February 27, 2011
Well I did it. I went on the bike trip. It’s only about 5 miles from here to Jalakorobugu, the next closest village. But the road to get to the main road is soft dirt and gravel. It was a tough haul. But I made it. Once there we met up with some other PCVs that were going to be heading into Yamana (the next village in) with us. All together there were 12 of us. It was only about 3 miles on a paved road to Yamana. The thing that made this the hardest is that a road in some places only wide enough for 1 ½ cars is two way traffic with a million scooters driving where ever they want to and then us bikes. There is no shoulder to speak of usually just a ditch. The cars and scooters come some close to you from behind you could probably stop pedaling and they would just push you a long. And when they are trying to pass they come so close I thought I was going to killed by a side view mirror.
When we got to Yamana we met up with one of the volunteers there. She was going to lead us over to the base of the hill that we were going to be climbing. I was already so exhausted that I wasn’t sure how I could possibly make it up the hill. We rode our bikes from her house to the hill. It was really soft, gravely roads and paths to get there and it took us another half an hour. I got really far behind everyone. Thankfully one of the girls from my group hung back with me. If it wasn’t for her they probably would have found my dead body…in about a week from now. By the time we caught up with the rest of the group I was close to tears. My legs were aching and my ass was on FIRE!!!! It’s a wonder I didn’t self combust. I decided that in an effort to make it back to our homestay site alive I was going to forego the mountain. I really wanted to hike and see the caves but I’m smart enough to know the limits of my body and didn’t want to take the chance. As the others hiked up I went back to the PCVs home and waited there with her. We sat under a big shade tree with a nice breeze blowing. You could hardly notice the 105 degrees it was out. We talked and had a great time. About 2 hours later the group finally came back and we headed out. Some of us split off from others to do our own thing. I hung with 2 other people from my village and 2 others from the Jalakorobugu. We went to a local “bar”. They got some beers but I was thrilled to have a cold (semi-cold) Orange Fanta. We played cards, hung out and got some meat from the “meat guy” for lunch. I’m not sure what kind of meat it was. Some things are better left unknown. My guess would be sheep….although I haven’t seen one yet worthy of eating. They’re so skinny. We hung out for about 3 hours waiting for the heat to subside enough to ride home comfortably. I didn’t realize how much my butt hurt until I tried to get back on the bike. OMG…I thought it’ll be a miracle if I make it back. But low and behold, I did. I was a little upset with myself for not hiking the hill but at the same time, I am almost 50 and I hadn’t been on a bike for 20 years, give or take. I think I faired up pretty well. Got some good exercise and hopefully I will sleep well tonight. I haven’t slept much the past 3 nights. It is so hot in my room. I told my host mom I’ve been having trouble sleeping. She says that soon we will start sleeping outside. Good thing I bought my free standing bug tent. Although the screening has very little holes and doesn’t let in much air as a result it’s gotta be better than this room. I took my bucket bath, ate a good dinner, had tea and good conversation with my host family and headed to bed.
During conversation it came up with one of the guys that hangs out here each night (a cousin I think) that he saw me at the bar standing outside talking on the phone. I know about 10 people in Mali not counting the other Americans. What’s the chances that someone would see me standing outside the bar 2 villages away. I explained quickly I was drinking a soda and relaxing before heading back on my bike. It’s not thought of kindly for women to hang out in bars here. I didn’t want them to think badly of me.
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