fun Bilanga-Yanga to Fada

This was my third day on the bike tour. My name is Al, I’m a girl though. We woke up hella early which wasn’t that bad cause we had a delicious dinner the night before. After big meals it’s always easier to sleep. A very gassy friend of mine and I shared a bug hut, but it didn’t stop me from getting the rest needed to conquer the 130 kilometer day ahead.

It was still dark when we left so Nana, the driver, followed us closely until the sun came up. The brights on the car kept the road illuminated enough for us to see the numerous potholes in the road. Most of us biked in a line during this stretch but a few brave soldiers sped off into the darkness with the moon and their headlamps lighting the way. Impressive. They crazy.

After the sun came up I noticed that the color of the dirt was much lighter than it is in the North of the country, where I live. The millet was way taller too. The moon stayed around even after the sun came up for a while. Slowly more and more people began waking up and heading out to the fields, greeting us with confused smiles and welcoming waves along the way. The road was rough but fun, it was like playing a video game for the first 50ish kilometers to Koupela.

We stopped for a little less than an hour to eat breakfast and stretch out before continuing on to Fada. I had a satisfactory omelet sandwich and water. I took my time getting Bara Jii (a delicious beverage that comes in a little bag, tastes like capris sun, and claims to give you energy) from an alimentation so everyone left a few minutes before me. The road was all paved for the 80ish kilometers to Fada from Koupela, dieu merci. The pavement made it feel hot but pedaling was much easier than on the dirt roads. There was a good amount of wind but it went side to side instead of head on so it didn’t really matter. The altitude here must be huge because I feel like we’ve only been biking uphill these past few days. Fada is probably on top of a tiny mountain or very large hill.

I arrived last in Fada. I wasn’t feeling to well so I took a lot of breaks, one of which turned into an accidental nap. There was a very annoying child there who watched me nap and demanded my water bottle.

Fada was awesome. Our hosts did a great job organizing a fair on our day off where a bunch of NGOs got together.

There were skits from theatre groups and talks about malaria, violence against women, moringa, nutrition, and other important things like that. There were at least 100 people there. Some groups sold things too like clothes, snacks, drinks, etc. It seemed fueled by a lot of local participation.

The food in Fada is pretty baller too. I think that the best meal that I’ve had in Fada was the oily steak and green beans with bread and fries. The fried chicken the night before wasn’t bad either. All in all, this leg of the tour was tough but superand totally worth it.