First Impressions, Adventures, and Thanksgiving!

The first couple weeks in Kedougou have been great! I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I had a really productive first few days in that: I unpacked [!] and organized myself in my new living space; met the women’s group, saw their garden and introduced the idea of composting and the importance of finishing the fence so the animals will not eat everything; worked a lot on my language, had a some successful conversations; went to the peanut fields and was introduced to many of the men of the village by my counterpart; repaired the gaps in my fence around my backyard/shower area; double dug a garden bed in my back yard; had my hair braided by my sister; found the BBC station on my radio and at what angle it least cuts out; successfully started training for a marathon; explored the village a bit and started to get a grasp on where all the footpaths go; finished a book; carried a bucket of clean laundry on my head from the river; figured out the best way to transport water from the water pump to my hut; and went to the weekly market (where I got to buy things for my host family, have lunch with other volunteers, talked about potential [local] work partners in addition to meeting one, and use my phone!). Thanks to the cell phone service I enjoyed while in Salemata at the market, I found out about an overnight excursion to a waterfall that Robert and Alan were planning on doing in the upcoming days.

Wednesday night, I biked out to Ilana’s village, Matecossi (about 40km away), making it there just before dark. I enjoyed seeing another volunteer in their village and interacting with her family. In the morning, I helped her organize her room and showed her an efficient way to get water from the forage (hand water pump) as her family had been pulling her water for her. Then, Ilana and I biked about 8km to her market town, Thiokoye, where Alan and Robert were planning on meeting me. Unfortunately Ilana got a flat tire, and it was a slow go to Thiokoye, although when we arrived we had service to receive a text message that the boys were running late. We enjoyed bread and chocolate sauce and water while waiting for their arrival. Ilana walked back to her bike with a new tire in hand, and the three of us stopped at a forage to replenish water before heading toward Ingeli Waterfall. It took us nearly three hours to cover the 15km to the waterfall due to a bit of confusion about where the path was, taking an incorrect path that was only used by people who make palm wine, bushwhacking, and walking through tall grasses, to meet up with Cameron and Eric. Ingeli is gorgeous, and big! We swam in each of the three layers of pools and enjoyed feeling “cold.” We set up camp in the woods, and started a fire to make dinner. It was a really enjoyable night! Surprisingly, there was occasional cell phone service and I was able to catch up with a few other volunteers.

In the morning, Eric suggested going to another waterfall near Pellel and I couldn’t refuse. Alan headed back as the remaining four of us hiked up to try to get to the top of the waterfall, however, we ended up at a great vantage point looking towards the waterfall and the mountains that create a border with Guinea, and the consequent valleys that enter Senegal. After hiking down, we biked off towards Eric’s village because he needed to meet up with his work partner after Friday afternoon prayer. After eating leftover lunch from his family, and making leftover spaghetti from the night before, we biked to the path where the waterfall is. We parked our bikes and walked for about an hour until we discovered that the waterfall would be dried up. It was a pleasant walk and I am excited to go back in the future! Eric headed back to his village, and Cameron, Rob, and I biked to Dindefello. It was getting dark and Cameron went home since he only had 10km to bike. Rather than accompanying him (since we would just be backtracking in the morning), Rob and I decided to go to Badji’s house, a former resident of Chris Hedrick’s village when he volunteered. He is the wealthiest man in the village and loves having Peace Corps volunteers stay with him and has a hut for whenever it happens. It was also a saving grace since there was not a car until morning, we were about 40km from Kedougou, and the Lily, a woman who works for the Jane Goodall Institute and lives in Dindefello, had recently left for vacation. After a stop at the sandwich lady to replenish our energy, we, along with what felt like the whole town, watched television in the outdoor hut before eating dinner and going to bed. We woke up, were offered breakfast, and decided to bike up to Kedougou rather than dealing with waiting for a car. It took us about an hour and forty five minutes. After running errands in town, I found out that a car to Salemata, the direction towards my town, had recently left and I wouldn’t be able to get one until the morning. I was satisfied with that considering I had biked nearly 60 MILES over the past few days, mind you, on a mountain bike, on corresponding terrain.

Sunday morning I woke up early, went to the garage, and just barely missed a car. It was still early so I decided that I would bike the 75km to my village rather than waiting for an unknown amount of time. About 12km into my ride, my bike locks up (I don’t know what happens, but the pedals will not turn). A man on a moto stops to help, although he ends up only pointing me in the direction of the closest town, Bandafassi, where there is normally a volunteer, although I knew he was still in Kedougou having seen him the night before. However, I was told that there was a bike mechanic so I walked that direction to find him. I locate him and seemingly my bike is fixed. I am on and off the phone with the safety and securities man from Peace Corps, Mbouille, and volunteers in Kedougou, and inform them that I am going to continue on. Within minutes, the bike locks up again and I fly over my handlebars, conveniently as I was going downhill. I walk myself and belongings up to the campement Mbouille suggested earlier and wait to coordinate how I am going to get to either Kedougou or Diarra Pont. I ended up waiting on the side of the road for nearly four hours waiting to flag down a car that is coming from Salemata. However, somehow that doesn’t work and Rob’s work partner comes to get me. Talk about a frustrating experience. The following Morning is Monday, and I was planning on biking back Tuesday morning with the Salemata crew for Thanksgiving, so I end up staying in Kedougou again. It was good though because I was finally able to get the final report the former volunteer at my site, and download and look at a bunch of applicable Peace Corps documents. I also got to cook and bake a lot which was surprisingly relaxing. However, so much for fulfilling the five week challenge.

Thanksgiving: where to start! Well, I am very fortunate that I was with Americans to celebrate this particular holiday. Furthermore, it was really great because I had a visitor, Brent, come down to see me! He got a mini tour of Kedougou too! We went to a hotel for lunch, swam in the pool, went into the market several times, went for a swim in the river, and went to Segou and camped by a waterfall. As for Thanksgiving, we made a pig-tur-duck-en, (chicken stuffed instide of a duck, inside of a turkey, inside of a pig) that we put in the ground for 20hours. I contributed apple pie and stuffing, although there were also mashed potatoes, cheesecake, carrot cake, and peas. Quite successful considering our resources I must say! There were probably about 20 people at the house.

The following day Kyle, Brent, and I waited all morning (five hours) for a car to Segou. However, once we got there, we saw Kyle’s village, cleared brush from in front of the campement (lodge) sign, and then hiked out to the waterfall. It was a slow go since Brent and I were not feeling well. However, there was a wonderful swimming hole beforehand where, again, the water was so cold and refreshing! Once we got there, it was getting dark so we found places to camp, on uneven rocky surfaces so we could say that we woke up next to the waterfall. It was an interesting camping experience (as in, it was the least prepared I have ever been since we didn’t completely decided beforehand if we were going to camp or stay at the campement). The following morning we hiked back to the campement and passed a few French tourists on the way. One of the men actually lives in Tambacounda and Brent and I a ride to Kedougou after stopping in the market in Dindefello. Brent and I graciously accepted as we were not looking forward to waiting for a car on the side of the road, even if supposedly there would be many since it was market day. The next morning Brent started his transport adventure back to Koalack and I waited until 2:30pm for a car back to my village. It was so good to be back!