Off to Burkina Faso? Huh? That's a country?

16 December 2011 - 21 December 2011

I woke up around 5:30am. I was a woman on a mission. I wanted to take pictures of sunrise and fisherman at the beginning of the day. But, it was still too dark so I rolled back over for a little bit. About 6:30am, I crawled out of bed to check out the light. Decided it was perfect timing and headed downstairs and tried to find a way to the river. There was a gate that looked like it led to the river, but it was locked. Exit at the front of the hotel and walk down the street. Say hello to the locals. Malian people are so friendly. See a farm field with an unfinished house on the river behind it. Walk through the fields hoping not to cross paths with a West African snake. Make it to the river bank and take in the noise of the river. Snap a few shots of the ripples in the water. The sun begins to peak over the hills in the distance. A fisherman passes me as he looks in his net along the bank for bait fish. I really like Bamako. Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to move here one day!

I even beat the sun this AM. That doesn't happen very often.

Fishing on the Niger River.

Head back to the hotel and crawl back into bed. Liam was half awake and wondering where I had gone. He’s so cute in the morning! Try to sleep for a little bit longer but it’s not happening. Get out of bed and prepare to get out on the road again. Liam happened to check our checking account and figure out the bill he paid the other day cleaned out our checking account. So, call American Express to have them refund the payment. What a pain the butt. Liam moved some money from savings so we could have cash on hand once we found an ATM. Just another problem with intermittent Internet. Little things you learn along the way. Thankfully, AMEX was actually helpful and the money should be back in our account within a few days. Since we aren’t using it except to pull cash out on occasion, it should not be a big deal. Life is easier in a lot of ways with cash only.

Shower and head to breakfast. Pay the bill and away we go. We are planning on stopping in Sikasso, Mali for the night. It’s about a 4-5 hour drive. Stop along the way to take a picture of a village name.

Say that 10 times real fast....

Arrive in Sikasso and look for the hotel that someone in the Bamako embassy recommended. For some reason, they said there were no rooms available. I would have believed them, except it seemed shady. We will probably never know why we got the shady vibe. Regardless, if they don’t want us at the hotel tonight, there is probably a reason. So, we will continue onto Bobo-Dissolou, Burkina Faso.  It’s not that far away from Sikasso and is a bigger town.

The border crossing was fairly easy. However, one of the national police walked up to me and told me I was a nice big woman perfect for him. Um. No. I’m already married and he’s standing two feet away from me AND you just called me fat. Go, visually assault someone else please. I’m not digging the Muslim men who are trying to score an American 2nd or 3rd wife. I’ve already got a husband. Liam didn’t catch what he said, but when I told him later, he laughed.

Continue driving and arrive in Bobo as the sun is setting. Manage to find the hotel (Villa Rose) without a lot of difficulty. The owner recommends a restaurant for us down the street. We decided to walk over to the restaurant because it was maybe a quarter of a mile away. While walking, we passed a poultry and pigeon brochette seller. Thought about it for a minute and opted for a fine dining experience. You have to indulge every once in a while!! Besides, the meat on a stick in Africa can be quiet delicious going down. Just don’t blame me if it comes back up!

Enjoy a nice dinner and talk about what we are going to do tomorrow. Decide to head south to Banfora and look for the Karfiguela waterfalls. After we finish dinner, we head back to the hotel to change our clothes and head to a local bar to listen to live music. After getting a taste in Kayes, I just want to hear more. When we arrive we meet, Franca, Moctar’s wife. She is from Amsterdam, Netherlands. They spend part of their time in Bobo and the other part in Amsterdam. Very friendly! Since they are going to be full tomorrow night, they have made reservations for us at another hotel in town and offered to show us how to get there tomorrow. It’s so nice to see businesses that still want to take care of their customers. I would stay there again in the future!

