New Years Eve getaway to Banfora

For New Years Eve we took to the road and headed to the southwest corner of Burkina Faso to two little towns, Orodara and Banfora, near the Mali border, for three nights and two days of fun.

Every year a number of families from the missionary community head out there after Christmas for a little getaway and youth retreat. And since Isaak has been working with the youth group this year we went along to share in the festivities.

And we had a GREAT time! We had a lot of fun. The girls had a lot of fun. There were so many people there that we truly love and enjoy spending time with, and the girls had friends there to play with as well.

We went with 50 other people (there were 54 of us in all) and stayed at a Mennonite compound in Orodara. I have learned so much since moving here, and one of those things is that there is a decent sized Mennonite community out here. Really, who'd a thought?!

Well, this Mennonite property had three buildings, two for sleeping and another with a kitchen and common area. The youth stayed in one building with some leaders, and the other building had rooms for the rest of us.

It was a crazy amount of people in a small area, but no one seemed to mind. It reminded me of my Grandma O'Brien's house when all the family would get together there for Thanksgiving, you just found a spot, on the floor or outside, wherever there was room. It was great. I love a room filled with a booming chorus of voices and people scurrying about in varying activities. 

There was even a playground.....Burkina style of course. =) Really, what is better than a bunch of massive tires stacked on each other for climbing?! The kids played here pretty much non-stop.

The rest of their time was spent climbing trees and playing with the chickens....because everywhere we go there are chickens. The girls would wake up at sunrise and run out of our room in their pj's to go and play...you really don't need a lot for entertainment here.....

We left early Sunday morning caravaning it with three other cars, and drove straight there, which was around a seven hour drive.

*let me pause for a little ditty to further document the fall of my pride*

It's inevitable that you are going to have to stop and pee at some point on your journey. There are no toilets to stop at on the side of the road, so if you've got to pee, you need to make like the locals and pee in the bush. Which we do. No biggie. Except (this is very important), you need to keep in mind that while using the bathroom in the bush, you are ne.ver as alone as you think you are, even when you're in the middle of what appears to be no where.

Case in point....there was a large group of us traveling together so to make sure that I got out of eye's view of everyone, I walked over to what appeared to be a remote area behind some concealing bushes. I was in squat mode (keepin' it real here, I could be lady like and withhold that tidbit but, that is the only way to pee and everyone knows it)....when out of no where I hear this very loud and familiar banging sound coming up right behind me and I turn around, with a look on my face that can only be described as sheer panic and mortification, and out of no where a donkey cart filled with people comes driving up next to me! Oh. my. gawsh!!! BAAAH!!!!!! I tried to scramble and cover myself back up real quick, but it was to no avail. There's nothing like knowing you bared your back side to a bunch of unsuspecting Africans out for a nice drive on their donkey cart to bring your pride right back down again. Just when I was starting to regain some of that lost dignity, Africa struck again! Oh, the situations we find ourselves in here. Good times. Goooood times.

This will not be the last laugh Burkina has on our behalf while on this trip.....

For the first day in a half in Orodara we spent most of our time just relaxing and hanging out. There was a volleyball net set up for the kids to play, while the adults sat around talking, reading, napping, cooking.

We spent a lot of time playing games with the teens. And may I just say, I mopped the floor with everyone winning 7 Wonders! Whoop! We love that game...new favorite! 

Chilling with some of my favorite ladies! Oh how I love these gals! We were trying to eliminate some of our paleness, also to no avail.

Then bright and early on the morning of New Year's Eve, which is known in our house first and foremost as Sydaleigh's birthday, a very special surprise was in store. We have a birthday tradition in our home where on the morning of the kids birthday we wake them up to breakfast in bed, along with balloons and signs and cards for them to read before they start their day. But, not being at home, I tried to plan for everything to celebrate Syd's birthday on the road by bringing a frozen pre-baked cake that I made before we left along with frozen frosting and all of her gifts-pre wrapped. But I forgot to bring paper and craft supplies to make her some signs and little love notes to wake up to.

Well, apparently the night before, after I went to bed, (and I went to bed at midnight mind you) Isaak enlisted the help of Lydia (the girls favorite favorite babysitter who sadly moved to Germany this year for school but her family's still here so she was back in town for Christmas break!) and many of the other teens to decorate the dining room with sign and notes for Sydaleigh's birthday the next morning. So when my newly minted 8 year old woke up....she had a trail of love notes waiting for her after all......

The main door and three walls were adorned with notes, pictures and bible verses celebrating Sydaleigh's life and blessing her on another year ahead. I can't even describe what this does to an 8 year old's heart, shoot, what it did to my heart!! It is significant. =)

She was thrilled. And shocked. And I was too. I had no idea Isaak had the kids do this for her. What a great man! Every time I look at these pictures I just cry. It was an incredible gift. =)

After breakfast all fifty of us packed up and hit the road down to Banfora which is about a 45 minute drive south. This was our view for most of the way. It's like fog, but not. =) Just lots, and lots, of dust. Man it's really dusty here.

Eventually we could see again, and as always, it was a beautiful. Maybe not beautiful in a way that many people would deem beautiful, but I have come to deeply love the landscape here. Driving through the countryside and seeing this railroad track extending through the middle of the great savannah, I couldn't help but think of the movie The Ghost and the Darkness. I felt like I was back on this continent in the late 1800's during the big railroad boom. Seems like so very little has changed since then.

