It’s been such a long time since I last posted a blog and I have so much to say. I’m going to do each event right, by giving them their own posting and write a decent amount for each. I’m going to start with the Epic Bike Trip Steve and I took. Steve and I are probably about equal amounts crazy and decided to take a bike trip around Senegal, we didn’t know where we were going or how long it was going to take but our end date was already schedule for December 31st so we could welcome the New Year with friends. Our goal was to end at a regional house the 31st, in which case we could get a car January 1st to get back to our sites and finish whatever work we needed complete before All Vol, WAIST, and COS conference. We started once Steve got approved to leave the Medical Hut after he got his wisdom teeth removed. Steve made the trip up to Ourosogui for us to pack up our supplies for the trip, we thought we’d start in Bakel and take the bush path down to Khossanto but…because we are the people we are we decided to start in Ourosogui instead because our bags were already strapped on to our bikes. So Wednesday December 14th was our first day of biking. We made to it to Wendou Bosseabe, probably about 55k south east of Ourosogui. This was a larger town along the road and we found the village chief and asked if we could spend the night there, he let us sleep at his house and he feed us! He was the kindest man!! When I told him we had our own food, and sleeping stuff, he told me “I know you have all these things you guys are going on a bike trip, but when you come to my house I will give you food and a room. You save your stuff for later.” His house was beautiful, and we got treated like kings and queens.
The next day we made our way to Bakel, it was getting late and we wanted to push through because our friends were going to be there until the next morning and we wanted some familiar faces. Surprisingly enough my work’s car passed by us on the road and I recognized the bright red hat Kayta always wears so I started waving of course. He pulled over and we stood around talking and he insisted on giving us a ride to Bakel so we would get there before dark. We accepted the ride, obviously the smart thing to do, but deep down it was killing both of us. So we got a ride for the last 30k to Bakel, arrived in Bakel and were greeted by our lovely friends. Hung out in Bakel that night, and in the morning we went exploring around the town. Bakel is truly a beautiful town, I insist everyone visit it if they’re in the area – not likely you would be in the area unless you’re going to Mali, but it really is a mixture of cultures, ethnicities, and languages. Great town! From Bakel we headed towards our bush path, not really knowing where it was but once we arrived in Kidira we started asking around, and thankfully a boutique owner Cherno was the kindest man and gave us a complete list of places to ask for while we’re on the path. There was also a little boy named Sileymanne he was a Talibe from Tamba, and he made my heart so warm, I wish I could have kept him. I kept trying to give him alms and he just refused it all, he just wanted to hang out with me and he kept telling me I was a good person. I did nothing but give this kid the time of day. Breaks your heart doesn’t it.
From Kidira we found the bush path towards the village Naye, from there the real journey began. This was my favorite part of the trip we were out in the middle of nowhere, we had no clue where the next town was or how many kilometers we’d be doing per day, we had to rely on the kindness and knowledge of those around us. The scenery was beautiful, we saw it changing right before our eyes, every stop was something new. The path was intense, it was like real mountain biking, uphill, downhill, scary paths full of rocks, sand, gravel, biting flies. Baboons crossing the path then barking at us in the distance. The hardest part about this part of the journey is that we didn’t have enough food, we didn’t realize these villages didn’t have ANYTHING out there, there was no fruit, their boutiques had biscuits, and MSG packets, literally nothing! We couldn’t even get café touba!! Not only that but some people hadn’t even heard of café touba!
Our goal was to arrive at Khossanto, well not so much our “goal” I guess our destination at the beginning. Once we passed Khossanto and headed to Kedougou, we had a day of rest in Kedougou. The day of rest was much needed after our 100+km bike ride of the day. Once we arrived in Kedougou, we didn't know what our next destination was. From Kedougou we went to Salimata, saw the castle that a French man is building there. We had so many options of different routes to take, but people kept telling us we weren't going to be able to make it to any of our options. Apparently there are rules about crossing through the park, and people said we weren't going to be able to make it. From Salimata we entered Guinea, that’s where we spent Christmas Eve, and Christmas day; well the morning of Christmas, the evening of Christmas was spent back in Senegal. From where we crossed back into Senegal we headed towards The Gambia, we biked through there for a few days until we reached Farafenni, in which point we crossed back into Senegal again and headed to Kaolack- that was another 100+km, and we finally arrived there! That was the day before our last day, leading us into our last day was heavy winds, sore bodies, and a short bike ride to near town only 41km away, Fatick. Once we arrived in Fatick we got a car and went to a friend’s site, where we finally sat and relaxed- just to get another car to a nearby city, Mbour, where we went liqeour tasting at Liqeour de Warang. Delicious! If anyone stops by there make sure you get the banana chocolate crème liqeour. Yum!! So this is a fast forward version of the bike trip. I think it was too amazing to write, it's always much easier to talk about. Let's just say it wasn't necessarily life changing, but there was definitely a lot of growth. :) 
Favorite moments from the bike trip:
Kid’s saying TOOOUU bak (as if they were making bird noises), kid’s saying TWO BA BOO (like 2 baboons), in Hamedallay instead of saying “naam” when someone calls your name they made bird noises, Coumba in Bankubaa with her amazing facial scarring and for buying us bread in the morning, the baboons, trying to pee off the side of the road but being too scared because I saw a snake, the amazingly fast transition into English once you get to The Gambia’s border, camping at camping spot, cooking at camping spot, waking up while camping in Gambia because a cow came to our camp site, convincing people I was Pulaar and married an American, after paying the Guinean border control “all of our money” we bought ourselves Christmas presents with the money we hid, speaking Pulaar with people, having a man ask me for money after he collided his bicycle right into me, the house structures in Guinea, the mountains in Guinea, the scenery everywhere we were, exploring the fort in Bakel, passing by the mining villages, spending the night with complete strangers, the confusion of where we were staying in Lemonkoto Gambia, the breakfast place in Basse Gambia, hearing the song “I see you baby shaking that ass” in the beginning of the bike trip and singing it for the rest of the trip, the path of doom – dug out in the middle of the path and you had to steer downhill really well or else you’d eat so much shit!, the second path of doom – rocky road we couldn’t find a clear path and we were getting attacked by biting flies for way too long!
This trip was absolutely amazing, I couldn’t have asked for a better bike partner, or vacation. I’ve posted some pictures on my facebook account, and my picasa site.
There are also day by day video journals, not all have been posted but watch the ones that are!
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