Sh*t Happens

Things will never go as planned or as hoped during the Peace Corps. For example, after my last Dakar trip I was expecting to go back to site on Monday the 11^th, then disaster struck my GI system and I got stuck in Kedougou taking anti-amoebas/giarrdia medication (apparently the stuff they give us is banned by the FDA…). Either way, by the time I was feeling better it was only 2 days away from the arrival of our new volunteers, so I decided to just stay (it was a good idea, these medications make you nauseous). I guess the whole getting sick thing worked out ok because I met a group of 3 Polish couch surfers (tourists who sleep on peoples couches, google it, it’s awesome). They met a PCV in Dakar who referred them to stay with us while down here. It was fun meeting and hanging out with them, along with the shots of very tasty polish Wodka they brought for us. The next day they wanted an adventure in Kedougou, but I still wasn’t well enough for a long bike trip, so I took them to Bandafassi, an easy trip just 12k or so down the main road. From there we climbed to the top of the mountain (only a 25 min ascent, but kind of straight up), it was beautiful. Hopefully I can steal some of their photos after they get back to Europe. We spent that afternoon in the pool at the Relais eating warthog sandwiches; I know I work really hard here. It was nice meeting them and now I have travel contacts in Madrid, Milan, and Poland, thanks giardia!

The installation of the new volunteers went well and they’re all very nice. It’s hard to believe I’m a sophomore already. Joe, the PC bike repair guy, came down with the install car to fix all our bikes. He finished fixing my bike the other afternoon, so I finally got to leave yesterday afternoon to go home! The ride was great, until a bit outside of Dindefelo my rear gears started making a lot of noise, skipping, and occasionally derailing. I got into Dindefelo and just before I left to head back to Pellel, I checked my back gears…The new rear-gear assembly that Joe had just put on had sheared off and was wobbling all over the place. I took off the back tire and the assembly fell apart this is what I found.

that's all supposed to be one piece along with what's still on the axel

I wound up spending the night in Dindefelo at Lili’s place; she and some friends who were visiting from Spain had a car leaving the next morning to go back to Kedougou. Luckily I was able to get into that car with my broken bike (along with the PC Kedougou house bike that was lost down the river, but that’s another story for another time). We stopped along the way in Ibel to take a short hike to Iwol, another town along the same ridge that I visited with my Polish friends. Here are some photos of the view.

So that brings me to here and now…stuck back at the regional house in Kedougou. It wasn’t what I expected, or intended to do. I’ve been dying to get home since I’ve been gone so long, but I had a lot of fun because of getting sick and having my bike break…here’s to the bike trip back to site again tomorrow morning.