To Dogon Country and beyond...

Well here we are after spending the last few days walking from village to village along, and up and down the escarpment that runs through this beautiful part of Mali. Our jornuey here was absolutely one of the most interesting jorneys as of yet, both in watching the landscape change and the events of the day.

Ougadougou 4:00 am, alarm sounds. The boys get up headed to the bus station to catch their 6:00 am bus. Complication 1 at 4:15 - the taxi driver has not shown up, eek! Stroke of luck #1 - the hotel security guard wakes from his position sleeping on the reception desk (yes, I mean sprawled out on top of it as if it were a king size mattress) and escorts us into the eerie darkness of a city that sleeps. 200 yrds. up the road later, we see a taxi parked on the side of the rode. We awaken the driver, sleeping in the back seat. He opens the door and appears before us in a cloud of smoke as if a Genie exiting a bottle. The smoke carrying the heavy flavor of mosquito coil. No time to fus though, must get to the bus station. We get in the car, gasping for air, the car has one barely working headlight and there are not street lights to speak of. By 5:00 am we are sitting outside the bus station amidst scores of men, women, and children sleeping just about anywhere a human body can curl up. By 5:45 am we are sitting in the front seat of the bus, watching the mechanic, head in the enging comârtment through an opening in the floor directly next to us. 6:30 am, the engine finally turns over, filling the entire bus with toxic fumes. Eric runs for his life, he stops to look back and watch the cloud consume his traveling companion. 6:45 am the bus leaves.


This day continued for a total of 18 hours. I can't go on like this or I will surely lose my mind on these French keyboards!! ARGH!! The highlights of the day include watching the scenery become more areid as we travel on that bus for 4 hours,
getting dropped off in some border town and being told the next bus will show up in 3 hours,
2 hours lqter being told the next bus hasn,t shown up in 2 days,
being taken to a broken down minivan which we are told will take us over the border,
seeing the carborator on the ground,
waiting another 2.5 hours,
another minivan shows up,
as we attempt to renegotiate and get our money back the first one starts,
finally on the road to Mali, 3 flat tires 3 hours later, we arrive in Koro,
a huge mass of 50 or so angry Malains begin to swarm, angry that we and the 2 italian tourists with us are leaving town (a kind man was negotiating a price for us that would be fair and they were mad he wouldn,t let them overcharge us),
night falls (enter scary music),
finally the chief comes and sorts the whole mess out,
2 hours later we arrive in Djigaboombo --- Dogon Country

We make arrangements to go on a 3 day hike through many small villages. Day one consisted of Djigaboombo - Kani Kamboke - Teli. Day two Teli - Endi - Bagatalo Day 3 Bagatalo - Indalou (the most sacred of all the Dogon Villages) Our guide Aly has been amazing. Each village has had a slightly different feel to it. We have slept on the rooves for the past few nights under the milky way, being lulled to sleep by the brays of donkeys echoing off of the 300 foot escarpment on the edge of town. we hiked 1/2 way up to an ancient village built into the side of the cliff. It is said that the pygmys, known as the Tellem, lived here before moving to camaroon. Beautiful surrounds, amazing music echoing from the village, the realization that Mike erased ALL of the photographs kind and sincere people, interesting architecture, etc..

Oh wait, did I forget to mention anything about the 541 pictures and video clips from Ghana and Burkina Faso have slipped into oblivion at the fingertips of my techno-savy traveling companion. It was an accident and these things happen. I could go on about the details for a long time, but I think it best if instead we take a moment of scilence in memory of the lost 541.

Accra, Cape Coast, Slave forts, Elmina, Brenyu Beach, Kakum National Park, Rope Bridges, Crocodile feedings, Weaver Birds, The Ferry Ride, Our Friends From the Trip, The Elephqnts, The Lion Poop, the Bqboons, The Volta River, the Rainbow Over the Volta Bridge, The Canoe Ride, The schools, the people, the places, sufing in Brenyu, the Monkeys, the houses, the door of no return, . . . . . . ................................. . . . . ................................. . . ........................................................................... . ...................... . ............................ . ....................................

so kevin, I'll still show you my pictures when I get home, just not as many. Its probably better this way.

We are headed to Mopti tomorrow after a couple days of R and R. It seems the food here in Mali hasn' t quite agreed with either of us. Whether or not we can make it to Timbukto is yet to be seen, it is doubtful.

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