always hot in mali

...continuation...

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:24:29 GMT

So, i didn't written much about the boating accident, but to be quite honest I don't really want to relive it but feel free to ask my questions. but because all volunteers came into bamako for the services, i was able to chat up one of my fellow stagemates who lives in Mopti (opposite side of the country...east, touristy) and found out he was going to Ghana. I thought that everyone in country who wanted to go to Ghana had already gone and thought this would be my last chance to find a travel partner...it was very last minute -- 10 p.m. saturday in the PC bureau i decided i would go, and had to catch a train early the next morning to truck it back to site because stupid me didn't actually have my passport on my person and so had to pick that up. It worked out well because Pete (my travel partner in crime) had actually been planning to travel alone ...so we now both had travel partners.
to get my passport however, that meant i had to take the train from kayes to bamako on sunday and because it returns to bamako monday, i had to get back on it monday afternoon. not a fun ride....got to the gare sunday morning at 9 a.m. (in the rain, no less) but wait until 2:30 p.m. until the train actually leaves. right around midnight the train unexpectedly stops for about three hours ...inconvenient? yes, of course, unexpected? not necessarily (this is Mali-la, and this is the train). I suppose to only good thing about that was that it was the middle of the night and so it was cool, or at least in comparison to the midday temps. Alas get into mahina at 4a.m. grab an hour or two of sleep before getting up next day to do some laundry and head out to village in the afternoon to pick up passport and some photos for my ghanaian visa. back to mahina and waiting for the train to arrive in the afternoon ..but even better on top of all this, i failed to get to the gare early monday morning and so get stuck with a second class ticket...all the way to bko, that's not a good outlook for me, already lacking sleep. Train comes, and i try and get there quick to attempt to get a 'decent' spot on the 2nd class train cars...it is a fight to the finish; i didn't think it was a good sign when i saw train workers literally kicking people out of the doorways of the cars. so i hoofed it down to the end of the train and found a car where i could walk on without fighting too much and found a place to stand...luckily, they people in the little room of the car, i think took pity on the whitey and told me to put my bag on the floor between their feet and sit on that...better than standing at least (which i had been for a good hour already, if not more). but while sitting, in a doorway between the 'room' and 'walkway' of the car i got jostled around pretty good. but i survived ;) and the ghana visit was so worth it...more on that later

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 16:50:28 GMT

So, so much to say and not really a lot of time to say it, so i'll give some quick insights.
after getting back from the 4th celebrations and etc i had a fairly uneventful long stay in village. I worked in my yard and pretty planted all my available space with something...millet, corn, peanuts, squash, radishes, cucumbers and tree starts to plant other places later...hopefully if they are not dead before i get back. for that month and half it was just vina and me, and so we got into a little routine of doing our radio show every week and then have "spa" days...this is in the bush mind you...that being said, we soaked our feet in buckets of warm water and then scrubbed them and then put on lotion. after that we used the face mask that keving (old teammate) sent. i always felt fresh and revitalized before going back to village ;) ...haha, a good thing when i always have kids wanting to hand all over me when they are covered in dirt. Yes, village life will leave you clean and fresh ;)
The last week of August was site visit for my two new teammates! woohoo, new teammates :) after that me and Vina went with them to bamako because the train is always unpredictable and we ourselves needed a little break

...that is when things got hard. We arrived Sunday morning (sept 3) and found out later that night that there was a boating accident involving four volunteers and two of them had died - Matt and Justin. It was not anything anyone could have predicted which makes it that much more difficult. One of the guys who died was an engineer and had designed a sail boat of sorts, that used two canoe like Malian boats as the base. They were planning on sailing up the Niger River from Bamako to Gao. The mast for the sail was 30 ft tall! They were going a shore to ask about the river up ahead when the mast struck a low lying electrical line and electrocuted 3 of them. OF the two that survived on had a badly burned arm and the other was relatively unharmed. Three of them were from my stage and that makes it hard, because although we are all over the country we came to Mali together and had our training together. we had a formal memorial two days after the accident at the ambassadors house and an informal one for volunteers two days after that. All the volunteers were called into bamako to come to these and be with each other...and that was a great support network.

