Hello!
It's been an amazing three days...and I have no excuse for not blogging, except that I was completely caught up in all the fun.
On Monday, we rolled into Bobo from Isy's site at around 10:30 AM. We went straight to the Bobo bureau so that we could shower, dress up, and finish our speeches for the ceremony. It turned out to be incredibly chaotic, as there were something like 30 volunteers all in the bureau, all at the same time. We all went out to eat at Trois Karite (our local, often-frequented restaurant)--I think all 30 of us were there--and then headed out to the ceremony.
Our plan was to bike as a group to the Governor's house. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain right before we had to leave. We, however, being of stout minds and bodies, decided to go anyway. We were all SOAKED to the skin by the time we got there. Lookin' good for the Governor!
It's been an amazing three days...and I have no excuse for not blogging, except that I was completely caught up in all the fun.
On Monday, we rolled into Bobo from Isy's site at around 10:30 AM. We went straight to the Bobo bureau so that we could shower, dress up, and finish our speeches for the ceremony. It turned out to be incredibly chaotic, as there were something like 30 volunteers all in the bureau, all at the same time. We all went out to eat at Trois Karite (our local, often-frequented restaurant)--I think all 30 of us were there--and then headed out to the ceremony.
Our plan was to bike as a group to the Governor's house. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain right before we had to leave. We, however, being of stout minds and bodies, decided to go anyway. We were all SOAKED to the skin by the time we got there. Lookin' good for the Governor!
Julie Lishansky, Rachel Whetstone, Katherine NOlte, Lorena Gonzalez, and Coleman Donaldson all spoke at the ceremony, followed by Zallia and the Governor. Coleman did his whole speech in Jula--very impressive. The ceremony was brief (which was great, since we were all wet and freezing), but highlighted volunteer work at site, the bike tour, and gender and development work, in general. Good times.
Tuesday--yesterday--was our much anticipated day off. It was the first day that we haven't biked since the 6th of September! We all slept in, of course, and then had the most random, wonderful day. As chance would have it, it was yours truly's birthday. Everyone chipped in to cook a delicious brunch (home fries, scrambled eggs, and chocolate chip pancakes) and then we hung out for the rest of the day. It was wonderful. I think we got a little hyped up on coffee (REAL coffee!!), because we ended up donning our bike shorts and dancing around the living room for about 4 hours...we made up dances, did human pyramids, and of course photo-documented everything. I think we made some good solid headway on COS dance party planning...
This morning we were back on the road with 12 riders (the regular 7, plus Isy, Lorena, Steph, and Kat). It was HILLY, and one of the hardest rides we've had so far. The ride was 81 km; the fastest time was 3 hours and 35 minutes, but the rest of us came dragging in a good hour later. The average speed was 22.8 kph and the fastest speed was 45.7 kph. The hills were so steep that I started biking in a switchback formation, trying to reduce the incline. I got quite a few stares.
Ben and Sarah (site mates--Althea's out of town) greeted us in town with cold beesap and water saches. Hands down the sweetest, best tasting beesap I've ever had. It was a great welcome and Ben and Sarah are truly troopers to put up with 12 people showing up and overrunning their houses. Thanks, guys!
Marita was our "sweeper" again today--yay, Marita!--as you can see by her broom. The sweeper of the day (or the last person, who stops with anyone in the back and takes care of any flats, etc.), carries the broom on the back of his/her bike.
Bed time!
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