Real Mali Blog

Now that I have a moment, I thought I would add some details about the start of our trip.

First let me say that Touba was an experience. We left Dakar at 5 am Wednesday the 19^th in a bus that took about 4 hours to get to Touba. After that we hiked about 2 miles up the main road to see the Grand Mosque. It was pretty impressive. We got a tour of the mosque, drank some holy water and then had to figure out where to stay. Touba is one of Senegal’s holiest cities and therefore there are absolutely no drinking, smoking or even hotel/hostel establishments. Our guide was kind enough to offer to put us up at his house for a small fee. We figured that was reasonable and we needed to crash somewhere so we spent the day at his house, had some good ceebujen, café Touba (their preferred drink), tea and conversation.

After that, we had another real early morning, we left Touba at 6 am Thursday the 20^th and got into Kaolack (still in Senegal) around 9 am. From there, we wandered around town for about an hour comparing local bus companies. We ended up choosing “Africa Tour Trans” because they all had the same price but our company promised us AC. Apparently “AC” means two open roof vents. Oh well. We spent about 23 hours to travel the nearly 1000 kilometers between Kaolack and Bamako. The border crossing between Kidira (Senegal) and Diboli (Mali) was pretty smooth. There was a little bit of traffic there when we showed up around 8 pm but we were able to pay for our visas, get a stamp and roll through pretty easily. Bye Senegal.

So, we’re onto country number two of the epic Africa adventure! Mike and I arrived in Bamako around 10 am on Friday, the 21^st. We stayed in a nicer hotel for a night to recover from 23 long, sweaty hours on a cramped bus. We were able to shower, do some laundry in the sink and relax a little bit. We also took an epic wander through downtown to stake out a nice, cheap hostel for the next night. Let me just say that downtown Bamako is insane. We walked through totally packed markets where boutiques run right up onto the sidewalks where they compete for space with the millions of motorcycles constantly roaring up and down Bamako’s streets. There are people, buses, animals, taxis and (above all) motos to avoid at every moment. It felt a lot more hectic, harried, chaotic, dirty and packed than Dakar. It is certainly a very pretty city, surrounded by hills and cut in half by the majestic Niger River. There are even green spaces and parks throughout Bamako. But it is not a city for the fainthearted.

We stayed at a very basic hostel for our second night in Bamako. We explored downtown again and walked through a really cool fetish market. We saw animal horns, skins, bones and dried heads of all kinds: crocodile, boar, monkey, horse and other unidentifiable objects. It was great! We stopped into a local bar Saturday night and just happened upon the final match of the European Cup of Champions. We watched Inter Milan beat Bayern and the Malian crowd was totally behind Milan, largely due to Eto’o, their famous Cameroonian player.

Sunday morning, the 23^rd, we headed back to the bus station and found a 1 pm bus to Segou, 230 kilometers north-west of Bamako. The trip was less than smooth. We had to turn back after about 30 minutes because the driver sensed a problem with the bus. After a chaotic scramble for seats on the new bus, we were on our way. The countryside was also green and beautiful but we had one (major) bump along the way. The driver was barreling down the highway and an unfortunate herd of cattle decided to cross the road. He honked a lot but they didn’t move quite fast enough. He caught one squarely by the back haunches and sent it spinning off into the brush. The front of the bus was a little smashed up but we came out relatively unscathed (compared to the cow.) We loaded up the dead cow and took it to Segou so that the driver/company could pay the herder for his loss. We didn’t get to Segou until around 7:30 (a trip that should take only 3 hours).

We saw the big Monday market tomorrow and explored the town a little yesterday. It is nice to relax a little in a less hectic town for a few days. Tomorrow, we head to the famous mud mosque at Djenne and then Mopti for a hike through Dogon country.

Take care and have a great week!

Mali

Wish I had more time to update you all. Will post longer when I get a chance. We made it to Mali safely. Spent 3 days in Bamako and what an insane town! Now we are in Segou, it is so hot here! Take care,
Peace

Last Day in Dakar

So, I am coming to the end of one chapter of this trip. It is certainly a bittersweet moment. I am slowly saying good-bye to everyone in Dakar though I know that I will be back in December before I fly to the States. It is still sad to leave Dakar which has become quite close to my heart.

This week has been pretty relaxed. Tuesday I packed up all my stuff and separated out two bags of clothes and stuff to leave in Dakar. I need to learn how to travel light so I have thought very carefully about what I really need with me. Mike showed up bright and early Wednesday morning and we moved into an apartment in the Baobab neighborhood.