independence day and sorts

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:31:12 GMT

Wow, so long time since i've last visited this...not so sure i've remembered everything that has happened. hmm, last time i had went to Foutouba to check out some wells. After that I spend some time in village (have no idea what I did) before heading down to Manantali for the traditional 4th of July bash. Lucky for me too, there just happened to be the peace corps shuttle so i hitched my ride down and had a nice day of quiet before most of the other people arrived. So, i know i have a few pictures of manantali, but i should try and describe it a bit. the house, there are actually two, are more like huts than houses....the base is much larger and taller than a "traditional" hut --- traditional hut, think 6 foot walls (and even shorter doorways, on which i have hit my head numerous times! ...i am always walking hunched over under my gwa and in between my houses; hmm, hope i don't have back problems later) and the house in manantali has walls that are a good 10 feet if not more and "normal" doorways...they are round with a square jutting off to one side for the ever convenient kitchen and bathroom ... there is running water and electricity! -- and a large thatched roof. About 20 feet from stepping out of the house is the river which is lined by trees. It is so beautiful. Every morning you can hear monekys squeaking (small gray monkeys with long tails ...cute ones, the kind you want to make your pet) and often you can hear the hippos in the river. Mostly they stay below the water so if you can see them, it looks more like a rock than a hippo.
A couple kilometers away is the dam and that is good for some swimming and cliff jumping if you're up for it (once for me, and not sure about a second go 'round). And because of the river it is very green and has been coined "a slice of paradise" :-) ...aside from the schisto, that is ;-) ...hmm, yea, maybe i should be tested for that. The second night i was there, midnight-ish a bunch of people arrive, even some troopers all the way from Gao! There were a lot of Cleavers (the name of my stage) there, so that it was almost like a little reunion. We even made a mud pit, but only Jocelyn and I were willing to make use of it; that was not enough fun for us, so we decided to tackle the three guys, who offered to "make/prepare" the pit, but not actually wrestle. Two females attempting to take on three males doesn't sound like good odds, i'm sure, but i think that surprise tactic may have been to our benefit...we did actually get all three down in the mud, or at least partially. So, covered in mud head to toe, it was down to the river to rinse off. The night before the 4th was a little dance party under the gwa and we had a pretty low key 4th with a few "fireworks" -- not too impressive, though,...this is mali, don't forget.
After that it was on my way to Bamako to do a little project work and gather up stuff from the house. That was the big news for use volunteers---we had houses in each region where we could use a computer (for project stuff etc), spend the night, watch movies...basically see other americans and chill. The house in Bamako was especially important, because the bureau is in bamako, if people were flying in/out for vacation and got in a random hours, there was somewhere to stay. Now, we have a voucher system with some local hotels, we have to call ahead, have limited days etc...so, it is not as easy to accomodate the inconsistencies/inconveniences that so often plague us. And for me, i had some clothes and other things stashed there in a trunk so that I could travel to bamako with less than a full backpack...thus, i had to send these stashed things back to site. bummer...now, i have to travel with a bit more, which of course is always a thrill considering the transport here in Mali. speaking of transport in mali....to be continued

world cup!!

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 12:18:11 GMT

so last time i was in bamako i had a few delays trying to get back to village ...first, the morning i was planning on leaving, a sunday, i discovered i had a UTI after calling our doctor and she said i should wait a day or too to travel for comfort reasons...no prob, there is a tues train. luckily though the UTI seemed to clear up by the afternoon! nice!, so i probably could have went on sunday anyway, but i had already called to change my ticket to tues.
just in the spirit of Mali, i go to the train station at night (tues) (normally the train leaves in the morning, but...) and sit for two hours -- which wasn't all bad, because at least i got to watch a little football -- before i am told that the train just isn't going today, and won't be going tomorrow either. GRrr, that meant i had to wait until Friday now to catch the stupid train. land transport by car wasn't really an option for me because it would have likely taken me two days anyways, and i would have been sick i'm sure. But i guess i can't really complain, because, although i was stuck in bamako for extra days, i did get to watch a lot of the world cup!!
friday the train leaves exactly on time, amazingly! and i get back saturday morning ..travel was long but it rained during the night which was nice. was thinking about heading back to village saturday afternoon but vina said she was going out to Foutuba to check on Kevin's wells, but she is going by car -- they have a big truck (an old Germany military truck type semi, to be more precise...haha). She convinces me to go and so i stay in mahina saturday, but hey get to watch a game that night, so i wasn't too bummed ;) We go out to Foutuba without a hitch, check out the wells and are told by Chaka (the hired well worker) that they should be done by friday...score! because it is father's day we climb the rocks to get cell phone reception (which is not possible on the ground in the village). it is so beautiful...some pics are on the way. chaka freaked some kids out on our way down from the rocks. The people of foutuba are pretty big believers in the devil and other 'spirits' living up on the rocks, and so because it was dusk and from the ground people couldn't see us, chaka clapped a couple of times. there were some kids herding the cows back from the fields, and when they heard the clapping, they assumed it was a 'jena' (devil/spirit) and ran, some were even crying. Chaka got a pretty big kick out of this, but me and Vina did too. ;) On our way back the next morning, the truck was taking a bunch of peanuts into mahina, for the market (monday is a big day) and so the back of the truck was packed with sacks of peanuts and me and vina almost didn't get a ride. I was barely inside the side of the truck and leaning against some peanut sacks. We (vina and i) also had a chicken someone gave us as a gift to bring back. That in-and-of-itself was pretty crazy but then we got stuck in the mud, and that took about an hour to get us out. see pics
http://photos.yahoo.com/andreajungers
they are under the "foutuba" album

gri gri mania!!

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 09:54:46 GMT

So, i have recently spent a lot of money on some gri gri....or that is what we like to call it over here. The best way i can describe gri gri is something similar to black/white magic/animistic practices. Most of the gri gri's that are here are usually made for the purpose of positive influences. My teammates host brother made quite a few for me lately, which drained a lot of money, but it's all about cultural exchange right?
One was some ground up leaf looking substance that you are supposed to bathe in to keep you in good health (um, ankle....maybe that one didn't work, or i got something wrong...haha) and another was something that looked like the dried skin of some animal, that is burned and the smoke is wafted (?) over my face, and that is supposed to make people listen to my speeches...what i have to say. Those were given to me before my teammate left and more recently i had a strip of cloth usually used to make ceremonial wedding clothing "prayed over" (this is not the right way to say it, but i cant think of anything better, and arabic and Koranic phrases are used a lot in creating gri gri's) and i am supposed to hang that and a piece of paper with arabic writings over my door which will bring important people into my house. And the best of all....or most amazing i should say, is the gri gri i had made so that i find good work.....this is what i think of when i think of gri gri's over here.....it is a piece of paper that has writing on it, and is sewn into leather and worn on the body. In front of me, this man spit and traced his hand over a blank sheet of paper and then passed it over fire....which after that was done, writing appeared/was burned onto the paper. I was amazed, simply put. maybe it was somewhat of a hoax, even so, there are no magic markers in this country, and i remain on the amazed side of the fence as opposed to the skeptic. I wear this gri gri around my waist.

