Halfway to Timbuktu

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As I wrap up my two month stint in Mali, I
> thought I would fill you in on some of the little
> escapades I have taken around this country of sand
> and
> grass. Because the rains mostly cooperated with us,
> we finished our work a bit ahead of schedule.
> Consequently I have had some time to do a bit of
> this
> country with a surprising amount of things to see.
> As
> the title implies, I did not, unfortunately, make it
> to Timbuktu, the ancient center of trade and
> learning
> on the edge of the Sahara. Nor did I go to Mali's
> second most famous attraction: Dogon Country. The
> DOgon people have developed a complex cosmology and
> built their dwellings into the sides of cliffs,
> decorating them with exquisite wood carvings. Hey,
> my
> mom always appreciates when I have reasons to go
> back
> to exciting, exotic, vaguely dangerous locales like
> West Africa!
> OK, now that I have told you where I haven't
> gone,
> a little bit on where I have. In Djenne, I saw the
> largest mud structure in the world - a mosque most
> recently rebuilt in the beginning of the last
> century
> in an ancient Sudanese style exuding past glory of
> empire and conquest. Mali was the home of three of
> Africa's greatest empires, its namesake the Mali
> Empire, Ghana and Songhai. In Mopti, I gazed at
> vendors hawking slabs of salt from Timbuktu, live
> chickens, dried animal skins for warding off evil
> spirits, and a thousand other things on the banks of
> the Niger River, the lifeblood of Mali. I went to
> Siby to climb the slopes of the Manding Mountains,
> not
> the heights I reached by summiting Fuji, but still a
> sufficient elevation to get a good look at one of
> the
> prettiest parts of Mali - orchards of mango and
> papaya
> trees, fields of corn and rice, and the rest of the
> mountain chain extending far into the distance. In
> Sikasso, I explored the remnants of the French
> colonial empire in the last Malian city to surrender
> -
> an old French colonial tower, ruins of the walls
> which
> once encircled the city twice and the palace of the
> deposed last king.
> Mali is a developing country in every sense of
> the
> word.l With few paved roads,a bewildering
> assortment
> of vehicles, and no concept of on-time, traveling
> here
> is always an interesting experience. In Mali, one
> travels by camel or moped, by donkey-cart or
> Mercedes
> and of course everything in between. I have tended
> to
> stray towards the middle of the spectrum; bush taxis
> and buses. The former are converted French Peugeot
> mini-vans with all seats removed and replaced with
> wooden benches. They are a sort of inverted
> clownmobile; there is seemingly no end to the number
> of people (and animals) that can fit inside one. I
> particularly enjoyed being squeezed between two
> elderly women with a half-dozen cackling chickens at
> my feet. Mali drivers have no compunctions about
> squeezing in pregnant women, putting children in the
> laps of strangers and inviting straggers to take a
> seat on the hard, cold floor. For longer rides, I
> prefer the relative comfort of buses, but Greyhound
> (not a panacea itself) they are certainly not. For
> my
> trip to Mopti, I took the bus. It left two hours
> behind "schedule" after all the passengers' luggage
> was hoisted haphazardly onto the roof and stopped
> approximately 27 times, managing 500 or so miles in
> a
> mere 12 hours. We stopped for the usual reasons:
> gas,
> lunch, passengers coming and going, and one very
> Muslim one: to pray. Muslims must pray five times a
> day. Each time the older male passengers would
> disembark, unravel their prayer rugs on the ground,
> and pray to Allah.
> Of course, when one travels, it is necessary to
> eat. Although to my mother's dismay, I tend to
> forget
> on occasion. The staple/specialty of Mali is...rice
> and sauce. Peanut sauce is the most popular, and
> gumbo, a green paste from from okra (a vegetable)
> the
> most repulsive. Gumbo brings back memories of
> fermented soybeans, national delicacy (but not for
> the
> faint of heart) in Japan. In all the sauces, the
> ingredients are cooked until they are cured of any
> microbes as well as drained of any possible
> nutritional value. On the road, of course, one has
> more options. In Mali, they fit into two general
> categories: street food and restaurant food. Street
> food consists of grilled corn on the cob, brochettes
> -skewers with chunks of very chewy meat, blackened
> fish, hard-boiled eggs, and rice and sauce. For
> breakfast, Nescafe - instant coffee - is ubiquitous,
> served often with mayo sandwiches. The soft,
> flavorful bread, a legacy of the French, makes even
> a
> mayonaise sandwich somewhat special here. In
> Bamako,
> there are bakeries where one can get French
> pastries,
> but the old warning about not judging a book by its
> cover applies. They may look very nice on the
> outside, but their culinary value leaves much to be
> desired. For quenching thirst, there are bags of
> water and homemade juices at a nickle a pop, as well
> as the omnipresent Coke and Fanta. I have yet to be
> in a country without seeing either of them in every
> hamlet, village, town and city.
> At restaurants, particularly in Bamako, there is
> usually a variety of Western and Middle Eastern
> selections, steak, hamburgers, falafel and kebabs
> (Most of the finer establishment and hotels are
> Lebanese-owned. Malian entrees include rice with
> meat
> and vegetables, couscous, nile perch fish from the
> Niger, and of course rice and sauce. My personal
> eating highlight are mini bananas. They may be
> solid
> black on the outside, but on the inside they are the
> softest and creamiest you will ever find.
> Now I am back in Ouelessebougou for my final few
> days here. I don't have much more to do save write
> up
> a final report and take a trip to see a few more
> villages in the general area. I am supposed to go
> to
> Bamako with my co-worker to see some world-famous
> Malian music, but like everything else here the
> music
> scene is rather unorganized. We may just go to an
> American restuarant instead. I am going to miss the
> warm, friendly people here and the tea, but I am
> looking forward to returning to the land of
> Tropicana
> orange juice and New York bagels and - it should go
> without saying - my friends and family.
>

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