Longido

The second day of the trip was the longest in terms of biking miles - 65 km or a little over 40 miles, the first 17 km (10.5 miles) on bumpy dirt roads, the rest on paved. By the end my butt and back were killing me! I had to stop and walk a couple times over hills, and to rest. The last 8 km were particularly killer, but I figured I was so close, I might as well finish it up. I was pretty psyched with myself for making it, I'm not going to lie.

When we got to the lodge where we were staying (we being me and the tour guide who was with me for most of the way since I was last), these kids came running over and demanded to be allowed to try our bikes. It was pretty funny playing with them because the kid on my bike wasn't close to reaching the pedals, but he wanted met to let go of him. I don't think he totally got gravity. I was so tired, after 10 minutes we were done.

Later I went to take a shower. There was a shower head that didn't work and an spout that was about knee high. So, I took a cold-knee-high-shower. And it actually felt pretty good.  Since this is a budget trip, we all help with a few things, like the dishes. To wash the dishes they have three buckets which we creatively call "first bucket," "second bucket," and "third bucket." First bucket is soap and sponge.  Second is first rinse and quality control. Third bucket is very hot water for a final rinse. If you're on third bucket you need to use tongs to start. The clean dishes go in a dish rack and then they are flapped dry. If you are on flapping you take a plate in each hand, for example, and wave them in the air until they have dried. It makes sense, but the first time I saw Maura waving plates around, I was so puzzled.

Although it's exhausting, I'm glad I'm doing the bike tour. All of the kids come running to say hello and wave at us, and I feel like a part of Africa, not like I'm just being driven around from animal to animal, trying to spot things. As we went through town kids were hi fiving us and yelling hello across the fields, even some of the adults were waving. I felt like a movie star with all the attention.