Moctar offers to take us over to the bar since our car is full of stuff. We pull the truck onto the hotel compound and away we go. The bar is hosting a musical festival! Woo hoo. What a great way to spend a birthday eve! The music was okay to pretty impressive! I’m so impressed by the fact that they can turn a few gourds, some wood, a couple of reeds, some fishing line, and a cow butt into a full band. Moctar & Franca join us after they ate dinner around 10pm. We listen to the music festival until around 1am and then everything dies down and it is time to return to the hotel. Head over to the annex and get ready for bed. I convince Liam that he has to sleep with me in a twin bed because it’s my birthday and I don’t want him to sleep in the other twin bed on the other side of the room. For some reason, he agreed and crawled in bed.

Woke up on my birthday to a stupid rooster crowing, a train passing by, and people talking. Oh yeah. There was a goat making goat noises too. REALLY?!?!?!?! So, much for sleeping in on my birthday. Crawl out of bed around 8am and Liam runs over to get hot water for a bucket shower and coffee for himself. The water was nice and boiling. I had to fill it almost completely with cold water to keep it from burning my skin! Then, I enjoyed a nice warm bucket shower in a communal bathroom.

Head back to the room and get dressed. Then, we head to breakfast. Liam wants to take a shower after he eats and has his morning coffee. After he is showered, we check out of the hotel and are on our way to Banfora. On the way to Banfora, Liam finds out about a lake that has hippos in it. It’s about 7 kms south of Banfora. So, we decided to head their first and back track to the falls. Find the lake, pay the 2000 CFA fee per person and drive to the end of the road. Somehow we missed that the boat ride to the hippos was included in the entrance fee. When we were told the boat ride was 10000 CFA per person, we opted not to take a ride in the rickety boat. Had I known it was included, I probably would have gone for a ride! But, instead, Liam walked around the lake with me to see if we could get close enough to them to take a picture. We walked a portion of the lake and didn’t see anything. So, we returned to the car and decided the hippo lake was a tourist trap.

Pull out the West Africa Lonely Planet book and find a restaurant for lunch. Head to the Hotel Canne a Sucre. Order a beef brochette, sautéed potatoes, and a salad. Ate everything but the beef. I’ve decided I don’t like the beef here. It’s too wild meat tasting for me. I felt bad wasting it all, but if you don’t like it. Why eat it?

Since we are traveling, I did not have a birthday cake for the first time in my life. Liam really didn’t believe me at first, but birthday cake is one of my all time favorite things. So, when I get back to Dar, I’m going to make myself a nice yummy cake! Which was my plan from the get-go – it was just odd being in the day and not having a slice of yummy cake for my birthday! The other thing that was a little odd – I’m a December baby. It’s supposed to be cold on my birthday, preferably with 2-4 feet of snow on the ground. But, we were in 95 degree weather. That’s something I’m going to have a hard time adjusting too. Having birthdays in hot weather. I might have to disappear for a few days around December 17th to the northern hemisphere in the future.

After lunch, Liam and I each had a nice bowl of homemade vanilla ice cream. It was awesome. Creamy. Perfect texture. Perfect flavor. That’s another thing we need to start working on – Ice cream making. We are going to become a 100% from scratch kitchen before too long. (If you have any tips on ice cream making – shoot us an email – we will share across the globe with other military and State Department people).

Get back in the car and begin the hunt for the water falls. In theory, we probably should have hired a guide – but that takes all the fun out of wandering. Head back out of town. At approximately 10kms, we take a left hand turn onto a dirt road. Stop and ask someone how to get to the falls and he says keep going on this road. Well we do, until we see something that we think could be the falls. Turns out, it’s the Dome. Well, we leave the dome b/c it’s a giant rock formation and we have all seen rocks and keep on searching for the falls. Drive through a few more farm fields and finally see a sign that says Cascades. YAY! The falls. Turn down a bumpy dirt road. See a booth to pay the entrance fee. It was 1000 CFA per person.  Pull up a little past the booth and park for 300 CFA. There are vendors selling wares on the left hand side of the parking lot. Man. This town is full of tourist trap places. 

