Burkina Bike Tour 2011

Bike Tour!

I recently participated in the Burkina Bike Tour! The bike tour committee spent a lot of time mapping out the route for the bike tour this year and they improved the purpose of the tour by including activities at different volunteer sites. The 3 goals of the bike tour were: 1) celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Peace Corps worldwide 2) visit volunteers’ sites and participate in their activities 3) to raise funds for volunteer projects supporting gender and development.

I joined the bike tour for 8 challenging days! Some of the routes were dirt roads in very poor condition, some were paved road with many trucks passing by, some days were extremely hot and others we had rain, some stops were in small villages, others in large cities. It was such a great experience and I’m really glad that I got to take part in it. Here’s a quick recap of the days that I participated in! I put in the kilometers per day, but I’m still waiting to get the exact ones…so for now, these are some estimates!

Kaya to Boulsa (85.3km): The road was unpaved and in poor condition. It was definitely over 100 degrees this day. We stayed in a volunteer’s house that had recently finished their service so there was nobody currently living in the house, but a new volunteer would be arriving in a few weeks. When we got to their house it was absolutely filthy. We were exhausted from the bike ride and the heat, but upon arrival we spent hours cleaning the house so we would be able to stay there that night. We had to clean up garbage and dust throughout the interior and weed the exterior so we would have enough space for all of us to sleep and a place to bucket bathe! After biking and cleaning, we had to rally our energy to give a lesson on Moringa with an association of widows. We taught about 25 widows of varying ages about growing moringa trees, how to use the leaves for nutritional benefits and the importance of its’ nutritional properties. The women did not speak French, so we did the lesson in Moore with the help of a translator. It went really well and they were very appreciative of us being there.

Boulsa to Bilanga (87km): This was a very challenging second day. The route was predominantly inclined and it was a bumpy dirt road. Towards the end of our bike ride to Bilanga, we ran into a huge dam that we were supposed to cross. Normally, cars and bikes pass over the top of the dam, which is cemented. However, with the recent rains, the dam was overflowing. The water was a strong current going over the dam wall and down the other side, making a huge waterfall. I hesitated before crossing, but noticed that other cars and bikes were going across. It was not easy to cross! The current was pulling us towards the edge, which had no barrier stopping people or their belongings from shooting down the waterfall. There were many times when the current almost took me off the side. It was a terrifying experience! We stopped in Bilanga proper to have a big luncheon with all of the officials in the area. There were musical performances and speeches from various people. It’s nice to have big ceremonies where we get to meet people, but it was also strange because we go directly to these events. So, we’re sitting there with nicely dressed officials in our biking spandex and t-shirts, completely covered with dirt caked on by our sweat and our skin is red from the heat and the exertion. After our lunch, we had to bike another 15km to where we would be staying that evening in Bilanga-Yanga. We were so exhausted that it we all showered and went to bed. It wasn’t easy taking bucket baths on the bike tour because there are so many of us, one region for bucket bathing one at a time, and our water has to be brought over by children, one canister at a time.

Bilanga to Fada (127.5km): Due to the rains, the road to Fada was closed to vehicles. We’re required to have a Peace Corps car following us throughout the bike tour in case of accidents and to keep us hydrated. Since the car could not pass the road blocks, we had to reroute ourselves and bike 130km instead of 80km. We ended up having to bike on roads that we were going to return on the following day, so we would be backtracking. The first part of our ride was 50km of dirt road to Koupela. The rest of our ride was on paved road, with lots of uphill climbs and lots of large trucks passing by. It was very hot biking on pavement. We were given the option to ride in the car for part of the leg. I didn’t think I would need to and I really wanted to finish the entire trip. But, my body was so sore from the previous days (I haven’t had any physical activity like this since coming here 11 months ago) that I ended up taking the car for a little bit of it. I was so happy to arrive in Fada and to have the following day off! The volunteers in Fada had planned a little fair and invited the local NGO’s and other small businesses to come and set up tables to showcase their groups. We had some theatrical presentations on health topics, soap making demonstration and musical performances. It went really well and it was a lot of fun to participate in!

Fada to Nakaba (61km): I resented the ride to Nakaba in the beginning because we were backtracking from our long ride the day before. It was frustrating to have to alter our course so much! But, the ride was mostly paved road and there were more declines since it had been inclines in the other direction. So, the ride was pretty easy that day. We got to Nakaba, a small village, where 22 of us stayed in 1 volunteer’s small little house. He had planned a great activity! We were divided into groups with children and given the assignment of creating dances that represented the themes assigned to us. My group’s theme was “cultivation.” Once we choreographed our dance, we practiced with a local drummer and prepared to perform. We performed in front of the villagers and a group of judges. In the end, my team ended up winning! The kids were really excited and they got candy as a prize. Each theme was planned to encourage gender equality amongst the villagers. Both females and males can perform tasks like cooking for the family, cleaning the house, cultivating and constructing structures. It was a lot of fun for everyone! Later that night, we were woken up abruptly by the police officers telling us that a storm was coming and we needed to find shelter quickly. There were 22 of us in a very small house, so we all had to disassemble our bug huts (little tents/mosquito nets) and crammed inside of the house while others ran down to the health center to look for shelter. It rained all night and into the morning so our departure time was delayed for the next day. But it turned out alright because it was cooler outside that day because of the rain so we didn’t need to leave as early.

Nakaba to Tenkodogo (72km): This ride was all paved road, so it wasn’t too bad. We did have 2 injuries along the way, but only minor scrapes and bruises. I was exhausted every single day of the bike tour. My entire body ached and I was always sleepy because we had to wake up so early to beat the heat on our rides. I did feel like I got a little faster and stronger every day!

Tenkodogo to Beka (116km): The ride to Beka was another long one! It was supposed to be around 80km (or so we thought because of google maps), but it turned out to be 116km. I guess it was better to not know that it was going to be longer because we just kept pushing through and were really surprised when we arrived and the GPS said it had been over 100km. We were so exhausted when we got to Zabre so we stopped to eat something. Then, the ride to Beka was a short, but terrible 9km more! The road was full of sand (which is really hard to bike through) and huge puddles that we had to bike through. The road was narrow and really bumpy. It was not ideal for the end of such a long day. We pulled into Beka, all completely covered in mud from the terrain, and there was an enormous welcome for us. Every single villager was there, standing on both sides of the road cheering as we biked in. Then, we were swarmed and surrounded by all the villagers taking video and pictures of us on their cell phones. It was so overwhelming. We sat down for a big ceremony with speeches and then we divided the men and women to do 2 lessons. The men learned about malaria and mosquito nets while the women learned about nutrition. It was so great to see so many villagers supporting us! It was very overwhelming and we were exhausted but it was such a nice gesture!

Beka to Pô (89km): The bike ride from Beka was not too bad...except for the big hill at the very end! On the way there, we stopped in Tibila, the painted village. We got to tour through the kings royal courtyard and see all of the traditionally painted houses and tour inside of them to learn about the history of them all. It was so amazing to see! It was funny touring inside the houses because there are still people living there, so it felt like we were intruding on the older women doing their household chores. They were all very friendly though. After our tour, we went to a dance performance organized by the volunteer living there. It was a fun little break on our way to Pô. Once we arrived in Pô, the volunteer there had organized an awesome tree planting activity at her school. It was a great way to end the bike tour!

After Pô, I had to head to Ouagadougou to work on the 50^th Anniversary Fair! It was a lot of work but it turned out really great! More to come about the Fair in another post…

Total Km Biked= 637