how remote am I??

One of my friends, Nate, from the States recently asked me how remote I was in my Peace Corps post. He was living in the "bush" in the states and comparing to the vision we have, perhaps of the typical Peace Corps life. isolated in a tiny village "en brousse". And the answer is probably not as remote as most would imagine, yet still a different life. I have an interesting post in that I have both worlds. Being on the major highway, I am only a 30 minute drive to the capital city of my province, where there is internet, hospitals, a lot of modernity and technology, although not necessarily fast! You can get basically anything you need here. Although definitions of "need" tend to change after living here for a while, which is a good thing. Yet my village is still small, poor, with very few amenities. While I couldn't call it "en brousse", a term we use to say out in the bush, really out there, as one might imagine a "typical" peace corps post, I could and do sometimes refer to it as "en brousse" socially or economically, in terms of the fact that it is certainly not the city. All inhabitants are farmers, French is not commonly spoken, electricity only came recently (in August?) and is only in a few houses in the village, there are only open wells used for water (the newly installed pump, also in August, just broke this week), income levels, living situations, and lifestyles are as much "en brousse" as any other post "way out there." So I think I have the best of both situations (although not a fan of living so near the main road). I am able, when I need, to get to the office, to use internet (if its not out for the day), to go to the doctor, etc, a lot more easily than some of my postmates who are more farther removed. However, I have the village Peace Corps experience that might be what one expects or envisions when I am in village. Sometimes finding a car to Garoua takes a while. You sit on the side of the road and hold out your arm until a car with space in it stops. Sometimes private cars pick you up (I've ridden with Catholic sisters from Ngong, and with Sodecoton workers in which I've had great work conversations!) But usually its in "taxis" which are regular beaten up cars that run the route Garoua Ngong all day long. Five passenger cars fit 7 or 8 people, 8 passenger vans fit 16. Sometimes I get out to the road and wait only 5 minutes. Other times I've waited an hour and a half (at which point I start to reconsider traveling at all!)
In terms of isolation, even posts much more removed have volunteers nearby. Peace Corps tends to place people in "clusters" so in villages that are pretty close to each other. And at the same time, if you stay in your village, even very near major cities, you can feel isolation (if you want) of never speaking your own language, of living in a foreign culture, etc. Each Peace Corps post is different, especially taking in consideration other countries. One of my stagemates has a friend doing Peace Corps in South Africa, where she has an "office" where she works every day with an ocean view and internet. I'm happy to be on this side of the spectrum...the more villag-y side. So I think that answers that question a bit, and hopefully helps those at home to maybe have a better picture of how remote I am.