About 10 children swarm us and want to take us up to the falls – aka – be our guide. We tell them that we are okay and want to hike and enjoy the walk on our own. I know what you are thinking – we didn’t help the poor, starving African children. But, in reality. We did. We paid to visit the falls and paid for parking. If we gave money to every person who wanted some from us, we would end up filing bankruptcy by the end of the month. The amount of money we have is relative to what we are responsible for paying in the States (mortgage, student loans, etc.). But, Africans do not see this. They see an expat and think we are all billionaires. And in some ways we are. But, like I said. If I gave money to everyone who wanted some from me, we would end up bankrupt.

Head up the trail to the top of the waterfalls. Was able to finally work out a few of the timed shutter speed settings on our new camera and got a few great shots of the falls! They were actually really pretty! And I bet they are even better in rainy season when there is a ton more water. Since sunset was approaching, we hiked back down from the top of the falls and took another path to the base. Yep, rainy season would be a better time to see the falls – but it’s not to shabby today!

Not quite. But, I liked the picture.

Finally figured it out. Now to get the water splashes out. Grrr.

Walk to the car and briefly look at a few of the items for sale. Decide we didn’t really like anything and began our journey back to Bobo-Dissolou. We arrived in town right after sunset. Went to the old hotel to pick up Al’s phone – but it ended up being at the restaurant from the night before. Run over to the restaurant. Pick up his phone. The owner called to the other restaurant she owns in town to make reservations for dinner for us. People are so wonderful here! Then, begin the hunt for our new hotel. Find it after realizing we were on the wrong main road. Check in, put our bags up. For $15/night, we got a suite with no hot water, no blanket, and almost no toilet paper! Liam’s post on Facebook made me laugh – “Happy Birthday my lovely wifey. You’re the best travel partner in the world. And for that you get a truly African B-Day present. A wonderful night in a $15 room with no hot water and no blanket. Come here and snuggle.” 

Change our clothes and head to Le Saint Germaine for dinner. Park the car. Walk into a beautiful courtyard with lots of African furniture and art for sale. Africans have some of the best wood working skills I have ever seen! The carvings are fantastic. Pick a table in the garden near the projection screen/stage where they are playing music DVDs. Some nights they have various live music, but we enjoyed the DVDs none the less. Dinner was amazing. And the service was some of the best we have had in Africa. We weren’t sure if it was because the owner made our reservation or if service was really great here!

After dinner, we decided to fore go another night of the music fest and head to bed. It took a lot of effort to not crash in the car on the way back to the hotel. Crawl into bed and fell asleep. What a nice way to end my 1st African birthday. You know you are getting old when you would rather sleep on your birthday than go out and party all night!!!

Wake up on the morning of the 18th and ponder a shower. I’m such a weenie when it comes to cold water. I absolutely detest it and will avoid it at all cost. But, Liam said it wasn’t that cold and I should give it a try. So, I did. And while it was cold, it wasn’t unbearable. Showered really quickly and finished packing up all of our stuff. We walked outside into the hotel courtyard and found Al. He had already loaded his stuff in the car. We loaded our stuff and then joined him. There were a few vendors in the courtyard of the hotel selling their wares.  The hotel also has a ton of masks on display and for sale. But, we opt to head to the market in downtown Bobo-Dissolou because the selection and prices are supposed to be a little bit better.

Check out of the hotel and fill up the car. Then, we migrate to the market area of town. We get out of the car and barely make it across the street before we are bombarded with requests to buy merchandise. We visit a mask shop and see a few HUGE Bobo goat masks. We ask the price. 150 euros. Um. I choke. Excuse me. Really? That’s ridiculous. Liam asks the price in CFA and we were told 100,000 CFA. Again. That’s insane. Liam offers 20,000 CFA and they say that is way to low. So, we continue on down the street. As we are walking away, the seller at the store says that he is going to call his friend and we agree to stop back by the store before we leave. As we walk a few guys begin to walk with us and take us into the maze of the market. It’s unbelievable. They literally sell EVERYTHING in there. Fabrics, hair extensions, food, electronics, chachkas, etc.  We visit a few vendors in the market and decide we don’t really like any of the masks. So, we walk back to another store that Al had agreed to visit to check it out.

