Day 6: Tenado > Reo > Koudougou

Weather Sunny, clear and hot
Hosts Andrew and Emma
Terrain Muddy patches near Reo, but otherwise rough dirt
KM 37
Ride time 2hr15min

As seen through the eyes of Chris. . .

It seemed as though we left Tenado as quickly as we had arrived. After a quick breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and peanut butter sandwiches, the tour pressed onward to Koudougou. But not before stopping at the mayor's house one last time, and him joining us for a few kilometers.


He had hosted the riders the night before, even going so far as to rally the community to wait for us by the side of the road. Though the mayor told most of the people in village we were arriving at noon, we came into the Tenado market as dusk hit the countryside. This meant most of the welcoming committee had been waiting by the side of the road drinking millet beer for several hours. It was a raucous, chaotic scene with a welcoming line, darting flashlights, and kids and animals everywhere.

Once we finished all the hand shaking, the mayor invited us to his house. He was proud of his clever introduction scheme: we were to state our name and what we'd like to drink. In addition to our host the prefect, village chief, and my counterpart - an onion union representative - were in attendance. We presented him with a thank-you certificate and he distributed his business cards. The night went late, and we politely yawned until almost 11pm.

Getting back to the following morning, the mayor met us by the side of the road and insisted that he join the tour. At that point, we weren't in a position to say no. Standing 6'6" tall he makes it difficult to refuse.


After taking some pictures we pressed on to Reo, the capital of the Sangiue region. In Reo we met with an incredibly organised women's group that focused their labor on soap making, mango drying, and shea butter production. We taught them a new recipe: a body cream that uses leaves from the neem tree to repel mosquitoes. Since the two pricey ingredients (shea butter and soap) are made in-house, their costs would essentially be nil. We're hoping they'll use the recipe to help ameliorate the high prevalence of malaria in the region, especially during this rainy time of year.


It was a quick jaunt over to Koudougou, where we'd be taking a day off and recovering from three straight 100+ kilometer days.