Yako to Bobo

Greetings and salutations faithful readers,
I've been out of touch for the past week or so as I've been participating in a bike tour of Burkina Faso. I met up with the core group of bikers in Yako, my new site. We awoke at 4:30AM, and loaded up our support car, and hit the road at first light. The first leg of the trip was to the village of Toma, the site of PCV Bovard Tiberi. The trip was along dirt roads, which wound through millet fields. It is currently the rainy season so everything is verdant and beautiful. At around 15k we met up with new PCV Nick McGregor, a fellow Spartan, at his site of La-todin (there are about 5 different spellings of this, and the villagers themselves don't seem to have reached a consensus). We continued on, completing the 70k trip mid-afternoon following a lunch stop. Bovard has a rather unique set up. He lives in a private school compound in teacher's housing. The compound is located on top of a hill, which made for a climb to finish out the ride, but provided us with a great view of his village and the countryside. After an ample dinner of chicken and pasta, and a few Brakinas, I set up my bug hut outside under the stars. Ahhhh.

I awoke to the crack of thunder and scrambled to disassemble the tent in a delerium, switching between the task at hand, and looking wildly out at the approaching lightning storm. I managed to make it inside just as the rain started to fall. I slept on the floor and proceded to be devoured by mosquitos. So much for a peaceful night under the stars. When I woke up the next morning, the rain was still falling. Because we were sleeping under a tin roof, it sounded as if God and the devil were engaged in some sort of round-robin tapdance competition with Fred Astaire. Though when I walked outside I realized that it was only lightly raining. We postponed riding and debated our plan of action. Eventually we had a car go and scope out the road. They returned with the good news that everything was passable, and that we would be able to ride on to Dedougou. The rain broke shortly after. We had cloud cover most of the day as we biked one of the more scenic legs of the tour. The road was difficult, but manageable. After about 35K we stopped at a small village to warm up with some hot tea, and learned that the supposed 70k ride was actually closer to 90k. Oops. With 55k of craggy dirt road winding out ahead of us, we pressed on.

Dedougou is a large town, and home to two volunteers. We stopped, caked in mud, chafed, and walking like old-timey cowpokes, at the first bar in town and did some much needed rehydrating. I stayed at PCV Ryan Barthels house, and managed to get a solid night of sleep on a real mattress. Phew. This was easily the most difficult day of the trip.

From Dedougou, we continued south, on the road to Bobo Dioulassou, which is the second largest city in Burkina Faso. From here on out, we would be riding on paved road. The trade off, however, is that we were entering hill country. We did the trip in three legs. We first stopped in the village of Bandukuy. The village is rather small, but has grown in past years with the paved road. We were greeted by the Mayor, an extremely hospitable and welcoming man who made us feel at home in his town. He helped us pump water (read; not normal for a mayor), and bought us lunch. Two other volunteers and I went for a walk around town to stretch our legs and ended up having a beer with the Mayor. He was a very interesting man, who informed us that he had only gone to school through what we would probably consider the 3rd grade. His education has come from cultivating, and living in the village his whole life. When he was in his teens, he told his father that he wished to join the military. His father, a veteran of 20 years, forbade this, for which he is very grateful (it's good to be mayor). After some discussion, we took a small tour of the village in the Mayoral Mercedes, and visited a youth center constructed by a volunteer about 15 years ago. He seemed very interested in getting another volunteer in his town and we were happy to supply him with the necessary contacts. We slept at a primary school, and hit the road early the next day.

Our destination was Satiri, a village located 42k North of Bobo, and home to volunteer Isy Tavarez. Isy was a voluneer in Guinea before coming to Burkina, and has really made a home for herself here. We were greeted by village officials at the road, and shown to her house where several girls prepared spaghetti for us. At night, we had the pleasure of seeing a local drum group perform. As soon as the drums started, all of Satiri showed up in Isy's courtyard. You know that it's a party in West Africa when the naked toddler shows up. Some women cooked up a serious batch of riz-sauce arachide, et poisson(rice with peanut sauce, and fish). I spent the night outside under the stars, knowing that I only had to bike a short 42k in to Bobo the next day. We decided that we would sleep in until 6AM so that we could arrive with our wits about us. Several people on the tour were slated to give speeches to the Governer of the region that afternoon.

Fellow volunteer Josh Gwinn and I decided that we were going to make it in to town in under 2 hours. We really gave it our all and took turns drafting every 3k. The road was very hilly and offered some incredible views. With about 15k left, we reached the top of the hill and could see Bobo sprawling out in front of us. Once we spotted the city we rode like the one eyed jack of diamonds with the devil close behind (to quote The Highwaymen). We managed to draft a camion (large truck for shipping goods) for the last 5k, and made it to Bobo in 1 hour 43 minutes. Woosh.

Later that afternoon, we had a ceremony (in the pouring rain) to commemorate volunteerism in Burkina, as well as pay homage to Peace Corp's 50th year here. The ceremony went very well, and the volunteer speeches were great. Since then I've been relaxing here in Bobo with some friends I haven't seen in a while. This is really a beautiful city, and the polar opposite of Dori. The streets are lined with trees, and the humidity can be crippling at times. Oh, and its buggy. Very buggy. Aside from this, I've been enjoying myself immensely seeing another side of The Faso.

Well thats about it for the bike tour. It was a great experience, and I hope to continue biking at my new site; Yako. Yako is located 110k north-west of Ouagadougou, and is a town of around 15 thousand. I saw my new house last week and it is palatial. I have tiled floors, electricity, and running water. The highlight however, is the flush toilet and shower, which are located questionably close to each other. Oh well, that could end up being a real time-saver in the future. I'll be moving in to my new digs in a week or so, and will update you on the particulars of Yako. Thanks for reading!