New Years in Tamba

So yea been 5 days since new years but i should write up what went down for that. Like my entries said, i was stuck in Tambacunda until the third. Kinda screwed my new years plans for going up to Saraya and visiting Aaron and his site, but o well. instead Josh a volunteer from Missira, Nathaniel who is a volunteer in a village 6k off the road to Missira, Danny from Kolda, Erin from way the hell far away, and Krystel from Dar Salam all went camping on the banks of the gambia about 40k away from Tamba. It was a really good time. It took us a while to get there as we took a kinda weird way that did a little bush whacking so to speak. Instead of taking the long way around on a good road we cut a corner that saved us maybe 5-10k. It was fun but sands a bitch. During the ride i talked to Nathaniel a bit and while he was from long beach, he went to college in wooster ohio. Small world really. It took us about 4 hours to get out to the camp site because of a number of factors, a large-ish group and carrying a bunch of stuff. but it was a really fun ride, but thats coming from someone who likes riding bikes.
So we get to the camp site around 6-ish with a little bit of light left for a few folks to go for a swim in the river. josh actually managed to get 6 gazelles ( bottles of beer) intact to the camp site actually really cold. He Used his therma rest as a case and packed it with ice. Hell of an idea and it worked really well, so after are long dusty ride we were able to crack open a nice cold beer on the banks of the river. Really well worth the ride. After the swim and beer we get to work on dinner and a camp fire. Well the camp fire first then the dinner as the one was contingent on the other. I have to say that this was probably one of the best camp fire dinners ive had, def up there with the pasta i had in the sierra's with chris. Hard to believe but it was damn good. So we had pasta, easy enough, but also made a pasta sauce with all sorts of fresh veggies that we brought with us. Another factor in the equation that makes it that much better was that it was all done without a stove, all over open fire. The dried herbs and oil and vinegar that were added just gave it that much of a push to tip it over to the best. To cap it all off we had a few sweet potato's for desert. I have to say that the sweet potato's I've had here are quite possible the sweetest veggies I've ever had, and very desert worthy. oh yeah josh is a vegan and Krystel was in america hence the veggie heavy meal.
So we ushered in the new year sitting next to a camp fire on a really gorgeous camp site next to the gambia river. The next day we kinda have to deal with the problem that we overlooked coming out to the site. Water. While we camped near a town called Djariko or something, water purification was a must. Boozing the night before left the campsite rather parched of water come the next morning. So all morning, minus a lovely little dip in the gambia and a ridiculously good breakfast of oatmeal and tea, water boiling was the name of the game. Worked like a charm till we decided to stop in a large-ish town on the way back, Gulumbu, for lunch. But we get about 4/5 liters out of our water purification efforts. Really really warm water that is, almost hot water. If i got a cup of tea like this id be really happy, and no dad you wouldn't be as you like yours really really hot and it wasn't quite there. A very interesting experience and it didn't get me sick, well not yet anyway so it did its job. mmmmmm smokey water, ill never forget that taste, almost like starchy smokey. Mush have been the pasta we cooked the night before chiming in as well.
After the swim and subsequent powwow to decide to break camp and head to Gulumbu for lunch, we start cleaning up the bomb blast that was our camp site. Tents down claiming the odd sock or flashlight we repack the bikes and hit the road. On the ride back up to the main road i spotted some monkeys running across the trail way up in the distance. Yay Africa. But this ride is just as fun as the last one for me. Only this time I'm carrying the large metal pot we used for cooking. All the while were trying to stay hydrated with the almost hot water that really Isn't losing a whole lot of it warmth as its rather hot out as well. Krystel had a few little packets of gatorade-y type stuff that made it a little better but still pretty damn warm! We make it to Gulumbu though and get some bad ass chebajen. Thats the national dish here rice and fish, very oily as they dose the rise with a a good portion of oil. Really tasty after a nice bike ride though. Since were in a larger town everyone else decides to take an al-hum minibus type thing back to Tamba as they were a little tired after the two days excursions.
Its here where our paths part as i decide it wouldn't quite be the same rolling back into Tamba in a car when there is nothing wrong with me kinda like cheating. Well not cheating but i went out for a ride and id be damned if i didn't finish it. it was only like another 35k or so. So i take off while they're loading up their bikes onto the bus. Started off pretty well with pretty good time just kinda zipping along now that i was on my own at my own pace. unfortunately the wind had other ideas. I had either a side wind/headwind for almost 2/3rds of the way back. makes it quite a bit more interesting. Now this accompanied with the huge portion of delicious chebejin i ate right before hopping on my bike at the hottest part of the day produced a lovely oily mix in my stomach. With all this in mind i still made decent time getting back to Tamba. About 15k out a guy i had passed earlier was talking to someone and sprints after me and is real friendly and rides with me for the rest of the way to Tamba. Nice to have someone to ride with even if our communication is minimal. But i make it back to Tamba in about an hour and 45 min.
The day after this all goes on, the day after i decide that its about time to head back to Kédougou. This times out really well as Kevin is getting back from Koalack and wants to keep on going to Kédougou in one day. Well that does end up happening just greatly delayed. So Kevin makes it to Tamba around 6-ish. There are two cars waiting on two people to be full and leave for Kédougou when i get there about 10 min before kevin and it looks like it will work out real well. Well not really. Right before kevin gets here they give the seats to two other people and we get shafted with an empty car that we have to wait on to fill. Another guy shows up so it might not take all night at that rate, but no one else shows up till 10, when one other guy shows up. So all the while we've been sitting there waiting for our car to fill, a minibus type thing is sitting next to us waiting to fill up as well. Well around 11 they finally come over to us and offer us two seats on that so they can leave right then. We take it as does one of the other guys from our car. The wait in the garage was kinda neat though tedious. We drank a box of wine and sat around talking with a vendor from Guinea who made us an egg sandwich which was really good. It was a good little sit if anything else even if i expected to be back before the time we left.
Well that would put us in at about 3 if we left at 11, but we were committed at this point so we went for it. The first thing that we did was to go somewhere in Tamba and sit for about an 1/2hour so the driver could eat i think. That was great, and then when we were leaving the city limits we got stopped at the police check point for another good 10/20min. So all and all it took another 45 min for us to actually leave the city. Other then that the ride was uneventful and we made it in by 445 and promptly went to bed. but it worked out and we were back which was really nice.