Day 54 - March 3

What an excellent ride today...  very hot and very tough but an excellent ride.  We rode 66 miles on unroads.  Unroads can be described as... at one point there was a road and at a later time there will be a road but at the present time there is not a road.  So therefore it is an unroad.  Ok, ok, you spend the time I have spent in the saddle of a bike in Africa then you can start making up words too.  :)

Anyway, it was rough going with rocks and loose gravel and at times red dust about 10 inches deep.  Those were the toughest times because you would come upon it with some speed and it would rob you of your momentum.  Then you would try to power through it.  If you were lucky you would make it.  If not, you would spin out and potentially end up dropping into a big poof of red dust with rocks hidden within or walking.

I know what you are asking yourself... so where is the excellent part that made the day so good???  Well, it wasn't just one thing it was a collection of moments that happened through the day.  Since we were on the unroads there was a steady stream of people walking.  We spoke with a group of boys who were walking to school.  What a delight!  If this were Ethiopia they would have been throwing rocks.  Instead, they were very engaging, nice and polite.  They were amazed that we were making the journey that we are. The boys were part of the Masai tribe.  I asked where their school was, they pointed.  I looked, there was no buildings of any kind in sight for miles.  I asked them if it was a far walk and they replied it was.  They do it every day to and from. That is dedication.

We came across a group of women later in the day.  Several were dressed in colorful tribal attire with an intricate designed headdress and multiple necklesses of beads.  But others were in more traditional attire.  One was an 18 year old school girl who spoke English.  She was articulate and engaging.  It was great to hear about them and their ways. One of the women had a baby and was breast feeding her baby.  It was so natural and beautiful.

Several other tribal women that we came upon later in the day wore tribal garb with multiple beaded necklaces and no tops.  It was like something out of National Geographic.

At the last coke stop of the day we saw several Masai men who I would categorize as warriors.  A couple were quite intense looking and when we greeted them with a wave and Hello were only returned with a very grimacing stare.  Most carried a couple of sticks and had a sheath for their knife.  One had a stick that had a metal piece on the end with holes drilled in it.  Thinking it was a flute or some type of a pipe we asked him what it was used for.  After a bit of time to understand what we were asking, he motioned that it was to hit people over the head.  The other hard wood stick was to do the same.  Then he pointed at the knife and made a motion across his throat meaning it was to kill.  When I say knife I mean more of a 2 foot long oblong blade with a large handle.  Not your ordinary 4 inch blade type knife.  A very serious one...  One of our staff who is from the area says the Masai train the boys by having them walk on thorns.  This teaches them to walk softly and to endure pain.  He says it also teaches them to be aggressive.  

At another time a boy started running with us as we were riding.  He kept up with us at about 25 kph for a good distance, impressive!  And lastly, there was one Masai herder who started running with us as we rode.  He was carrying a steel spear that was about a meter long with a formidable oblong and sharp head.  Needless to say,  the pace of cycling increased rapidly... 

See now you can see why it was an excellent day.  So many varied experiences for the day...

Here was one who was herding cattle along the road.  He was so excited to show us his "western" style shirt that he had on under his cloak.

Here is another cattle herder we came upon.  It is hard to see in the picture but he has pieces of ear with beads that stick from his ear and extend a couple of inches from the top.

I feel we really saw a true picture of Africa that was unfiltered today.  :)