Mission to Nowhere!

[aggienaut]

Friday, June 9th, Day 36 - Late yesterday evening I learned today we would be going on a long drive to a town called Bunkpurugu where a bunch of our trainees last year had come from, and we would meet with them, see how they're doing and look at their apiary sites.

   04:50 I woke up, and we departed at around 05:30. We being Dr Courage, the driver Rasheed, Samuel, Williams and I -- the photographer (whose name I have still failed to learn as its not a name I'm familiar with) stayed behind as we didn't have room.

   First we headed north, as the sun rose large and orange from the mists above the shea tree savanna to our right.

   After about two hours we reached our old stomping grounds of Walewale and turned east. The ecosystem seemed to change slightly -- there were now what I'd call palm trees, though my colleagues said these are not palm trees but called something else. They looked like palm trees to me, just not the classic tall coconut palms, more short and stocky type.



   Then as we passed through the village of Nakpanduri (which I don't think shows up on the embedded map above unless you zoom in, but should be right by the N2 marker) we pulled over to examine the back left wheel, which turned out to be flat!

   We had a spare but Rasheed apparently knew of a tire repair place not far away so he hopped on a motorized cart (these things that are the cargo version of what I've been calling auto-rickshaws -- the front half of a motorcycle attached to the back half of a cart) with the tire and they drove off. The road on either side was lined with little shop kiosks in the buildings, and the proprietors of a money transfer business invited us to sit on the porch of their kiosk.



   We were nearly under the above-pictured antennae pylon so we fortunately had good cell phone service -- if this had happened in one of the places between towns we might have had none!
   I observed that nearby on opposing sides of the road were sewing shops with about a dozen young seamstresses each working away at tables with their sewing machines. This is one of the local industries that you see in almost every little village. Its nice to see local garment industries haven't been completely destroyed by people flooding them with their second-hand-donated clothing (I've griped about this before, no one in Africa is lacking clothing but people donate clothing feeling like they're "helping" but all their doing is destroying a local industry and livelihood). I noted that both sewing shops all the girls had a uniform dress, blue dresses with white highlights on the one side and green with red on the other, and for a moment I wondered why they needed to be in uniform while other cottage industries don't necessarily, and then it occurred to me that having their workers well turned out in a specific recognizable signature rig is essentially an advertisement for the sewing shop. It was only after we'd gotten on our way again that it occurred to me I might write about them and would wish I had a picture, so I took one of one of the shops through the car window as we passed back through.
   Also about sewing machines, back in Tamale Williams was jokingly flirting with our server at the restaurant and asking what a traditional bride price was here. I think she said it should be in cows, and he was saying in his hometown (which may be actually Togo?) it's traditionally a sewing machine. To the degree that if the prospective husband knows his desired wife does not want a sewing machine its still money in the specific value of a sewing machine.



   Anyway by and by Rasheed came back with the repaired tire and put it back on the truck and we continued. After Nakpanduri the road became very bad. Finally we arrived at our destination of Bunkpurugu around 10:30 after five hours of travel inclusive of the tire stop. We arrived at the new side of town, where there were relatively new buildings broadly spaced out with just mainly open space between them.
   Here we found Gloria, who had been my translator in Walewale and is an important local figure in the beekeeping community, at her place. She apparently thought we would stay the day and overnight and leave the next day. When we explained we only had an hour and a half before we'd start to head back again it was determined that there wouldn't be time to see the bee sites we had intended to see.
   So we just kind of sat in the shade under the dawadawa tree and talked idly until 12:00 when it was time to turn back. Courage bought two gallons of honey from Gloria, a lump of the fermented dawadawa (locust bean) spice. And then we commenced the long drive back pretty much right at 12:00!

   Bought ground-nuts (peanuts?) as we passed back through Nakpanduri. Stopped in Nalerigu for lunch. Cecilia, who goes to the nursing school there was able to come say hi while we ate. Strangely Sam and Dr Courage didn't eat, which baffles me because by then it was around 14:30 and we hadn't had lunch or breakfast. Once again this restaurant had a fridge with drinks in it but no coke/pepsi. Well stocked with beers but no sodas. I got the one non-alcoholic drink (other than water) they had, a slightly odd tasting pineapple juice drink. Ate about half my jollof rice before I felt full. I think my colleagues are becomign concerned that I'm not eating very much since I usually eat maybe a third of the rice dish we have for every meal, and then for dinner we just have watermelon and mangos. I'm rather surprised myself at how little I seem to be eating but I seem to feel fine regardless.

   Continued, bought watermelons where we saw them being harvested by the road just before Walewale. Stopped in at our old Guesthouse there to talk to the proprietor about something. He was excited to see us. We were disappointed the staff had gone to the market (main staff hospitality girl this year is Faustina, AKA Fausti. I always forget her name until I think about Faustian deals), so we missed them.
   Then we continued again. Stopped to buy yams halfway from Walewale to Tamale. As we approached Tamale the sun set, large and orange, to our right, the perfect mirror of this morning on the same section of the road.



   Finally arrived back at the hotel in Tamale at 18:30. 11 hours of travel for 1.5 hours of chatting under a locustbean tree. I ... wouldn't have stayed back at the hotel if I had the choice again and knew what would happen, because life is about the adventures ... though I was getting rather tired of sitting in the car by the end.


   Back in the hotel an hour or two later, Sam tapped on my door to deliver a hot rice dish ... which took me rather by surprise because we usually only have fruit for dinner and I was still feeling full from lunch. To this moment I still haven't touched it and will put it in the fridge next to two other nearly and entirely untouched (respectively) rice dishes.
   And then much more welcome, Williams stopped by with a bottle full of the "soboko" we'd been discussing with Rasheed. I had been told it was a local ginger drink and his wife (?) could make it. I'd been expecting the typical strong ginger drink I've had in West Africa, which I really like. Well when it arrived it wasn't the chartreuse color of ginger drinks I was expecting but dark dark red. In fact.. it looked a little familiar. I tasted it. I did a quick google. Yes! Soboko is IN FACT the local term here for the drink I'd been introduced to as "bissap" just the other week in Guinea! A hibiscus juice, apparently with ginger here. Which I loooorve so I was very pleased to receive it.
   I don't know why it always seems to be home made, and no one around here is commercially producing this popular drink. Or maybe making it at home is such a cultural tradition that it would be an uphill battle competing with that by trying to make and market a commercial version. Anyway, I certainly appreciate that it's always artisanally home made.

   And now it's 23:26 and we're planning on once again trying to leave at 05:00 tomorrow morning to go to Mole National Park, which should be exciting! So I'm off to bed!