Hmm, some more quick updates.....after finally going back to village last time after a very prolong period of time, i realized as i was sweating away on the train, that i forgot my key to my house in bamako. Great. and since there are supposed be at least three with a lock but i only received one when i got to village, i was in a little trouble. so when i got back to village i had to break into my own house, but thought enough ahead at least to buy some locks and have the men change them....it might have actually been a good thing because the locks i had before were so tricky that there were some times i was locked out of my own house! After that was over, settling back into village life was pretty okay, so-to-speak. one of my favorite boys had built a gwa (overhand) over my pineapple plant and actually kept some of my moringa trees alive!! go amadou!!! i love that kid....if i could i would be tempted to bring him back to the states. He also planted some mangos, and as soon as i got back, we planted corn under the gwa also.
hmm, planting....i have a little, and i mean little garden going pretty successfully as of when i left....small, but i have some variety --- i have squash, radishes carrots (have yet to sprout and the tomatoes), cucumbers, watermelons, okra, kolrahbi, je (a malian fruit that is a mix between pumpkin and squash, and damn good too!), more corn and ousa (a millet looking plant, but is similar to sugar can, because the stalk is chewed and is sweet as though there was sugar in it, and the seeds at the head are not used for food purposes).

Sniff....i am quickly becoming discouraged about finding my Shaky. I am not surprised that after being gone for so long, Shaky didn't come back to me when i returned to village. And for the past two weeks i keep asking around village and searching at different times of the day (morning, noon, night) looking for him....i have yet to see him, but everyone keeps telling me that they have seen him....strange i haven't yet! Have they eaten him, and just playing games with me!? I don't know, and i think i will be suspicious to hold this attitude until i see poor Shaky with my own eyes.

free to go

Thu, 18 May 2006 13:42:23 GMT

So i went to the doctor's this morning and had my cast taken off!! Oh, it feels so good to walk again -- i didn't realize how much of a convenience it is to walk until i couldn't. However, i still think that the cast was unnecessary, (besides the fact that it forced me to rest) because my ankle is still swollen and a little sore. Ultimately i think i just needed to rest it and didn't need the cast. But the doctor said i didn't need to do anything further so i am free to go back to site whenever....i think the next train is Sunday. I will be glad to get back, it's been so long, especially since i will be coming back in june AGAIN --- pretty sure i'm going to ghana and i've gotta get that visa! ;)
oh, and i am slowly becoming a fan of soccer, i think. Watched the European championships last night, and Barcelona was vitorious...i, myself was rooting for Arsenal (from England) because i heard they were the underdogs....and i think one person down. c'est la vie.
peace

you've got to be kidding me!

Sat, 06 May 2006 13:22:34 GMT

So i went to the doctor on friday for my follow up and i cannot believe what happened! First i told him i took the wrap he put on, off, because my toes were turning blue ...he didn't seem happy about that, so i think he wanted to punish me because after looking at my ankle very briefly he said that my ligament was torn and therefore needed a cast to keep it immobile. I asked if that was really necessary because it was not broken and he said yes. So now i have a cast on my ankle and have to get around with crutches because the cast is too awkward to walk on. This is ridiculous. Oh and the worst part is that i have to stay here for another 2 weeks. My village is going to think that i am never coming back! I feel terrible. All this, with the heat on top of it all, makes for a pretty miserable stay in bamako...oh well, the rains should be coming soon!

Tue, 02 May 2006 17:25:31 GMT

Yowsers! So the sitting on all my flights was not necessarily the best thing for my ankle, especially after having sprained it so soon before my trip. But i went to the PC med office this morning and had to wait there for about an hour and half before even seeing the doctor. her first impression was just a really bad sprain, but since there was so much bruising, she sent me to see an orthopedist just to be on the safe side. he had a few x-rays of my ankle, but nothing broken, thankfully. I don't want to think about what i would have to do if it was. So, the doctor gets some "special" tape to wrap my "cankle", which is what my ankle has become because now, the swelling has spread to the top of my foot also. This tape is basically ACE bandage with tape on it, and it reminds me exactly of how the trainers taped my foot in high school. The doctor told me to leave it on until Friday...and in this city this white tape won't be white for long. But because he wants me to come back that means that I am on med-hold. --- Med-hold is when you have to be stay in bamako b/c of a medical condition, meaning i should get some money each day for the time i am here and don't have to pay the nightly fee to stay at the house in bamako. woohoo! The whole ankle deal is a little inconvient, but not as bad as amoebas. (and i don't have to take any harsh meds). I am supposed to keep my "yala"ing to a minimum, meaning i'm not supposed to walk around much. Yeah, that won't be easy ... at least they didn't make me use c

columbus - NYC - Casablanca - bamako

Mon, 01 May 2006 20:52:47 GMT

Alrighty ....so i have just spent the past two weeks in "Ameriki" and it was everything that I couldn't wanted/imagined. It was good to see all of the fam but definitely the highlight was having the chance to spend some quality time with my niece. She is amazing! I can't wait to see her in a year ...she will be so different. I also enjoyed some good Ameriki food and cooler temps ...man stepping out of the plane in bamako was ...blah! hot and humid.
My trip home started on a Saturday april 29 in the afternoon ...but being the genius that i am, I completely sprained my ankle(maybe tore something) and it was swollen like half a tennis ball. As my dad said -- i take a 350 mile bike trip across kayes in Mali and am fine, but i come home where there are paved roads and the like and i go and do this. ironic.

Columbus-New York
Things were looking up when my flight from columbus to New York/JFK was on time. I get to New york and it takes me a little while to find the correct terminal for Air Maroc. Lucky for me i had a couple hour layover and had plenty of time, with some to spare for a cup of tea.

