What Do You Do When It Is 110* Outside? You Walk 92 Km, Of Course.

So, it’s hot outside. And what do you do when it’s hot outside. No, not just hot. Hot season hot. You walk 92 km, of course. My friend, Josh, and I, did not want to attend the Hard Core party. This is a party that happens in the northern most part of the country to celebrate all the volunteers up there having to go through hot season. The party site is in the Sahel which is probably one of the hottest places on earth, as temperatures up there are easily 130* during hot season. There was also a Soft Core party all the way in the very, very south. This is for all the volunteers in the South, and pretty much anyone else who wants to come, who have the easy life during hot season, where it is only about 110*. Josh and I did not want to travel all that way. So we decided, “Hey, let’s just try to die instead.” We mapped out this elaborate trek where we would start in my village and go all the way up north (almost to Ouaga). About 200 km in total/ 40 km a day. We made it about 92 km in two days, and on the morning of the third day, he quit and hailed a bush taxi home. He quitting is understandable because he wore Chakos, which wasn’t the best idea for the trek, but I commend him for making it as far as he did. I did not want to finish out the walk out by myself/ I did not think it would be safe for me to do so. So, I stopped walking as well, and just came to the capital. However, am I upset that I did not get to finish the trek? No. A bit disappointed but then I realize in life, it is not always about the destination, it’s more about the journey to get there. We had fun though. The first day of walking was mostly en brousse so we really had no idea how long it was to get to Bagre (a large village that would be our first night’s stop). Once would get to Bagre we would pitch a tent and camp out for the night. Not only did we not know the distance, but either did any of the locals. After walking about 10 km, we decided to ask a local how far it was to Bagre. We new it was about 30-40 km. The local tells us. Oh, it is 15 km. 15 km?!? We say Bagre slowly and then spell it out and we repeat that Bagre is 15 km away. The local shakes his head, and is like, “yeeeess, of course I know Bagre. It is 15 km away.” We thank him and walk up a bit further and ask the next person. This person tells up 12 km, next person 4 km, and next person 50 km. It seemed like the closer we got to Bagre the number of km that the locals told us just seemed to go up (and asked we asked like a million locals.). Along the way, little kids would love to come up and shake our hands (sometimes in throngs), would then proceed to follow up for a good distance, and ask us why we were making this trek. It was somewhat Forrest Gumpish. We had like an entourage of little children. The adults, on the other hands, were just mystified and confused why we were walking 200 km. I think for some villages that were all the way out en brousse, they may have also never seen a white person before. Along the way, we ran across the Burkinabe marathon record holder who was training for the upcoming marathon in Ouaga. He invited us over for breakfast and to meet his family and also gave us tips for our trek. He was extremely nice. Turns out he was originally from Zabre which is my neighboring district capital. Small world.