Blogs from Mali, Africa - page 7

Geo: 14.1446, -3.58635After the initial disappointment of not going to Timbuktu as expected, we resolved to try and enjoy the schedule change and hope for the best with respect to the new promises of the river trip to Timbuktu. We were hanging out in the bar/restaurant of the Pas de Problem Hotel enjoying a pretty reasonable facsimile of a cheese omelette and fried potatoes (is it possible that we're sick of Couscous already?) and the guide showed up to introduce us to our travel companions for the Dogon trek- a couple of Swiss guys (Toby and Roger) and a guy from Holland (Doug). They seemed very comfortable speaking English which was a second or third language for them but the 2 Swiss guys had to be disappointed- they had also had an encounter with the ever-industrious ... read more

Geo: 13.9054, -4.55589As quiet as Bamako's streets had been in the middle of the night, they were an extreme of chaos at first light. The whole city was an almost cartoonish representation of every African city you see in the movies- roads shared by vehicles of all descriptions (some defying, by many years, the natural lifespan of any mechanical device), livestock, beasts of burden (including the human variety) , and vendors of all shapes and sizes- anything from a lonely soul selling a limited amount of fruit from a small basket to the more incomprehensible (who buys elaborate bed frames at the junction of busy roads?? And the selection was pretty good). There was some semblance of structure- which probably eliminates Bamako as the worst place to drive through (think anywhere in India)- but practicality definitely ... read more

The following are exerts of emails that I sent out during my time in Mali. October 9, 2009 "Ok, so here's the deal. Yesterday I left Guinea. We can't say we were evacuated, but that's what happened. I'm currently just outside of Bamako. I'll be here for 2-4 weeks. It doesn't look like we'll be allowed to go back to Guinea. But there's no final word yet. You may be seeing me really soon. I don't know what to do. There are some people applying for transfers, but they're all for a minimum of a year. Morocco is out of the question. (They said no.) Transfering seems really daunting, but so does the US." "So, Peace Corps Guinea was evacuated yesterday. I'm in Bamako, Mali now. If we aren't allowed to go back to Guinea, I ... read more

Nous disions donc que "notre périple était loin d'être terminé..." Après ce calvaire routier entre Bandiagara et Sévaré (qui devait en fait être Bandiagara-Mopti) notre mésaventure continue... En effet, pour ajouter à nos malheurs, on se rend compte que ce que l'on croyait être un arrêt temporaire pour notre sécurité (à Sévaré) s'est en fait transformé en arrêt final. Pire, on ose nous demander le même montant que si on nous avait débarqué à Mopti! S'ensuit alors une discussion envenimée entre nous et le chauffeur! Nous sommes vite encerclés par une douzaine d'autres jeunes rabatteurs pas très sympathiques qui commencent à nous crier des bêtises et en insistant qu'on paie le plein prix! Sur les conseils discrets d'un autre malien, on leur remet finalement le tarif entendu moins les frais d'un taxi brousse entre Sévaré et ... read more

Inzwischen bin ich in Mali angekommen und bin nun wieder in Bamako, wo ich vor drei einhalb Monaten aus Suedafrika angekommen bin! Und von hier aus geht es auch schon sehr bald wieder zurueck dorthin, und zwar in ziemlich genau 7 Stunden. Da ich viel zu wenig Elan habe um mir noch eine Runde Bamako anzuschauen (was sowieso nicht super-spektakulaer ist, vor allem sonntags), kommt nun stattdessen nochmal ein Blog-Eintrag. In Ouagadougou bin ich etwas laenger geblieben als geplant, und zwar nicht unbedingt freiwillig. Genau wie in Togo lag ich am Tag bevor ich los wollte mit Fieber im Bett, sodass die Abfahrt verschoben werden musste. Der Plan war dann, Sonntag loszufahren, was aber auch nicht funktioniert hat, da das Ramadan-Ende war, weshalb es den ganzen Tag sogut wie keine Ueberland-Busse gab. Montag morgen ging es ... read more