Finally in Bamako

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The bus trip finally ended after some more great hospitality (the guy next to me shared his dinner with me and let me use his cell). The Malian boarder guards want plenty of bribes. We had to pass a hat around the bus to collect for them. It was too late when I arrived to get a hold of Baidou’s uncle Yousouf who’s supposed to look after me, so I spent last night in a hotel. I slept until 12:30 as I was so tired! I then moved to a dorm room where I met an American Anil and a Japanese guy (who’s on a 4+ year bike trip!).
Anil and I are the same age and get along well. We are supposed to hike Dogon country together. Today after I failed to get a five country visa at the French embassy because they no longer exist I called Yousouf. In 10 minutes he picked me up in a Mercedes with all-leather interior. He then took me to his aunts funeral, where I met the deputy commander of the Malian border guards (all of them!) and had lunch. He then bought me some water and dropped me off at his pad, where I’m staying for free. Awesome! He’ll be back at 7 pm and we’ll pick up Anil and hit the town, hopefully.

Also, last night three Sikhs, Anil, a Nigerian and myself were chilling out at the hotel. All we needed was the Japanese guy to flush it out!

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