New York-Casablanca
Things were starting off and we were boarding early enough for what i thought would be an on-time takeoff. However, just as it seems the boarding process might be wrapping up 3 guys from the homeland security department came onto the plane looking for someone in the row right behing me. Supposedly the person in the specific seat the were looking at never boarded. They left, and a few minutes later they came back on. I assumed everything would be fine, but couldn't help have a little bit of doubt in the back of my mind. Eventually they took an old guy off the plane...he was clearly going back to Africa (not sure which country specifically) and seemed nothing whatsoever of the terrorist type --i'm assuming he just had problems with paperwork, but i guess i will never know for sure. Anyways we were a little delayed b/c they had to find his luggage, but not too late. I had a hard time sleeping ....I guess i got to used to sleeping in a comfortable bed while in the states. But we arrived fairly on time in Casablance despite the little delay

Layover
SO b/c my layover was 16 hours i had to claim my baggage ...after that i had quite a struggle. I tried to ask around if i could put my bags in a locker so i could go into the city. Well i was then told that there were no lockers...thanks to woman nearby would spoke english and could translate into arabic for me....my french skills are virtually non-existant and almost no one over there speaks english. Finally i lug all three of my bags out toward the exit and up a escalator, and it had to have been by the grace of god that i found the little "transit" desk. I thought my outlook was really really bad (meaning with no lockers and no means of communication i would stuck in the airport for 16 hours with nothing but time to kill) ...however, stumbling onto the transit desk was where things started to look up. The man (with a little english) told me that the airline was putting me up in a hotel with a voucher for lunch and dinner. I thought maybe the hotel might be a dive (there were quite a few people the airline had to do this for) so i was keeping my fingers crossed. Well i am on the bus for an hour or so, and it stops at a hotel just across the street from the beach. Luckily i was one of the people that was staying at this hotel. I get into my room and my window faces the beach --- an amazing view!!! i couldn't believe it. I napped a bit, then ate lunch (fish, rice veggies, fresh strawberries and fresh, and i mean fresh squeezed orange juice!) napped a little more and then walked down to the beach in the afternoon. This may not have been a good idea, with the ankle and all, but I had to! I put my feet in and the water was cold! i couldn't believe people were swimming. Back from my walk i shower and watch a little BBC (the only channel on t.v. with english), then dinner of soup, chicken and rice. shortly before getting on the bus. wow.

Casablanca-Bamako
Back at the airport i get my boarding pass and check my luggage -- as i am walking towards the gate malian comes up beside me and asks if i am going to bamako (in english!). I was so excited to speak to someone in english, and his was just about perfect; he had just come from New York (his brother lives there) and we chatted while we waited to board. Lucky for me, he was the typical hospitable Malian and gave me a ride home, b/c a friend came to pick him up...that saved me 6000 CFA (about 12 bucks --- pretty hefty for Malian standards).

Finally i get back at 3ish in the morning but can't sleep so talk until 5:30 a.m. and then have been napping on and off all day today. I'm planning on having the ol' ankle checked out tomorrow b/c i couldn't do that today --- ah, Malian holidays.

the good ol' US of A

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 18:02:09 GMT

So i am back in the states and had a perfect flight getting here too! Everything was on time, amazingly! ...i even arrived in new york an hour early and i thought the downfall to a perfect flight schedule would be customs, that also was no problem. I walked right through ...with almost no questioning to the fact that i was bringing Baobob fruit into the states (with viable seeds, but that was a little piece of info i left out --- no harm done!). I have been enjoying the showers (hot!) and the "cooler" temps over here! Let me know if you want to get together...i would love too!

SIZZLING!!

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:52:08 GMT

Whoa, I am glad to be going back to Ohio for a little R&R ...and would actually welcome some rain -- i can't believe i just said that! A few days ago one of my fellow stagemates was checking weather and said that in Kayes the high was 118 degrees. yikes. Today it has "cooled" down to about 105 with lows getting to the 80s at night (100 degrees is what it is like here in bko also). that means when i come home, i will be coming home to a 50 degree difference in temps. Umm, shock. Well, boy will i be happy to get out of this heat; there is not a moment that i am not sweating!
This past week has been busy yet restful also. I feel like i am getting some of my energy back after feeling exhausted at the beginning of the week. I think it was the amoebas or perhaps another bout with giradia. Whatever it was, i am glad that it has passed for the most part. but i am waiting on taking my amoeba meds until i get home just to be sure of no reinfection, at least unti i get back here.

I stopped by the artisana to do a little browsing and to greet my friend, Tamba. While i was chatting there i stopped by another shop and was taught to play the "rock" game....12 shallow indentions in a board and you move the rocks around. yes i have always seen it in stores but now i actually know how to play.

other than that, for the moment i have been enjoying the company of good friends!

mango season!!

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:39:15 GMT

So, yeah, not a lot of time has passed since i was last in bamako, but they few days were quite eventful.

I got back to Mahina last Tuesday night and did the radio show with Vina the next morning. Feeling like a slacker i didn't go back to village until thursday morning. The next day I went to Manila b/c Rachel's host sister was having her Tamadon (engagement ceremony -- basically the price discussion of the woman). The next week the pump in my village broke and the men weren't able to fix it right away...with the well being dry that brought about some difficulties. Meaning, i have to bike at least 2 km to get water and carry a 20 liter container back on the back of my bike...not always the easiest thing to do when you consider the path i have to take (sand, gravel, bumps, lots of swerving....yeah, not so good, but luckily i didn't fall).
Good thing the pump was fixed not long after....but some where along the way i am pretty sure i drank some river water along the way (most people in my village got water from the river b/c some people in the village 2 km from mine weren't always to happy with the influx of people-- ah, village politics!) ...and river water is a no-no. I am already sick, so...
I also went to Mahina and had an outfit (complet) made for free b/c i was going to display it in a little "fashion show" as a means for the tailor to advertise for himself.