Liam and I decided we would go back to the first mask shop and see if they would come down anymore. They asked us what the final price was and Liam said 25,000 CFA. Well, they finally agreed. Now, we just have to figure out how to get our giant Bobo goat back to Dar! I might be shipping some clothes so the goat fits in our suitcase.

Bobo Goat mask (Tiles are typical 12" x 12")

Also, keep in mind. If you ever visit our house, you may be the recipient of a very special alarm clock. One involving Liam, the goat mask, and goat noises. (He has yet to let me video it. But, given the chance in the near future – I promise to record it).

After securing the goat mask in the car, we began the journey to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.  This is the capital city and where the embassy is. We are staying in a TDY house for free! WOO HOO! Save the travel budget where we can!  Follow the map we have in Lonely Planet to the embassy. Well, it turns out, the embassy on the map is now the ambassador’s house. Liam calls our contact and finds out that we are actually right by the house that we will be staying at and tells us the American Club is down the street. We decide to wander to the American Club and grab lunch. A couple of the guys stop by the American Club to meet us and coordinate the Monday’s events. Then, they show us the house we are crashing in. Housing is pretty nice in Burkina Faso. Every house has a pool. This one has a fantastic screened porch and a beautiful garden. Find our way around the house. Since there isn’t an Internet connection, we decide to walk back over to the American Club for Sunday football and Internet.  We needed to figure out where the embassy was since it was not on the map we had.

Head back to the house around 10:30pm. Move my bag into the bedroom and head to bed. I’m exhausted. Traveling around is wearing me out.

Wake up on the morning of the 19th and get dressed to head to the embassy. The guys have a meeting at 11am with the OSC chief. However, when we researched the location of the embassy, Google maps led us in the opposite direction. Call the embassy and find out we were completely on the opposite side of town and passed on the info that we would be a little late.

The embassy is brand new. Went upstairs to meet with travel about our passports. Ate lunch with the DATT. Then, the guys went for a few meetings and I went to the CLO office to work on some of my stuff. At some point, I wander into the bathroom and giggled. The following sign was on display. And I'm glad it was because when you introduce a Western toilet into Africa, it can result in a few disasters.  Better be safe than sorry.

Awesome. AND. Necessary. Apparently.

Around 3pm we headed back to the house. On the way home, we passed a few woman riding scooters with babies tied to their backs. Oh and without helmets. I’m thinking this could be a major problem with shorter life-span. It also caused me to say, “You know, Liam, if we end up living in Burkina Faso with small children, we are going to have to make it VERY clear that our children will not be strapped to the back of our nanny on her scooter.” But, this is why I’m glad I’m traveling with Liam. Cause now I know that’s something to talk to our future nannies about.

There are so many things wrong with this picture.

By the time we got home it was around 5pm. We decided to head to the American Club for dinner because it’s so close to the house where we are staying. We walk over to the America Club, but find out the restaurant is closed on Monday nights. I hope Ouagadougou isn’t like Dar because most of the restaurants are closed on Monday nights in Dar. We check email quickly and head back to the house to get our travel book and find a place for dinner. We ended up going to Le Verdoyant.

Dinner was pleasant until a man at another table started screaming at the waiter for no reason other than to be extremely rude. The restaurant went SILENT. And in a place where politeness and greetings are one of the most important things you will do, China just lost a little more respect from everyone in the restaurant.

Enjoyed the rest of dinner and headed back home and off to bed.

