Blogs from District of Bamako, Mali, Africa - page 4

In the days since my last post, I am glad to report that things have progressed quite rapidly (as far as my research and connections go). Instead of jumping straight to that, though, I’ll try to describe the past week’s events in somewhat of a chronological order. On Thursday, we discovered the disappointing news that we would not be able to travel to Casablanca in December. Although we do have plane tickets going there on December 10, the returning tickets, which we don't have, would cost us each about $650, and we just could not justify spending that much. It didn't help that to get to the airline office we had to walk about a mile in the blazing heat through crowded market streets. The only saving grace of that day was that we had a ... read more

Mali, the land of Gold and now the land of music. The time I spent in Mali was very short about two weeks, but I saw a lot and managed to relax very well in a few places. I spent a nice 5 days in Bamako, the capital, a very messy but lively busness, went to a cool night club, very local, lets say. Another highlight was cruising up the Niger River for 3 days on our way back from Timbucktoo!!! a great place to have managed to get to, and YES it was still hard to get to and an unforgetable ordeal even in 2008!!! so Believe the rumors. je je. Though I had minor stomach complaints on the Niger river, we had a private cruise on Pinasse, a local for of wide canoe type ... read more

Im stuck in bamako with a horrible etye infection asking myself why did I put my contacts on with such dirty fingers, I had it coming... btw that I consider rather funny that after a month drinking tap water, from deposits, and from wells that looked fairly dirty, after one month of walking with tshirts under the sun of africa, one month taking the crazy lariam, one month eating with my hands food touched by random peoples hands, one month eating street food covered with flies that looked fairly scary and buying fruits in in the market, one month underfed, one mlonth not using antimosquitoes in africa, one month (I have to confess) using water instead of toilet paper, well, my only health probmem is not diarrea,, vomits, parasites, sunburn, paranoia, skins infection, malaria, cholera, hep ... read more

Hi Folks, What Kevin forgot to mention last night is that I am being treated for Malaria and not dying, really! Thanks for all the love and support. I generally feel a bit better in the morning, and I think maybe the drugs are working (fingers crossed) so I'm up now writing in a slightly dizzy going-back-to-bed-soon state. Kevin and others here at the Djembe Hotel are taking fabulous care of me. Despite fraility of body, the trip up to the desert and back was an incredible experience. The Tuereg people are so so beautiful, in dress, in music, in culture. The highlight of the festival really was watching small circles of traditional Tuereg music and dance while the sun set over the sand dunes, it literally brings tears to my eyes to think about how ... read more

We have had an amzing past couple of days. Thanks to Jeremy and Sega, we have had a fantastic journey to Sega's village 3 hours NW of Bamako. Yesterday morning we loaded up our gear into a minibus, drums, back backs etcs and went off for an adventure...which started with drumming the whole way there! As we passed villages and roadside communities, we drummed and danced and sang the whole way, invoking waves, smiles and dances! We bought muffins, peanuts, yogurt, and drinks from folks along the road, tried not to step on the chickens that we were bringing, nestled on the floors, and watched the landscape of mali unfold. I learned how charcoal is made and papayas ripen from my friend Fadou, cushioned little Abdulayi as he slept, and observed termite mounds and bricks drying ... read more