Djougou to N'Dali

We completed the 130 km ride today from Djougou to N’Dali, by far our longest of the trip.  It was quite tiring.  Eleven hours of riding.  Lots of remote country and villages that have clearly seen few white people passing through, much less on bicycle.  Tons of attention, lots of cries of batooray! (the Bariba term for white person).  Stopping to eat a rice & bean morning meal, we had over 50 people gathered to stare at us while we ate.  Brook was particularly uncomfortable with this attention.  To me it just felt like old times.

Tomorrow’s destination: the city of Parakou, where I worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer for three years, training people to build fuel efficient mud stoves for themselves, and raising trees in a tiny nursery at my home village.

Ever since we decided to return to Parakou when planning our trip, I was unsure of whether it would be a positive or depressing experience.  Google Earth images of the city made it clear that the city had grown considerably.  I didn’t recognize much and couldn’t locate Thian, the village where I lived a few miles outside Parakou’s outskirts.  Had Thian been swallowed up in the city’s growth? Will the intimate Bariba village feeling have gone, its residents replaced by independent, suburban dwellers who all speak French? 

Will my old house still be there to see?  I had worked to make that house comfortable and grew fond of it, despite its lack of electricity and running water.  Not long before leaving this house in 1989, I carefully planted one of the seedlings of the flamboyant tree beside it.  The flamboyant is a favorite tree of mine.  I hope to find the planted tree there as I’ve envisioned it, full size, canopy shaped, providing shade to the south side terrace and entrance to the house.

Would I be able to find any of my old friends?  After 22 years, it’s likely that some will have died, some will have moved to other cities to pursue employment or be with family members.  Those that I might succeed in finding – would they be upset with me for being out of touch all this time?  Will their livelihoods have changed for the worse?  Would they expect my financial help?  Would they treat me as warmly as they once did?

- John