Every year, the volunteers in the Kedougou region of Senegal host a few days of fun and festivities for the Fourth of July. There's something about being abroad (and pseudo working for the US government) that makes volunteers excessively patriotic on national holidays, this one especially. Kedougou is easily the most beautiful of Senegal with lush forests, rolling hills and picturesque waterfalls. This year, some friends and I decided to leave a few days early and take the long way south...by bicycle.
The original plan involved leaving the comfortable pavement of the national highway to bushwack our own more exciting path. The first two days involved 70km of dirt road cruising and a less than successful interaction with Guinean border patrol. Once our entry was denied, we caused a minor international incident when we decided to hop on a camion (really big truck) filled with fruit for a 5 hour ride back to the national highway. After about an hour of waiting and negotiations we were on our way on top of a container of citrus with a dozen Guineans. Apparently, the guards didn't want us to get on the truck "in case it rolled over," but I suspect they were just looking for an easy bribe.
Hours later, we rolled into the trading city of Diaobe - home of the largest open air market in West Africa each and every Wednesday. From there we caught another car to crash at another volunteer's house before starting the second leg of our journey.
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