The big city of Djougou (pronounced like jew goo) is a quick 45 minute drive up the highway. The method of transportation I described in a previous post, taking zemis, is nonexistant here in Pelebina because it's not a big enough city, or, it's not a densely populated area, rather. To get around up here in the north, people (who don't have their own motos) rely on taxis. Taxis are usually old chinese-made 5 seaters or station wagons stuffed with 8 or 12 people, respectively, that operate usually during normal business hours by passing back and forth between big cities. For example, a guy with a car will work as a taxi driver between the big cities of "A" and "B." Other taxis operate between cities "B" and "C." Thus, if you live in A, or somewhere between A and B, and want to get to C, you will flag down a taxi in mid-route on the highway, get off at B, go to the taxi station and find a taxi going from B to C, which will depart once the taxi driver finds enough people to fill his car. As previously stated, the taxis are stuffed with people. It is common knowledge here that cars can fit 4 people across each row. Thus, a 5-seater accomodates 8: 4 people in the back, 2 people at shotgun, one person straddling the stick shift, and the driver. A station wagon, similarly, will accomodate 12. Every taxi driver has an assistant who helps load and unload the passengers' cargo that gets lashed to the roof of the car, which is usually so much stuff that it at least double's the car's height. This assistant will stand on the bumper and hold on to the roof rack if the taxi is at capacity. If it starts to rain, he squeezes inside anyway. a
So, for me to get to Djougou, all I have to do is walk out to the highway and wait for a car to pass. If the car stops, I argue a price for taking me to Djougou, strategically find a place to sit that will allow full blood circulation in my legs, and breath only out of my mouth for the next 45 minutes. Occasionally, someone with a car who isn't a taxi will offer you a ride because they want to look important (riding with a white person) to the people they drive by on the highway. I don't worry about getting robbed because there's very low crime here, and people who have their own car dont want the money, they want the status. Plus, if they do for some reason decide to rob me, the joke's on them. I have a Peace Corps salary. And it gets refunded to me anyway by the bureau.
As easy as it may sound to get to Djougou and find an internet cafe, I have been restraining myself from taking this trip for another reason. The people in my village seem a little hurt when I leave. They try really hard to make me comfortable here (getting my water for me at the well, cooking dinner for me, gifts of fried dough, fashion advice, cup after cup of "local brew") that I feel like a jerk when I leave all the time the first few weeks I'm here.
So blogging, as you can see, has several deterrents. Hopefully this is temporary. I am planning on looking into options for satellite internet, that would entail buying a USB signal receiver and buy internet credit up in Djougou just like I would buy phone credit. Unfortunately, for some crazy reason beyond my comprehension, the USB receivers work with all computers EXCEPT those with a Windows 7 operating system. Working through the Stages of Grief, I have passed the stage of Disbelief when I tried it out myself with another volunteer's receiver. I am now at the Bartering stage, which means I am going into the service provider's HQ in Djougou and make them figure out how to get internet out of the sky and put it into my computer. I'm assuming there HAS to be something I can download to make it work with W7...right? I also heard rumors that if I buy an internet phone and link that to my computer, it could work. On verra, as they say in France and West Africa (aka, we'll see).
Anyway, as I'm sure it is very fun to read a blog about how I cannot blog, Ill move on to new topics:
So I was panicking for the first couple weeks here. I couldn't find food. Luckily, I had blown almost all of my move-in allowance the weekend before moving to here from Porto Novo on lots of packaged food (rice, pasta, canned vegetables, tuna, etc) in anticipation/fear of this. In retrospect it was a good move, although I am still mostly without furniture. What the locals eat around here is mushed yams, sometimes with some oil/tomato sauce, for breakfast lunch dinner. Yams here are different than in the US. They're white, like a potato, except they're more grainy. They're about 18 inches long with a diameter of maybe 7 or 8 inches. They're prepared by putting chunks in a hollowed out stump, and smashing them with batons for about 30 minutes, releasing the starch and giving it a doughy consistency. Aside from starch, I've eventually figured out where to go and how to get things I want to eat. Still not exactly a wide selection of food, as I'm sure you can imagine, but it works.
I know in a previous post I talked about going to the king's palace and getting a village name of Woroo (or however you spell it). Up until about a week ago, I thought this was all a little excessive for a small town with one buvette, one mosque, and no food. Turns out Pelebina is a kingdom (the fact that it has a king should have tipped me off) with MORE villages than just the one I'm living in. Seventeen villages and several nomadic camps, the center of which is also called Pelebina, the same name as the kingdom, and the source of my confusion (a situation akin to New York, New York). During my In-Service-Training (IST), I have to report to the bureau several things about Pelebina, including a map of my area. Here is what I have so far:
The thick line is the highway. The thinner lines are dirt roads, and are definitely not that straight. From what I can gather, the highway stretches about 30 kilometers from Gbessou to Wassa, and so the kingdom is somewhat circular with a radius of about 15 kilometers. There are schools and mosques in each village, but the only health center is in Pelebina centre.
My next step for the map is to locate farmlands, water sources, mosques, restaraunts, trash heaps, rivers, soccer fields. Anything of interest, as well as a helecopter landing zone and evacuation protocol in the event that I need to leave quickly, such as a life-threatening illness, a coup d'etat, or if an American priest burns a Koran (seriously).
So as time passes, and my village realizes that trips to Djougou don't mean that I don't appreciate their hospitality, blogs should become a little bit more regular. Very regular if I can figure out the satelite internet situation, which is what I will go do right now. Wish me luck.
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