The heat is back....blah!!!!!!!! But the up side to hot season is that it is also mango season! woo hoo...there are mangos everywhere, but the key is to get the grafted mangos, b/c that's where it's at!

Before i left to come to bamako i changed my gwo (i.e. the overhang in front of my door that is made of millet stalks or woven grass. I switched up the millet stalks for the woven grass...i'll have to wait for a verdict.

Oh, yeah coolest thing ever! I had henna ("jabi") done on my feet and the design is AMAZING, and what is even more amazing is that the women did it all with tape (first-aid type tape). And just how amazing is it...it took 6.5 hours just to apply the tape desing on two feet and one hand. Damn! only bad thing is after all that time, the ash/ammonia mixture that is put on after the henna didn't have enough ammonia, so it didn't all turn black. BUmmer! I will be post pictures but not until everyone who i am going to see in person sees it first ...so that means come to columbus!

Okay, the amoebas that i found out i have during my mid-service med exam are acting up, i think, so i am heading out for a bit for some rest. Peace.

take me away

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 14:40:39 GMT

Not much going on that is new here. Just said good-bye to two of my teammates this morning and it will be weird without them around. Actually getting some work done today and am thinking about a soccer game tonight: Ghana and Mali. we'll see.

It is getting hot here ...meaning no more comfortable nights of sleep, and waking up in sweat. Blah! :(
All in all it has been an interesting week in bamako and I have met some interesting people but i am ready to go back to village!!!

the good ol' BKO

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:50:37 GMT

Once again i am making an appearance in Bamako, but unfortunately after 4 days i still haven't gotten all the much work accomplished, but i have been having a good time at least! ;) I have, as of late, become good friends with some Lebanonese guys who live in bamako via one of my friends, Melody. They are fun to be around ...we've gone dancing and to a movie and the kicker is they almost always pay! GOod for scrounging volunteers like me and Melody. They also speak english, so that is also really nice. One of them is the son of the Lebanon consulate, who is supposed to mix some cds for me ....hopefully! :)
Other than that I have been taking care of some med stuff for my mid-service check up.

night rider strikes again

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:31:46 GMT

sometime before i left for bamako I wanted to check out my teammates' goods that they were leaving behind. One of the things i had my eye on was a table in Dion's hut. After a little b-day celebration for Rachel in her village we all ride into Mahina together (rachel, dion and me) and from there the plan was to go out to Dion's village pick up the table and ride back to Sitafoula. Dion however had some work she wanted to do in Mahina and so we didn't end up leaving for Barbarato (Dion's village) until pretty late. It was late afternoon when i got there, but by the time i picked up the table and took a pirogue (canoe-like boat) acresso the river it was pretty dark already. I pedaled as fast as my little legs would carry me and thought i would be okay once i got to the road to my village. Ah, I was wrong about that....at the very beginning of the road i ran off the side and into some tall grass/bushes. But I kept going but soon notice my chain fell off the gears. While i was trying to fix it my dugutigi (chief) passed by in a donkey cart on his was to the train station on the way to bamako. They told me to stay put and that they would be back to pick me and my bike up. However, donkey carts are not the fastest form of transportation ...ah, meaning i can walk faster. I didn't realize that until after they had left but then figured i had to stay put b/c otherwise they would worry something had happened to me.

SO i am sitting out in the bush and it is completely dark -- not even a moon that night. Coincidently, my host brother and sister go by on a motorcylce (also going to bamako) and then a little bit later another host brother on his bike. I was convincing myself i would be okay, until my host siblings pass by and ask if i am sure i want to stay put in the bush and wait. Then i started to worry a little bit....i mean if Malians are worrying, then....
But an hour later the donkey cart comes by and i put my bike etc in and hope in myself. WE go about 10 mins when the bro on the bike passes by on the motorcycle (b/c he was taking it back to village) and they tell me it's best to go back on the moto b/c the moto is faster. Well, i get on...sidenote: riding motos is against peace corps rules and you can be sent home for it, esp w/o a helmet -- but people still do it. Even i was a little scared, though, b/c the road is really just a path and very uneven and it's dark! HOwever, i got back safe, but had to wait another 1/2 hour 45mins for the donkey cart to come with all my goods. :(

After that, nothing too eventful until Rachel's goodbye party, also with a jembe fo. THe next day Rachel and I came into the Bams together. We were a little worried about that b/c 2-3 weeks earlier the were 3 train de-railments in one day, in which people died, and 3 the previous week. But luckily all went well, and it was good the train was going slower than normal.

loosing my teammates...

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:31:41 GMT

So, I have been back in village since i last wrote. I was able to take PC transport back which was nice, but of course again made me feel sick. "C'est la vie."

AFter getting back to village i spent very little time in my own village. Rachel was doing some last minute projects in her village...I helped her measure and set up a garden for the women ..arranged around one of the wells she built. Kevin was scheduled (his own schedule that is) to leave at the end of Feb. Kelli and Vina and I all went out to his village for his good bye send off, and I also needed to look at where his wells were being dug (to finish them in May). We had good food (by Malian standards) ...chicken in the afternoon and sheep at night with pasta; however, dinner was swimming in oil! Yuck! Talk about feeling like my arteries were clogged! AFter dinner there was a jembe-fo (traditional drumming)---i however didn't gather the courage to actually go out and dance. Oh, with "jembe-fo"s everyone circles around an open space where people dance....the drawback: the space is BIG and usually only 2 or 3 people dance and so you are really the center of attention!
After that I was again back and forth between Rachel's village and my own. Oh, sometime before Kevin's little "to-do" Rachel dreaded my hair. Crazy!

