Blogs from Mali, Africa - page 11

Tuesday 11th November I leave Djenne in the early morning and recross the river Bani on the ferry. I travel through rice fields across the causeway to join the main road to Gao to arrive in Mopti late morning. Mopti is also surrounded by rice fields. In between, yes, you've guessed it. Millet and cattle! The good surface continues but, as it's only 120 miles, I don't have time to get bored. There is also a lot of activity on and at the side of the road. Herds of cattle are being driven to water. There is an endless stream of four wheeled horse drawn carts filled with people. I don't know whether people here are normally reserved. Very few take the initiative but when I do a broad smile and enthusiastic wave is my reward. ... read more

Monday 10 November In the cool of the morning you dig four holes in the earth, put in your poles, tie up an awning, put up your table and your are ready for business. Even at 0700 the Monday market in front of the Djenne mosque is alive with trucks, traders, tourists and very worried sheep. Armed with the camera I shoot anything that moves. I'll never have the time to process a fraction of these. J-M is restless. He has a bad feeling about the place and I sympathise. There is the Djenne of the local population who come to one of the largest markets in Africa to buy, to sell, to exchange news. Dried fish is the biggest single item for sale here. It is bought by families and by traders who load it ... read more

I made my way to Segou, which was the 3rd largest city in Mali and located on the Niger River. I had heard it was a relaxed place for a big city and I was not disappointed. I liked the vibe of the place right away and that my hotel was just a few minutes walk from the Niger River. It was the weekend and there were quite a few tourists in Segou for the weekend. I had to get used to the many calls of "hello my friend" in my direction from the guides, CD music seller, souvenir shops and boat people. At first it made it difficult to have some peace down by the river, but after the first day they recognize you and give you some space. The best time at the river ... read more

Today is our sixth day in Niono, and, I must say, it has grown on me. Last Tuesday, Nora and I woke up at 5:30 in order to be ready to leave by 6am, but that didn’t happen. We probably should have expected that given all of the delays that we had experienced leading up to that day. When the Save The Children SUV finally pulled up to our house at 7:15, it was a relief that the much talked about trip was finally happening. Getting out of Bamako proved to be the tedious part. We navigated through morning traffic for what seemed like an hour before we finally hit the open road. And when I say/write “open road,” I mean it. Even though the way to Niono first leads to Segou, a relatively large city ... read more

Well, it’s been far too long since my last entry, and I’m afraid that this one will inadequately capture the past couple of weeks, but here goes… Considering that the days run together so much for me here, of course the big event of the past couple of weeks was the election. We went with a couple of friends to a bar near the Peace Corps (PC) office in a part of town heavily frequented by toubabs (European and American foreigners). We got there around 8 o’clock our time (3pm EST) and settled in for the long night. The bar was packed full of PC volunteers, and we actually met a few from NC. However, we mostly stuck with the couple of friends that we came with (the PC volunteers were unexpectedly rowdy). I won’t go ... read more