The rest of our time has been spent planning out the next few steps of the trip and seeing Dakar. We spent a day wandering around the neighborhood and we walked to the Corniche (the coastal highway). We applied for visas at the Ghanaian Embassy, which is one of the few countries where we need to get visas ahead of time. Most places we can get a visa at the border which makes things a lot simpler. We explored the north shore beaches of Ngor and Virage where the waves are the best for surfing. We also went downtown for a day and did a big walk through the major sights. We saw the Independence Plaza, the Presidential Palace, and the Malian Market at the train station. We also walked around the southern tip of Dakar where there is a big lighthouse and the old Supreme Court building.

We have spent a lot of time hanging out with people in Dakar and Mike has gotten a pretty good sense of the people and the culture in his short time here. We wandered through markets in Grand Dakar and Biscuiterie. I even cooked the national dish: ceebujen! This required buying all the right ingredients which included fish. I subsequently removed the scales, fins, head and all the fun inner bits of said fish. It was quite the experience and it turned out pretty tasty.

So, tomorrow we head out to Touba which is one of the Muslim holy cities in Senegal. Touba is home to one of the biggest mosques in Africa. We are going to spend a day there before we head to Mali via bus. After this, we are pretty flexible and I will try and keep you updated about where we are. We are planning on spending a couple days in Bamako, Djenne, Segou and Mopti and maybe doing a hike around the Dogon country. After Mali we head through Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana. We fly to South Africa on June 18th and we are attending the first match of the round of 16 for the 2010 World Cup. We’re not sure who will be playing yet, but we will see the winner of Group A play the runner up of Group B. After South Africa we plan to tackle Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya, all before September 1st. It is a pretty ambitious trip so we will keep you updated.

I hope everyone has a great week! Thanks so much for reading. Until next time.
Peace.

Happy Mother's Day

Well hello there again wherever you are. I hope everyone is mad appreciating their mothers today. After all, without her, you wouldn't be here. Show some love. I personally want to thank my real mom and my various surrogate mothers all around the world for the love and support they have given me over the years. I speak specifically to my mom (US), Raquel (Chile), Odile (Senegal) and Aida (France). Happy Mother's Day ladies.

I can't say that this last week-ish has been very eventful. It was nice, for a while, to rest after such a wild ride in Kedougou. However, I prefer being active so I quickly bore wtih the easy life.


Mostly this time has been about saying good-bye and trying to wrap up my time here in Senegal. Without all the LC students, it made me appreciate how much their presence made this study abroad program special. I will miss them tons but I am starting to get really excited for the next phase of this adventure.

Friday I recovered and had a last night out with Julia who left Saturday evening. Saturday I spent with my host mom, Aida, because she left for France on Sunday. I also checked out a small jewelry shop in the Biscuiterie neighborhood and got a silver bracelet made for me with "Adama" my Senegalese name, engraved in the top. It is customary here for people to wear silver or gold jewelry with either their first name or their family name engraved in it. And I really like the name Adama.

I spent a lot of time just chilling with Sean who has become something of a best friend and fellow adventurer with me in Senegal. He was suppposed to leave Wednesday eaerly morning but due to a big mishap in which Royal Air Morocco deleted his itinerary and refunded his ticket without telling him, he ended up leaving early Thursday morning instead.

This weekend, things finally started getting interesting again. I went out downtown with some of the students from Lawrence University (another ACI Baobab study abroad program). We had dinner at Chez Lutcha and then checked out this quirky little club called Cafe Iguane. Friday night my host sister (Selly) arrived from France. She is studying fashion design in Paris and spends her summers in Dakar, so it was the first time I had met her.

Saturday I stayed home all day because Abdoul, my host dad, was getting ready to go join his wife in France. Saturday evening Selly and I went to a club called Diamond which is in Almadies, a pretty nice neighborhood in Dakar. We had a lot of fun and I always enjoy dancing with my girls. Needless to say, I was ready for a nice relaxing Sunday.

So, next week I move into an apartment when Mike gets here on Wednesday. we are going to solidify some of the details for the next phase of the trip and get to know Dakar for a few days. After that, it's off to Mali.

Everyone have a great week. Be safe and appreciate the mothers in your life.
Peace.

Kedougou Photos

This is the pool at the base of the waterfall, and me feeling much cooler after a swim.







Sweating in a bungalow, but what can you do?

Here is the waterfall and the village of Dindefelo.

The green hills surrounding the region.

Our broken little bus.

Sean and I waiting for a ride back into town.

So, here are some pics from our adventure. One thing I forgot to mention was that we got stopped at a Customs checkpoint on the way back to Dakar on the overnight bus. The customs officers opened the storage compartments under the bus and randomly searched several of the bags. I'm not sure what they were looking for or if they found it, but we were stopped at the roadside for at least half an hour.

Have a great week, see you next time!

~Jess~