hilly) and after about 100k, my butt was officially kicked.  But we finally made it into town where our host had plates of rice and sauce just waiting for us.  It was perfect.
That evening we talked with some youth about HIV/AIDS, which was very interesting.  The group that came was a group of young men and women who are trained to go around the community and talk about safe sex.  I don't think any of them had done that yet, but they had obviously been trained.  The group also had condoms that they gave out as part of their campaign.  There is a stigma here that if you use condoms you must be infected, so a lot of people are ashamed to use condoms.  But through awareness programs like this people are becoming more educated on the topic!
Once again, after the talk and dinner (more chicken!), we all passed out for the night.

YAHOo!

The next day we headed to Tenado, and it was my first day of all dirt road. Luckily, it's dirt road that is about to be paved so it's packed down and pretty smooth, unlike the dirt road by me, which is a mud/gravel pit.  Halfway to Tenado we stopped in Tcheriba, a town known for it's pottery.  The volunteer there had a huge collection (a tea set, dishes, decorations) that she said ran her $10 total.  So i think i need to go back and buy some souvenirs!
In Tcheriba we met with the volunteers counterparts and other association leaders and talked about volunteerism.  One of the volunteers on the tour is actually working with the National Volunteer Association here in Burkina, so he was able to add quite a bit to the convo.  The NVA might be comparable to Americorps back home.
After lunch, we jumped back on the road to make it to Tenado for dinner.  Unfortunately, the road after Tcheriba was not as nice as the morning making the ride much more difficult.

Muddy roads

Biking into Tenado

Tenado to Koudougou was my shortest day yet, even though we did go the long way around to stop at another volunteer's site, Reo.  In Reo we met with a women's association where the volunteer led a Neem Cream making demonstration.  Neem Cream is a mosquito repellent lotion made from the leaves a local tree, Neem.  First you boil the leaves in water until they turn the water green,then take them out. Next, add shea butter (locally made here, very very cheap and easy to find) and a bar of soap (to help it thicken back up) and keep it on the fire until everything is melted.  After it's melted, just let it cool and you've got Neem Cream.  Very easy and now that i know the measurements, i hope to make it this fall with my neighbors!
After the demonstration we biked the 15k into Kdg, where we met the mayor before finally getting some lunch at about 5 that evening :P  My friend in Kdg had her parents visiting, so I joined them for dinner before once again going to bed early.
The next day was our day off, and let me say: it was much needed.  I slept in, walked around in search of my breakfast and simply enjoyed the ceiling fan in my room.  That afternoon we hosted a joint meeting of the local English clubs.  We watched a movie about American history, answered questions about that as well as questions about American culture in general.
That evening for dinner we were actually not overly exhausted and could even enjoy the meal, haha!

Sunrise coming out of Koudougou

My last full day on the tour was another 100k+ day, once again all dirt road.  We actually left that morning when we said we were going to, so we made it into Latodin by a normal lunch time. We ate lunch, met the volunteer's hospital staff and mayor, drank a free beer, then ate dinner and passed out, per usual.

The next morning was my last day, and I was hoping to catch a 7am bus in a village 25k away.  Needless to say, we left early that morning.  We did make it in time for the bus, and i did make it in time for a 10 mtg in the capital!  Success!

Overall, I had a great time!  I learned so much from each of the volunteers we stopped to visit and thoroughly enjoyed seeing how each of them lived within their communities.  I hope to bring some of the new ideas i learned back to my site.  The bike tour is still going on for another two-ish weeks, so check out their blog if you're interested in more updates!  And of course, you can still donate to the GAD fund :)