Watching the Birds

From 3/22-

Went out to my friend Kim's village, Bella Kujo or something like that. Took a ride out on a small, bouncy, and very leaky boat, one could say canoe I guess, to see the birds. It's interesting how the river shrinks down to a series of disconnected lakes during dry season with luscious grass lands in between; great for bird watching and cattle grazing. Actually, there were thousands of birds (and many cattle as well). Mostly these black water-birds. Kinda like a small duck/loon mixes. Saw some herons and even a hawk as well. Took a bunch of pictures; too many as usual. (And I found out later that I hadn't cleaned the lens of properly before shooting so I had lots of dirty pictures.... such an amateur mistake... grrr.... Guess that's all I really am no matter what I would hope to become)
Guess this has been my first trip into the bush, at least my first trip unsupported by a Peace Corps car. My first real bush taxi ride, though to be fair we did get an open back truck so it wasn't that bad. Shared it with a sick fulani woman and her two attendants (mother and... sister maybe?). She was in bad shape. Couldn't even stand up on her own. The bastard driver tried charging them 15,000CFA to go to Gaya (for perspective we paid 750 each). Finally he ended up getting 5,000CFA, still way too much. We stayed in the truck and made sure he drove them straight to the hospital in Gaya. Me and my buddy James both gave them a parting gift of a couple thousand CFA to help pay for meds, transport, etc., but it really wasn't looking good for her. Sad.
Happy note: Watched the finals of the local CEG football (soccer) tournament today. CEG 1 won, my closest CEG and where I have my French lessons. I was happy for the director, he's a good guy. Good match. Ended 1-1, even after extra time. Went to a shoot out, which was even up until the 13th/14th shot.
Tomorrow is Easter. Plans: Play football in the morning, go to church, watch more football, work on radio show, make Pico de Gallo, eat Pico de Gallo, maybe get a couple beers with Okey later. Should be a good day.

Follow up: Check out my photo album of birdwatching pictures. Fulani women turned out to be okey. It was a lung condition of some type, but I saw here sister a couple days later and she said the women was going to be ok. Good to know. Easter was a good day, Football and more football. No Pico de Gallo, but had some good homemade spanish rice like food anyway.