Sevare, Mopti, Djenne, oh my....(those are town names)

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:14:37 GMT

from Timboctou to Sevare ....hell.

So Dion and me rushed to the bus station to get on our "bus"...meaning it is basically an old semi with some seats thrown in the back. The seats are so close together that i can't fit my legs in between the space and there are multiple places where the floor is falling through. So, yeah... Anyways is doesn't help that the road is crap too. Part sand, part grated gravel -- and that means constant bumping and swaying...so you know how much bumping and swaying there really is, I couldn't read if i wanted to b/c i was not able to hold a book still. As if that isn't enough, like most transport in Mali, this semi/bus is ancient!! Thus, it broke down all the time!! Just about every hour or two hours we had to stop...uh, frustrating, but on the plus side it gave a break to stretch and stand up.
Ironic...so we are in tourist central for Mali, but most whiteys we run into are pretty much all European. SO it came as a great surprise that at one the stops early on to pick up some people from the side of the road, there were two white guys and they were AMERICAN! What!? This doesn't happen...Dion and me were excited. Apparently one of the guys' mom is volunteering in Burkina and so they came over here for part of their trip, but had rented a car and it broke down, so had to catch a ride on public transport.
IT was cool to have them there, until later on in the ride one of the guys moves to sit next to me, b/c the chair in front of him is broke and falling in his lap. Well, before he came he just got a snazzy new digital came with some video capacity. It's after dark and I am beyond tired and trying to doze off, when he pulls out his camera....proceeds to show me just about every picture -- he thinks the content of most of them is shocking, but that is for him...me i have seen it all and i would have thought he might figure that out being as i have lived in Mali for a year (which he knew...we got it out of the way during our greetings, and "hey, your american"'s). Not really, so i tried dropping subtle hints, such as with the picture of women having hair braided...I'm like "Yeah, not only have i seen it done, but i had plastic string put in my hair too." Unfortunately that didn't really work and i ended up seeing the rest of the pictures. Blah.
So, we left at 1 p.m., and finally got to Douentza at 12:30 a.m. This is a problem b/c me and Dion wanted to go to Sevare and in fact bought tickets to go to Sevare. Well, the people who worked for the bus told us that a bus that is going to Sevare would be coming through in the morning and we could catch that. Dion and i figured we would have to wait, which was no good, but then as we waited a bit to collect ourselves, here come Lars and Erik (the two american guys). They decided that they didn't like the housing in Douentza and were going to find a way to Sevare, so we hitched a ride with them, and paid more than we should've...but it's after midnight, soo. Well between Douentza and Sevare it's about 100 km or so, which means we had another couple hours to go, at least this trip is on paved roads. All in all, we get to the stage house in Sevare at 3:30 a.m. Dion and me are crazy tired and crash. So the next morning i am up early (damn biological clock) and hang out with a Benin volunteer who came through on her COS trip and a Mopti volunteer who came by to check mail.
Later in the afternoon, Dion and me go with Pete (Mopti volunteer) to Mopti...not far, thank goodness...about a 20 min bashee ride. He shows us around ....down the river and through the city a bit. It is an awesome town. WE swung by his apartment too....wow, he has an great view from his room and we saw a great sunset. Dion and me went back that night night to Sevare. THe next morning we got up and caught a ride to Djenne...about a 2 1/2 hr trip. We went there to see the world's largest mud building, the city's mosque. It was a really interesting city, unfortunately Dion and me think it was the world's fastest trip...a 2 hour stay. Just long enough for lunch. We got there at noon but wanted to get back to Sevare that same day and the transport going back left at 2:30, so well....Anyways, this big famous building and we barely got pictures -- i got mine rushing back to the place to catch transport and Dion took her picture when we were in the car pulling away! But we saw it nonetheless!
So the next day we caught a ride back to the Bams and here i am now, writing this for all you fine people. Hope you aren't too bored.

Timboctou!

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:05:38 GMT

Yes, now i can say that i have been all the way to Timboctou! However, it really isn't anything too spectacular -- you all aren't missing much. It is bascially a mid size (for Mali that is) town in the middle of the desert. Dion and me got there at 11 or so and our guides met us when we got into town. They took us to a hotel for a shower and then to their family's house for lunch. We relaxed a bit and then left at 4ish for our camel ride out into the desert. It was about an hour and when we got there we stayed with the cousin of one of our guide's dad. Just a little hut made out of mats...very interesting and i can't imagine living the way they did. THe mother was nice and made us a traditional Toureg dinner; rice with a sauce similar in taste to wigila. sidenote: wigila is an AWESOME malian dish. yum! a beef style stew with a hint of cinnamon and you eat it with rolls. :)
after dinner i made the mistake of telling them i can "wuli" (brew) tea and so i was elected to do that. Then i soon passed out b/c i was pretty tired, especially after our transport the night before. We shared one blanket for four people and it was pretty cold and i was kinda sick with a cold so i didn't sleep too well. after that i made some more tea in the morning and then rode the camels back into town. we were on a little tour of timboctou when Dion demanded we know of our transport situation that our guides were supposedly arranging for us. Of course they were trying to set us up with a private car even when we made it clear we wanted to take public transport. So it had to have been luck b/c we got to the bus station at 11:55 a.m. and the bus was scheduled to leave at noon (and only on thurs and sat...it was thurs). we bought tickets and then had to book it across town to pick up our bags and then book it back. luckily the bus hadn't left, but it was a pretty hellish ride! more later

