I forgot to add chocolate chip cookies!

Real quick entry before going back to village... I got back to bobo last night from our little side trip all together to the south, but before I go back to village today I wanted to share yesterday with you all, because it was a hell of a day...

We took a cab to the waterfalls from the place we were staying, and already it was 6 of us crammed in a car that had 4 available places (nothing abnormal here). About 10 min into the drive it starts drizzling a little, and the roads are already awfully covered with large rocks, water holes and just thick mud everywhere. About 10 min from the actual waterfalls, we hit a patch of REALLY large rocks covering the road, and the driver just continues driving over them with this beat-down, full beyond capacity little green taxi.... thud, thud, thud, screeeeeech, thud, grind, grind.... halt to a stop. Yes, the rocks did a number on the underside of the car and we came to a stop on a muddy back road in the rain, which had begun to get a little harder now. Yippy. We all get out, and after taking a few "yup, this is Africa" pictures, the guys (all but Josh, I want his parents to know) began pushing the cab through the mud and over the rocks.



After going a couple of feet, there was a large puddle of oil and gas on the ground, so we know for sure this car is going nowhere. Rain getting harder. Two guys drive by on a moto and stop to help and offer to walk us the rest of the way to the falls. OK... so we walk about 20 min til we finally get to the falls. I walked most of the way barefoot because it was easier than walking in my flip flops, since they just sank in the mud and kicked up mud on me and my clothes with every step. Oh, by the way, I chose to wear a white skirt yesterday - brilliant! At least the rain eased up by the time we reached the falls. I'll email pics soon of this scene.

Anyway, the falls were really beautiful... large, cascading rocks with flowing water everywhere,

hiking trails galore,

amazing jungle-like trees everywhere.

Really breathtaking, (aside from the microscopic worms we were forewarned about that could be found in the water and invade your body). So what could ruin this perfect picture ?? Well, funny you ask, because many things...

After getting a call on my cell that 2 volunteers missed surprise site visits and had to get back to their sites ASAP - (I will leave out details for the sake of the 2 of them, but in my opinion, the PC is surprisingly more corporate than I ever thought it could be, and we have a lot of ridiculous rules that make a hard life even harder) - we book out of there as fast as possible. But we have no ride since our taxi broke down, right? A pick-up truck passes us after we decide to start walking and we hitched a ride in the back cab with them, thankfully, into town, packed our bags and caught a bus out of there rather quickly. Well, good thing we were in a hurry, because not even half way into the bus ride, the bus broke down. Everybody off. Day turns into night, and about 30 min later, a 2nd bus comes along to bring us back to Bobo. Helluva day!

Can I please add chocolate chip cookies to my list of things to send me ?? - soft, chewy cookies. drool.......................................................................

I'll be back in touch soon, i catch transport back to village in a couple of hours. Let's see if I can't make ONE trip without a breakdown... If not before, I will be in Ouaga for a training session in early September, so I'll add more then.