Off to Costa Rica with a Lay-Over in Iowa and Wisconsin

December 20th we arrived in Minneapolis for a 13 day lay-over. What brought us back to the midwest? Our son, John´s, wedding! After celebrating Christmas in Medford, WI with my family we headed to Decorah for the start of the wedding festivities. There was alot of hussle and bussle prior to the wedding. The wedding took place on Saturday, December 29with no worries. Molly´s white and red wedding dress, the bridesmaids´ red dresses, the candles, lights and poinsettas in the church along with the Marine presentation was the perfect combination for a very beautiful and moving ceremony. Ward and I are very happy to have Molly a part of our family. We would also like to thank the budwegs (all the Budwegs made it to roll call), the Spreens and our friends for sharing this special moment with us.

Still no time for zzzs. We celebrated bringing in the new year with the Putnams, Schweinefuses and Rockweilers and then participated in the annual New Years´ Day bike ride to Bluffton. Unfortunately the temperatures decided to drop below zero degrees windchill which made "warm skin" cream accompanied with sanity a must.

It was a VERY good visit and great to see everyone but now its time for warmer weather. Costa Rica here we come.

The First Chapter of Our Trip is Completed...Europe and Africa

On December 12 we returned to Spain to pick up our bikes and gear that we had stored while we were in Rwanda. Then we headed south...yes, back to Africa. We biked to Tarife, Spain and took the ferry to Tangere, Morocco. The Muslim community gave us a very different experience than our prior African experience in Rwanda. Many people were very persistent and eager to help us. Once I kindly and firmly asked them to quite following us they receded. A large percentage wear the traditional Muslim dress, scarves and cloaks. The numerous open markets offer a variety of items ranging from scarves to fruit to meat products. As a dietitian I had a bit of a problem with the unrefrigerated raw meat hanging from the booths openly exposed to the heat and flies. We enjoyed the tradional local foods but made sure everything we ate was cooked!

After Morocco we returned to Spain and biked to Lisbon, Portugal. We noticed people in Spain and Portugal don´t decorate for Christmas as extravagantly as Americans but they do have the "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" at every street corner.

The European portion of our trip consisted of 23 countries, 22 languages, 16 currencies, 5600 miles, 8 flat tires, 4 brand new tires, 3 cracked rims, 9 headaches...and a partridge in a pear tree.

We made alot of new friends in Europe and Africa and have learnt that people are people...no matter what their religion is, the color of their skin or the language that they speak. Everybody has a heart and almost everybody wants to help. We won´t be able to repay these people for their kindness because it was pricelss. But, we can pay it forward. Thanks Europe and Africa for an unbelievable 6 months!

Please see our e-group for a more detailed report of this portion of our trip. If you are having problems receiving our e-groups please email us and we will email the egroup to you directly.

Rwanda Mission Trip..."You Never Know Unless You Ask"

"You never know unless you ask." Those were the words spoken by our friend, Frank Pollari, before he asked Ward and I if we wanted to join him on a missionary trip to Rwanda, a country recovering from the 1994 genocide. The purpose of the mission was to build a library in the new Nu-Vision Missionary High School which was headed by Martin and Evelyn Rusanga. After a couple of hours of contempletion Ward and I gladly accepted.

For 3 weeks we worked side-by-side with Frank, Lacey, Len and Mary, all from Thunder Bay, Canada. Ward and I had the challenge of building and assembling 60 shelving units with 1 inch plywood and flathead screws that would snap in half. During this process Ward started to speak a new language *!?**?! Meanwhile, Frank, Len and Mary worked on assigning dewey decimal numbers to the thousands of books delivered from Thunder Bay. You can challenge Mr. Librarian (Frank) with any topic and I guarantee that he will be able to tell you the dewey number for it. Lacy worked deligently matching books to the science curriculum and designing the lab. After many long days the project was completed. Frank, Ward and I celebrated by drinking some banana beer (it was strong and sweet). Len and Mary stayed in Rwanda to help with the hiring of the school staff and assist in the opening of the school which was scheduled for the beginning of January 2008. Lacy was hired as the science lab teacher and returned to Rwanda after Christmas to start her new job in Kabuga, Africa.

How is Rwanda recovering? They continue to progress and develop. However, they still struggle with an underdeveloped infrastructure. The electriciy and water supply are unpredictable and many roads have not seen a maintainer since 1984 which makes four wheel drive a must. They still have 70% unemployment rate which results in a mass amount of people walking the streets at all hours of the day and night. However, this percentage does not indicate levels of motivation...quite the contrary. The Rwandan people are out at 6:00am standing with shovels or homemade hauling carts...hoping to be hired. Bikes are used as taxis for transportation or to haul food, chickens, wood or charcoal to the market. They carry baskets filled with fruit, water jugs, wood, linen, etc on their heads. They are hardworking substance farmers.