The Domes de Fabedougou. A cluster of random rock formations. Isaak is standing at the top in the middle. They look steep, and they are as you can see from the kids climbing with their bare hands along the side, but in many parts there are natural steps leading up to the tops so both girls were able to climb on their own in most places.

Marvelly still managed to hitchhike a ride on Isaak's back in some of the higher steeper parts.

Me and my girl.

Beautiful scenery.

Standing tall!!

My little adventurers.

After climbing for a while we stopped to eat some lunch. There sure were a lot of girlfriends along on the trip. There never seems to be a shortage of girls no matter where we live!

After lunch at the domes we set out to the cascades. Our route? This pipe.

Above is a picture of the pipe from the top of the domes looking out across the savannah. We started on it here and followed it way way way out there, a very long way.

Here is a view looking back to the domes where we started walking....this is about 1/3 of the way....still a long way to walk....

Me, Isaak and Marvi were the last ones. We fell behind as Marvelly walks at a slower pace, but we made it there in about an hour. =) Sydaleigh barreled on down ahead with the other kids and parents and left us in her dust. That girl just runs to adventure. Whereas Marvelly more walks to it, at her own leisurely pace. Both ways are perfectly acceptable. =)

Once you get to the end of the pipeline going straight, it turns left and continues running past as far as the eye can see. We were so far behind everyone else we couldn't see anyone anymore!

Eventually we arrived at the cascades (thankfully Abby came back for us and showed us the off-pipe hike we then needed to take through the bush to find the falls!), and we arrived just in time to see Sydaleigh take her first jump off the little waterfall with Lydia! Isaak quickly swam across the little river to the other side to follow suit! The water was chilly, but everyone at least dipped their toes in. The girls had their swim suits under their clothes, but I just went in the water in my clothes. It felt good just to sit along the banks int he water with Marvelly after that hike! We did end up getting cold so we sat out on the rocks until we dried and warmed back up again....it took about five minutes. =)

To my surprise, this was not our last stop, we had to finish hiking to the main falls, The Karfiguela Waterfalls. You can't swim in these as the water plummets off the cliffs to more rocks below. But we again climbed down a steep rocky ledge to take our pictures by the falls.

(The rock ledge directly in front of me in the picture below on the left was full of bats. You could hear them flying around and squeaking loudly. Bleh.) 

Eeeeek!!! Creeping closer to the ledge so I can see down below. I have never liked the expression, "don't look down!" I have discovered that when standing from great heights, "looking down" is one of the best parts.

It was quite a beautiful vista. I wish I had thought of it at the time, I totally would have started singing Circle of Life and had me a Lion King moment up on the rock ledge. Pretty amazing. There are many images in my head that I think of when thinking about Africa...and looking out over this ledge, I just couldn't help but smile and think, "this is Africa". This wild beautiful untamed expanse of land stretched out before me.

After staying here for a while, we set out for our journey back to the domes. Thankfully, someone drove a car to the Falls (as close as you could get) and we sent Marvelly back with a car full of some of the older people who came along. And the rest of us hiked it.

Upon arriving back in Orodara I had to set to work on Sydaleigh's cake. Before we left I baked and froze five layers, divided them with saran wrap, and stacked them in a tall dutch oven, and then put the whole thing in the freezer again when we arrived. I also made and froze frosting, so that way all I'd have to do is assemble and decorate!

 
Some sweet girls, Holly and Esmarie helped Sydaleigh decorate it, so I didn't even have to do that! And by a miracle that I can only compare to the feeding of the 5000, this cake fed every person!

Before dinner as we were all gathered in the dining room, we dimmed the lights and sang Happy Birthday to Sydaleigh.

And then we went back to our room to open up her gifts. And a bonfire and marshmallow roasting capped off the evening.

Sydaleigh even sent up a floating lantern, right around 7:30pm, when she officially turned 8. It was pretty magical (right up until we saw the lantern fall and we worried it might catch a hut on fire and burn a village down! But before that....totally magical!)

It was a great way to spend New Year's Eve.....

And a great way to spend turning eight. My special birthday girl.

It was a truly special couple of days, filled with so many new memories and adventures with so many great people.

We had a marvelous time. Even though....(here comes the rest of the story, the in between, that last laughs Burkina had....) there were multiple power cuts during the trip, and, there was NO water! The whole town of Orodara had water cuts from about 6am until 9pm every day! That meant NO water all day and evening long to wash hands or flush the toilets. For 54 people!! That's 54 people not being able to flush the toilet after usage. Not being able to wash their hands. When the water did come back on at night we all rushed to take showers, cold showers. The first night the girls screamed like banshees from the cold, but after that, they were fine and took it in stride. You will never know what you can adjust to doing, tolerate, and live without until you don't have a choice. I did remember to bring wipes along, so thankfully I had something to smear the dirt with before we ate. =) Ah, it's all a part of the experience! 

And for the final laugh, no journey here in Burkina would be complete without breaking down on the side of the road! Which we did. =) And after our battery died and we discovered our jumper cables were also duds, Isaak did a little operation and got us running again. I am married to quite the mechanic....which sure comes in handy here!

It was three days well spent. We loved getting to explore more of the country and feel blessed to have been able to spend this time with such wonderful people. This trip was definitely a highlight of our time here!