The Trip Home

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March 6, 2008
We finished up our African Trip on February 26th, and I haven’t had a chance to write about our last day there (we arrived home on February 27th and left for Toronto on February 29th and have been there all week at the PDAC conference - heard there were 20,000 - 25,000 people attending the conference this year, it was a busy and successful conference for us).

Last Day in Africa
Our last day in Bamako, Mali was quite laid back. Pierre sent over the bag we had left while we traveled to Niger and we re-packed our luggage. We had a quiet and late lunch at the hotel, and spent a few hours sitting in the courtyard under the umbrella in the heat. Apparently it hit the high 30’s that day. We went to one meeting, with WADS, our drillers for some of the projects in the Mali area. I had met Mick last year so it was nice to see him again.

After lunch, Pierre went home for a bit, then came back with a gift. 4 beautiful pillow cushions for our couch - they are beautiful! They are simple, elegant looking, but have a feel of Africa, they are gorgeous (I pulled them out when we got home and they look good on our couch). After adding the gift to our bags, we did early check-in at Air France. It is a great system, you can take your bags to their office for check-in and pick up your boarding passes. All that is left is to head to the airport in the evening. Our flight didn’t leave until 11:50pm, so we still had quite a few hours to hang around. Around 8:30, Pierre picked us up to take us for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. Dani, the owner of the hotel we stay at, also joined us for the meal. He also gave us a gift, a beautiful Touregue (spelling?) box, a large triangular leather box about 3 inches in height. We had already sent our luggage, so Chris will pick it up when he goes over to Mali next. Pierre was going to bring it over when he came for PDAC but there was a mix up with his Visa and he didn’t make it to Toronto.

The dinner was at a neat restaurant, with a large nightclub downstairs. Apparently the nightclub will be packed with almost 1000 people around midnight as it is a very popular site. Pierre and Dani ordered us a traditional Lebanese dinner (they are both Lebanese). About 9 or 12 dishes came out, with small amounts on each dish. There was a pita like bread, a fried thin bread, sauces (homus, tzaziki-style dip, a garlic dip), salads, and meats. There was a plate of deep fried cheese, grape leaf wrapped something (can’t remember what was inside), and even dessert. Chris tried the traditional alcohol, like Oozo, that Dani mixed with ice and water for him (Chris liked it). Dani instructed us on what foods went with which sauce. I think my favourite was a creamy garlic sauce you ate with the barbecued chicken - very, very garlicky!

From dinner, we headed to the airport, with very full tummies! It was a nice way to end the trip. From Bamako, we flew to Paris, then up to London, then Vancouver and finally back to Kamloops. It was a very long trip home and great to get there. The hard part was having to leave a couple of days later for our week in Toronto. As a side note, the conference was excellent and we are just about home again (sitting in the Vancouver airport typing this up while I have a few minutes).

Africa is such a neat experience and I hope I will one day have the opportunity to return!

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Photos

Around Town
One of the sites while driving around Bamako

"Company" While We Sip Drinks in the Courtyard
Guess this little lizard wanted to be a part of our socializing. There are lots of them around the hotel (outside of course), and this one didn't seem too scared. I am fascinated by them.

Outside of Bamako
This photo was taken on our way into Bamako when we had travelled up from Guinea.