Are we in the middle of no where yet?

I am sure that my mom has annoying memories of this, but when I was young on road trips my reoccurring question was always- are we in the middle of no where yet? We would drive through the Central Valley in California and I would ask my favorite question, disappointed that within a minute of asking I would see another freeway exit and fast food restaurant. I never reached what I imagined to be 'the middle of no where'. Well I am pleased to report, years later, I finally feel satisfied. I have found my 'middle of nowhere'.

For my Birthday celebration I took a trip down to the Kedougou region, 150 km down the road from my site. After being treated to an amazing, delicious meal at a 'fancy' restaurant, making brownies and spring rolls, and watching '30 Rock', I felt like my American needs were fulfilled and could make my way to my Chrissie's village for my birthday. A gentlemen from her village was kind enough to give us a ride in his ancient truck, so during a rain storm we loaded into the car, only vaguely finding shelter from the storm.  

Once we arrived at Chrissie's home, I found that her family filled their roll as welcoming Senegalese hosts. A chicken was purchased for dinner. While it was not exactly well cooked, I was pleased to finally eat my favorite meat in a village. After playing with children and being proposed to by several women to marry their husbands with them, we played cards and went to sleep early, preparing for our bike ride the next day.

 

We embarked on our bike ride around 7 am, not realizing how long of a day ahead of us we had. In the beginning there were a few road blocks, literal and figurative. Starting with a dog that would not get out of my way so I accidentally hit it. Ops... I promise it was fine! Next there was a group of protesters, blocking the entire road and refusing to let us through. We slipped through the village, carrying our bikes through compounds and over fallen trees. A typical day.

We reached the town of Saraya where we stopped for breakfast, and discovered that our ride was 40 km longer than we thought. Ready to bike over mountains with a bag of peanut butter, bananas and bread, we left during the heat of day. And man was it hot!! Kedougou is beautiful, green, mountainous, and humid! We slowly passed through small villages where woman stood in pools of water, panning through the murky fluids in search of gold. This is the region where gold was recently discovered, making the culture and economy change dramatically in a short period of time. Evidence of significant wealth is omnipresent but is always paired with the extreme poverty, those who are actually searching for the golden flakes. 

Getting up from a lovely lunch break, I realized that the marker for the next village was not for another 20 km. We continued into the unknown, sweating through a hill that was at a continuous incline for 3km. When I finally saw that a downhill slope was near I gathered the energy to look up from the blacktop, and felt a wave of satisfaction- this is the middle of no where.

For miles upon miles surrounding us, all I could see were the tops of green rolling hills, clumps of tall trees paired with overgrown grass and the faint outline of the black road we were following. No village, car, person, donkey or sheep was in sight. This is the epitome of the middle of nowhere. 

The final 10 km were painful. The kilometer markers seemed further and further away, and when we finally pulled into our destination city all I could think about was a good shower and clean bed. We spent the next day wishing we had the energy to explore the city's surroundings. Sadly, due to my coughing fits and Chrissie's sore legs all we could do was stare at the lovely backdrop, play Rummy 500 and remember yesterday's accomplishments.