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:16:29 GMT

okay so this is going to be a short recap b/c i was in the process when the power went out and this is my second time. SO new years in manantali was fun ...after a long travel time (3 hr+ train ride and a 6 hr bashee ride from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., that involved two breakdowns) Manantali was fun b/c a lot of people were there; we went out to the dam twice. I went cliff jumping!! I can hardly believe i actually did it ...by our estimates the cliff was 30 ft. January 30 six of us went hiking and camped by the lake for the night...good times and a great campfire. New Year's itself was pretty lowkey and i went back to village on the first. The next two weeks was village life in general. One day i watched the "cew" (men) beat millet off the cobs and there was drumming to keep them motivated/in beat. Interesting.
Then there is Tabaski! THe biggest holiday for Muslims. The tradition is to kill a sheep but my family killed a cow in addition to the sheep. There was a lot of meat for this fete! Then I went to bamako for a retreat and from there went on a whirlwind trip to the east side of this country.

And by whirlwind, I mean traveling about 1,820 miles (maybe a bit more) in a one week, and i am not talking about good "Ameriki" transport, people. I went with my teammate, Dion, b/c she is leaving in 6 wks and hadn't seen Timboctou (Timbuktu) yet. So we went direct from the Bams to Gao. Gao is the northern-most city that Peace Corps has volunteers in...the US govt has banned traveling any further north than that for safety reasons (lots of bandits). That trip was 1,200 km and took 18 hours. Yes, 18 straight hours on a bus, but the road was paved, so better than in Kayes. And b/c we are in cold season right now, it was not bad, just long. So we spend a few days in Gao (got in sun morning and left Tues afternoon). Dion and me wandered around the market Sunday afternoon, which was very very cool. The next day we went to the Tomb of Askia (a Toureg ruler/warrior) and the rose dune. The dune was cool b/c it looks like it is in the middle of nowhere, situated right next to the Niger RIver. Oh, yeah, Gao is right on the Niger and and also the fringe of the Sahara. Overall, i really really liked it and would like to go back again! Tuesday we were supposed to leave in the morning for Timboctou, but didn't end up leaving until 4:30 p.m. (email if you want details). We had arranged for transport on a "kat-kat" which is a 4 wheel drive vehicle. However, Dion and I were basically extras that fit in the front cab of a 4x4 truck that was making a delivery of tea. We knew it was a 12 or so hour ride but didn't know what to expect after leaving 7 1/2 hours late. (oh and stopping to pick up some fresh meat on the way out of town, which stayed on the dashboard until we stopped) Dion and me joked about how we felt like we were on a roadtrip, if only there was a road! So, no road -- just two tire tracks in the sand. Once it got dark i have no idea how our drive knew which side paths to take.
I thought maybe we would go straight through the night, but alas we did not. At 12:30 a.m. we stopped, at which point it was pitch black and Dion and me were dozing off. We couldn't really see anything, but a small one room mud brick building on the side of the road. Our driver told us to go in it b/c it was slightly warmer than outside. Oh, quick sidenote:
On our truck, it was the driver, Dion and me in the cab and 4 other men riding on top. There was also a second truck like ours, same situation, except in the cab was a young couple with a baby.
So anyways, we stopped and dion and i went inside the "room" not really knowing what was going on -- the language being a barrier. Neither Dion or I speak really good French and up in Gao they do not speak Bamabara (which is what we learned in stage); in Gao people speak Songrai. So anyways, some of the men helping with the delievery bring us mats and i lay down and pass out. A coupld hours later they bring us a big blanket and some food. The food was good....rice with "clarified butter" -- this being what they scrape off the cream. It was good, and at 2 a.m. we ate. Then sweet sleep until 6 a.m. We were up and packed and gone by 6:45. We arrived in Timboctou at about 11 a.m.

biking continued, etc

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 15:41:13 GMT

okay, if anyone still cares ....
wednesday (dec 21) we biked to mahina -- my market town! funny story about this ...none of us had really informed our supervisors in detail that we were going on this trip, so no one really knew how far along we were or how long we had been biking for yet. but on the way about 16 km outside of manantali a peace corps car passes us and then stops...we think we are all pretty much in trouble. buy Sow, a supervisor for NRM, gets out and this man is a trip! he doesn't even care that the bureau doesn't really know that any of us are where we are "legally" -- that however is the least of his concerns. so he passes us and we continue on but stops at another volunteer's village and we don't know this. when we are about 20 km outside of mahina (we don't really know we are that far at the time) the peace corps car pulls up next too us again! and again it is Sow -- giving us water, peanuts and a papaya. yeah, i wish i could explain this guy in more detail! we get to mahina and chill and check out all the goods in my christmas package -- thanks mom and dad!! we set out the next morning for the chutes du guina!!
thurs dec 22: the road is HORRIBLE! it is a barely recognizable path in most places and really really rocky (about 50 km). blah! but we get to the chutes at 3 or 4 p.m. and they were amazing -- i think my favorite part of the trip! hopefully you all got the pics.
fri dec 23: we set out for diamou and then kayes. the road to diamou is not good either and after diamou there aren't as many rocks but lots of sand!! uggggg!!! another 80 km or so and then we are in kayes!! yeah! but about 30 km outside of the city there is a volunteer and so we stopped in a chilled/rested for a bit, which was nice. it was dark by the time we got into the city and were biking to the house in the dark on a busy street (with no lights)...a little scary but we got there! and took showers ;)
CHRISTMAS: we just rested up on christmas eve and ate some good!!! food made by jocelyn (my closet stagemate in region 80 km from me) -- italian! and on christmas day one of the first things i did was make coffee! (and real coffee brewed with boiling water, not just instant!!) and we watched christmas movies most of the day and relaxed and enjoyed each others' company. a nice time for being in mali!

