Runnin down a dream

Ampazony is a neighboring village to the south of my site. It is a much larger village and home mostly to farmers. To get there I have to bike or walk 10 Kilometers on a sandy and hilly unpaved (obviously) road. The trip is approximately 3 Kilometers forest and 7 kilometers desert. I mean desert purely in the aesthetic sense, as my region gets a fair amount of rain in the short rainy season (started two days ago, btw). Anyway, crossing this section of "desert" (and I really hope I am not confusing the spelling with dessert) is hell. There is no shade, there are no people, no breeze. The sand reflects sunlight and radiates heat. I often find myself pleading, "Seriously Moses, how much longer? I think we've been lost here for like 39 days, how bout we just call it quits and go back to the pharaoh."

Ok so you get the point. It's a miserable hot hell. So last week I had to go down to Ampazony to meet with some people, eat some rice, yak about farming, blah blah. I woke up before dawn and get on my way before the day really begins to heat up. I finish up with everything around 11:30. I'm not excited about crossing the desert at noon, but I had some stuff to do back home and I was most of the way through Starship Troopers (much better than the movie, btw) and wanted to get back and do some reading in the hammock before I had to teach english that evening. I think I had a point to this story... yep, here it comes.

SO, my friend in Ampazony asks me for some plastic tree pots that I had just bought, but were in my hut. I agree to give them to him, so asks his two sons(ages 10 and 11)to follow me back to my village to retrieve the pots. Certainly, I think, he means for them to come retrieve the stuff later in the afternoon. No, they are going to follow me back right away. Surely then, they have bicycles to keep up with me. No. Ok, well then at least they must know where my hut is so that they can find me later that afternoon. Yes, they know where my hut is.

Fine, so I'm off. I go racing down the hill and then dismount for the tedious climb up the first hill. The sand is about a foot deep at this point, so the bike is useless. By the time I am halfway up the hill, the boys have joined me. We chat for a while, I give them some water, and at the top of the hill I say goodbye. They look puzzled. I peddle away as they run beside my bike. I think, "these poor kids are going to die of heat stroke, I better leave them in the dust so they give up the running and settle on a much more reasonable pace. I take off. They keep up. Several K later, they are still right there with me as I walk my bike through a particularly sandy section in the road. We eventually reach the forest perimeter, 3K from my town. I am drenched in sweat. My water is gone. My legs are wobbly. The kids have hardly broken a sweat and are clearly not even winded. Now I'm pissed. I will not be outpaced ON FOOT, 10K by two little children when I have a damned bicycle. As soon as I hit solid ground, I race off, full speed. I am overjoyed to see the boys run off into the forest. Clearly they have finally given up on chasing me. I slow to a normal pace and begin to enjoy the shade of the forest. Just outside the village, I see some children playing in the road. I'll be damned if it wasn't the same two boys standing around waiting for me after finding a shortcut through the forest. I race past them yelling, "Engakenganaaaaah!!" (Hurry!) Now it's a race. It's official. I round a bend in the road 10 meters from my house. I'm standing on my bike. The kids are 25 meters back. I'll show them! Obviously, I crash right then and there. A pedal catches on the sloped embankment of the road, knocks my foot of the pedal and the bike goes crashing into a (thorny) satrana shrub.

The kids come rushing over, helping me to right my bike and dust me off. I wish I could say I pushed them into the dirt and ran for my hut. Instead we laughed it all off and walked over to my hut together.

GG noobs.

Comments

[JoLynn]

Keep the stories rolling! They are truly entertaining. I'm glad you have a bike and smart little kids to play with!

Love and miss you.
Your big sis,
JoLynn