Best Part Of Waking Up Is Dolo In Your Calabash

Dolo. What can I possibly say to describe dolo? Dolo is the local beer. Upon first taste, the words warm cat pee come to mind. While I have never consumed cat pee, I am thinking that this would be a euphemism for dolo. However, like most things here, the more you try it, the more you like it. Now, I actually really like it. I have started to think that it tastes more and more like a funky, diluted apple cider. There are two types of dolo: the fermented kind(alcoholic) and the non-fermented (non-alcoholic) kind. My first actual morning at site my three moms were like, "come on, Brittany, we are taking you somewhere." I was thinking to myself, "great! I am going to meet some neighbors, to the market, or something of the like.” Where do they take me at 8:30 in the morning? Why, to a dolo bar of course! Here, the best part of waking up, is not Folgers in your cup, it is dolo in your calabash(a wooden bowl). Now the next day, a neighbor comes over after breakfast and they of course bring dolo. I assumed they had brought the non-alcoholic dolo over that morning because I saw one of my moms give her baby some. Sharing dolo is a big custom here--and you normally offer it to the people around you/ offer it to visitors. As they say in Rome, do as they Romans do, I thought I would carry on this philosophy in Burkina. So I offer my dolo to my 8 year old and 15 year old sisters. They both decline and I thought hmmmmm...okay. A few minutes later I thought to myself, I wonder which of the two dolo's I was drinking (they both taste pretty much the same). So I say to my sisters, "Just curious, would this happen to be the alcoholic dolo?" to which they reply "yes." Of course it would be. Nice, Brittany. Real nice. Note to self: check to see if I am consuming an alcoholic drink prior to offering it so small children. I guess they must have brought over BOTH types of dolo over that morning. Whoops.　But then the next day, much to my dismay, I definitely saw one of my mom's offer the alcoholic dolo to her two year old! While witnessing this event did not make me feel any less guilty about my accidental attempt of trying to corrupt the future of Burkina, I did not feel as bad about the "little" mix-up. However, after seeing this, it definitely made me re-think the mix-up and think that　the neighbor had only brought over one type of dolo that day.