Rwanda is one of the cleanest, friendliest and safest places that we have visited so far on our world trip. It has been a life changing experience. Thanks Frank for asking the question.

Subject: "A Change of Pace"

This is a continuation of our experience in France...as we said before we were repairing bikes and staying at the guide house for Trek Travel in the Provence area of France. While we were there we acted like we were in the Tour de France when we climbed Ventoux, 26km at 10% grade, 75kmh on the downhill (again no pacemaker necessary). The work was so done so onto the Loirre Valley, Beaugency France. We spent 10 days with family and friends at the hunting lodge...riding to castles during the day and enjoying time with family time at night. We took in the Paris to Tours Stage Race where Petacchi, the jet, thrilled the crowd with a sprint finish. Team Discovery looked good as well.

On to Paris for 2 days where we took in all the sites...Eifel Tower, Notre Dame, Arch de Triumph, Moulin Rouge and many more. The highlights were the World Rugby Finals in Paris and to be part of the country to country rivalry.

October 23, 2007 we were off to "stomp" in Switzerland, the bags were heavy from a week with family. The French Alps and the Swiss Alps take no prisoners (long and steep). We hit the perfect time, the leaves were as pretty as Northeast Iowa. A couple of days in the Geneva, Switzerland area and our budget said "Go to Spain!" Temperatures were getting cold also...fog and 34 degrees F in the Alps, even our morning coffee from the camp stove could not warm us. The rule of "not cylcing below 50 degrees" was broken, and broken and broken. A new guideline was instituted "no biking below 40 degrees F (this is just a guideline...NOT A RULE).

Spain welcomed us to a celebration in Gerona. It takes them all week to celebrate one "Saint"...and I'm not sure how much celebration actually had to do with "All Saints Day". What band starts playing at 11:30 pm??? And the same band is playing at 4:00 am??? ...Rock Star CEUs were obtained that night (CEUs = continuted education units).

From Genova...to Barcelona...to Madrid...to Merida, Spain gave us Spanish cultural and the largest desert in Europe. We then went from Merida to the route "Via de la Plata". We are following the Roman route to the silver. Temperatures are now around 80 during the day and 40 at night....still camping...snuggling closer.

We are heading to Seville to take in some flamenco music and to meet some of the other team members that are going to Rwanda.

Check out our e-group, photo gallery and sponsor page for future listings.

Let us know if you are having trouble receiving e-group messages and we will send them direclty to your email addess.

We try to be prompt in our postins but it depends on computer accessability.

Adios everyone,
Jacky and Ward

Italy, Mediterranean Sea, France

Before we were able to leave Slovenia we experienced the "Bora" winds. One night the winds blew at 80mph for 2 hours straight. We had to brace ourselves up against the inside of the tent to help support it and keep it from collapsing. Quite a scary night.

We finally made it to Italy. As stereotyped, they drive fast and aggressive, talk with their hands and like their wine. We've had many special experiences in Italy. One biker lead us to the town we needed to go to and then brought us to his favorite watering hole. A mailman invited us to his house for lunch. Neighbor campers brought us wine and then had us to their site for a homemade after dinner drink.

We toured... through beautiful (and romantic) Venice...biked the coast of the Mediterranean Sea with its magnificant hues of blues...and gambled at the Monte Carlo Casino (Monaco) in honor of our friend Dale and won 170 euros!

The temps are now in the 70-80s and we are in Bonnieux, France (south France). We are staying at the Trek Travel guide house while Ward works for them for 10-13 days (or whenever he runs out of work). We are enjoying France's scenery and the kind people.

For more details on our travels please sign up for our e-group postings. If you are having trouble receiving our e-group messages please email us at budwegadventures@yahoo.com and we will send it directly to your email address.

Bye for now. Ward and Jacky

travel pictures

Heading South into Austria, Hungary, Croatia,and Slovenia.

The Czech Republic was very interesting as were part of Rotary meetings and homestays. We headed south into Austria and then the Europe most of are familar came back to us. We started using the Euro again and prices were a bit higher.

We found more mountains in Austria and also that brought wine. Jacky liked that about Austria.

After Austria we headed into Hungary. We celebrated our 8th anniversary in Hungary. The terrain was flatter and things were very reasonbly priced.

Croatia was a pass through country. We had a beer and lunch there. Tim and Sue Broderick sponsored our time in Crotia. Very similar to Hungary and very friendly.

We have been in Slovenia for about five days. Two days of rain so we are getting caught up with computer time. The country is very beautiful and the roads are very steep. Super friendly people and they are very hospitable.

Tomorrow we hope to reach Italy.