Waterfall Holiday

Christmas is Kedougou was a great idea that manifested into nothing less than an unforgettable trip. On my way out of vil, I met 4 volunteers from different regions and a traveller from Colorado to share the cozy ride from Tamba to Gou. Going to the garage is always an event, so we started out strong at 7 am by buying out the sept place (7 passenger car). The garagemen twiddled their thumbs, our driver didn't come for another hour, and they still had the nerve to ask for more money for our baggage. After much banter, we were on route and did not pay a cfa more.

The 232 Km road is under construction, which begins to explain the creatively masked volunteers, but to fully understand, you have to see the clouds of dust that are kicked up and consequently caked onto our once (somewhat) clean clothing. Kedougou is beautiful and has a much more curvaceous landscape than Kolda (my region), but with that also comes this orange Georgia-like clay.

Christmas was merry, warm, and involved a volunteer style gift exchange. Several gifts (like Frank's bike seat cover hat and small shorts) were rather comical, as depicted. My first gift of girly bin bins (tummy necklace) and a skirt wrap were stolen, naturally. I became a gift thief in return and made off with 4 pair of toe socks that I can concider pairing with my chacos, Christmas lights that I donated because I dont have electricity, and a spongebob shirt that surprisd me with creepy glow in the dark eyes. We had live music from the very best Gou volunteers and plenty of shared treats.

The day after Christmas may have been a relax (or perhaps recover day), but we still planned a 20 Pizza dinner feast (which may have surpassed Christmas dinner). We made an impressive assembly line through dough and veggies to our outdoor oven pit. My nana would have fell out if she saw the kitchen aftermath.

More funfilled activities followed during our holiday week. We biked southwest of the city for about 2 hours to Dindefelo, which offers a little hike to waterfalls! We stopped several times along the way to ask locals if we were headed in the right direction. Although we made it, we still didn't follow the fun bush path that we wanted. Dindefelo is an odd city that has a surprising amount of tourism and as a result, a load of grumpy locals. We stayed with the patron man of the town. Within his compound sat at least 50 locals, surrounding a small tv. This man runs town. He offered us a hut, dinner, broken Engish conversation, and breakfast the next morning. Because I was so tired from biking and hiking, bed was the only thing entertaining my mind.

The next day we were somewhat recharged and able to visit the 2 nearby villages that house new volunteers. Its always refreshing to see other sites, what they have going on, and to talk to a different set of people (or at least try). Old men that sit under shade trees seem to be the best teachers. They have all the time in the world to sort through my nonsense. We kicked off with our bikes just before dark for a beautiful sunsetting ride that ended under the moon, just after fighting our way up what I complained to be a series of ten-minute hills.
I love Kedougou.