I am an aunt!!!!!!!!!

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:47:45 GMT

So I found out this morning that as of yesterday i am an aunt!!!! Wow it is hard to believe and kinda hard not being able to be there. but i only have one more year right? ;) My niece is named Natalie Ann and baby and mother are doing well!!

that is the really BIG news but I will get back to the boring stuff for a bit and talk some more about my bike trip.
Our second day we didn't quite make it too kita because of flats and such but we did go about 90km nonetheless. lucky for us, however, a team Kita volunteer lives about 30km outside of kita and so we passed right through his village. we planned on stopping there for the night anyways but asked around and eventually we were led to his house. despite the fact that he was not there his family was awesome and made us right at home and fed us, water etc. they were so nice. it was nice to have a chance to bathe also ;)
the next morning we started out for kita ...it was only 30km so we made it to the house in kita by about 10:30 a.m. fellow stagemates Desireé and Kevin were there so we hung out for a bit and caught up on what was happening. It was nice because we hadn't seen each other in a while. We (nate, chris and i) decided to spend the next day in kita; so the next day we climbed Mt. Kita and chilled.
the next morning (monday dec 19) we started for Manantali but my estimates were a little off and it was farther than i had thought. so we didn't make it to manantali on monday. we went about 80km and camped in the bush. the next day (tues dec 20) we biked pretty hard and made it into manantali (50-60km) by 12:30 or so ....just in time for lunch. we rested a bit ate a little rice with peanut butter sauce and had a beer. we decided against getting a head start on the way to mahina (our next stopping point) and stayed the night there; we relaxed with a swim in the river. fun!
okay i'm a bit tired so the rest will come later in a couple of weeks

more bike trip stuff

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 09:47:16 GMT

So at the end of the first day we had not gone as far as we had expected to but that first hill out of bamako pretty much tuckered us out! But after we stopped for the night at about 5:30 we set up camp in the bush ...in an area we were told only animals grazed. Lucky for me Chris had a pop up mosquito net tent that was able to sleep two people. We made 'mattresses' out of grass and I picked up some wood for our fire. Let me tell you, starting a fire in sub-Saharan Africa is no problem at all...everything is so dry that it takes one small match a little grass and twigs -- voila! you have your fire instantly. The campfire was nice because it was really cold at night and yes when i woke up the next morning i started it again b/c i was cold. When we got to camp we were all pretty DIRTY! The road was red dust, sand, dirt, and gravel -- than means any time a large truck sped past us we rode through a cloud of dust. So by the end of the day i LOOKED like i had a really good tan but it was just dust. Also the part of the bush we camped in had been burned (to get rid of the 3 foot grass and hopefully the snakes in turn) so there was black ash in abundance as well.

the next morning we got up with a limited amount of water (maybe 2 liters) to make it to the next village on the road which was 20km or so away. we made it but were pretty thirsty and disappointed by the fact that there was only a well and no pump -- that meant putting iodine tablets in the water which is not too tasty!

merry christmas and a happy new year

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 09:12:16 GMT

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (if that is what you celebrate). I missed all my family and friends but had lots of friends here in Kayes to spend Christmas with, so at least I wasn't alone! It was a good Christmas, just a little different (especially the weather: sunny and 90s).
Quick sidenote ...I was talking to one of the new volunteers about a great experience he had a few years ago that could be an idea for me as a COS trip and it is: walking across Spain. It is a pilgrimmage millions of people have taken but I have never heard of it before -- it sounds so interesting.

600 km in 8 days

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 18:14:17 GMT

okay, so the trip was actually 9 days but we stopped in Kita for a day so we weren't 'technically' biking ;)

When i refer to 'we' i mean Chris, Nate and me ---- anyways, we started from the bamako stage house on dec 15th. it was a little bit of a late start with us leaving at 10ish in the morning after some egg sandwhiches to fuel us. our first obstable was getting out of the city which including climbing a HUGE hill. by huge, i mean a least 1/2-1 mile high that curved back and forth the whole time; it probably took us 45 mins to an hour! the rest of the way out of town was 15km or so of paved road before we hit the grated gravel road -- not fun, but less traffic. from bamako our first big milestone was Kita....that being 140km from bamako. the first day though we only went about 50-60km because of the late start and the hill. around 4:30 we stopped at a village for water and dinner (rice and leaf/peanut butter sauce) then went about 20 more minutes before we stopped to set up camp in the bush, so as to get our stuff a bit situated before it got really dark.

-- more later ...

one less person :(

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:30:29 GMT

So this afternoon, one of two stagemates that I will be doing this bike trip with came and I was soooo happy to see him; the other one is supposed to be coming tomorrow. I was unsure for a day or two whether we were actually going to go through with our trip b/c one of the guys -- Justin -- that was supposed to come broke his leg two weeks ago. He swerved out of the way of an oncoming motorcycle but the motorcyle swerved too and Justin's leg was run over by the motorcyle. I don't know how he got through it b/c at first he thought he just had a dislocated hip and had his dad's brother pull on it twice trying to pop it back into place! When that didn't work he had them call Peace Corps and Peace Corps came out the next morning and got him. He had surgery and now had a plate and 6 screws in his femur. Broken leg and surgery in Mali -- I really admire him for going through all that, i don't know if I could have done it. Next week he is going back to the states to have it looked at just to be sure everything is okay.
I am really going to miss him on our trip. But some of you wrote and seemed a bit concerned. But it i all good and i will be fine...a little tired maybe ;) But it is the onset of cold season here, so that helps....i would never consider myself a sane person if I wanted to do this at any other time of the year. haha