la brusse is how you call in african french to all those towns away from the city which you usually see in tv and look like taken out of the highetr neolithic period. well, in segou I rented a bike and biked to a town nearby, called segkouro or something lmike that which was the old capital of the region of segou. it was beautiful, rural, there was a wedding that was on its fifth day, its suppoused to last a week, and there I was invited to sit, drink water, and then tea, in the usual order. then a griot [View Full Entry]

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first off, let me tell you that my eye hasnt healed yet. if you know me you will know how I love to complain, so I needed to say it. whenever the eye gets better some windy day of dirty transport fucks it up again. anyway, I pretty much have gotten used to looking like a pirate and not having stereoscopic vision, furthermore, when I open both eyes I kinda have vertigos. so much for the depth; never liked that 3rd dimension. now segou, it is a lovely little city by the niger river, one of whose main chatrms is still [View Full Entry]

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The plan was to take the train from Tamba to Bamako. But you know what they say about plans ... We wanted to take the train because we were ready for a different sort of transportation, besides the bone jarring, jam-packed, dusty, sweaty minibus travel we have been doing for so long. After inquiring several times at the Tamba train station, and having our hotel call the station, we found out that the scheduled Saturday train may come on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or ... Once we were sure that it would not be arriving on Saturday or Sunday, we [View Full Entry]

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Tamba-Segou Tom Griffith According to the United Nations, Mali is the third poorest country in the world. Now, I'm not sure how they come up with these rankings (it tells you here), but as someone from the third richest country, it sure feels poor to me. So how do Malians manage to be so open and friendly? I don't know. And why did the guy in the shop I just popped into, offer me some of his lunch? Again, I don't know. But Malian [View Full Entry]

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