The 20^th was a day of organizing and planning. Being on the road, makes it very difficult to plan and deal with paperwork from past trips and my travel for surgery. So, we decided to spend part of the day at the embassy sending emails and scanning documents. After a few hours at the embassy, we headed to the grocery store. They weren’t open until 4:30pm so we spent about 30 minutes waiting for them to open. This grocery store is in a brand new shopping center. There are not a lot of stores open. But, what struck me was the absolute lack of people in the mall.

Pick up our groceries and decide to head to the other grocery store since the first Marina Market didn’t have everything we needed for dinner. The other location is across from the Grand Mosque in downtown Ouagadougou. Around the grand mosque is a pretty large market. It’s like the Target of Burkina Faso. You can find anything and everything you want. I’m a big fan of the African markets!!  It’s also fun to people watch! Thoroughly, worth a day or two of your time!

After we find everything, leave the market and head to the house. Prep everything for dinner. That way, once we are ready to eat, it will only take about 20 minutes. Eat dinner and head to bed. It’s an early night, but I’m exhausted.

Turns out the 21^st ended up being another day of paperwork. We tried to knock some of it out at the American Club but the Internet connection there is awful. So, after we ate lunch, we headed to the Embassy. Spent a few hours filing paperwork and researching the rest of the trip. Once we found out the money was back in our account from when American Express cleaned it out, we pulled out money from the ATM that accepts our debit cards.

Somehow on the way home we end up missing our turn for the short way home. No big deal. We took the long way home. Ate leftovers for dinner, gathered our stuff, and talked about the journey some more.

Time to head to bed because we have a few long days of driving ahead.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, & A Giant Happy Holidays to all!!!

We are still traveling in West Africa and we wanted to wish everyone a warm and wonderful holiday season!

With Love,
Francis & Liam Connor

Mali...Timbuktu is an actual place...

10 December 2011 – 15 December 2011

Wake up feeling like we were eaten alive by little critters. It’s an early morning so we can get on the road and get through the border. Because, you never know how the border crossings will go. Eat breakfast, gather our stuff, and head out the door.

The road to the border was okay. With okay meaning drivable but rather littered with potholes. Traffic wasn’t bad. There were a few other cars leading the way around the potholes. It was almost stomach turning wandering back and forth across the road over and over again. Finally, make it to the border town. There are big rig trucks on both sides of the road. We drive through them looking for the border. End up on the other side of town and decide we missed the turn for the border. Back track a little and take another turn through town. End up on a different side of town out in the Sahel and realize we must have missed a different turn. Back track and find the turn. Arrive at the Senegalese border. The guards look up and see our dip plates and decide to just wave us through the border. No exit stamp. No formalities. I’m 100% certain that we are going to have to come back and get exit stamps.

Drive a few more kms and come to another barricade. Stop and go to the immigration office. It was really hot in the office, but there was a nice breeze blowing through. One of the Malian immigration officers wanted to practice his English with us. That happens to us a lot. We want to practice their languages and they want to practice ours. So, it ends up being us asking information in Frenglish and them responded in Frenglish. Good times.

Stamped passports and one ticket (a carnival type ticket for prizes not a speeding ticket) for vehicle registration information and we jump back in the car. Before, the guy working the barricade will let us through he needs our ticket. Really. Couldn’t you have kept your ticket and let us be on our way. It’s not like there are a ton of people at the boarder crossing right now (we were one of 2 cars).

Cross the border and find a tollbooth. Hmmm. I wonder how much this is going to cost us. Turns out the rates are set and it’s a pretty legit operation. Good work Mali. However, the road is horrible. So, can you use the tolls to actually repair it????  The heat makes the road so soft that when trucks brake it pulls up the payment and creates huge bumps and holes in the road. This is not a road that should be driven above 80 kph. It was an insane drive. I was so nauseous by the end of it because of the bumpiness and swerving back and forth to avoid the holes.

Pull into Kayes. It’s a pretty large town. Lots of people running around. Now, we have to find one of two hotels we have a recommendation for (Thank goodness for Lonely Planet and Bradt – otherwise it would be three westerners totally lost in Africa. Drive through the majority of town and don’t see either hotel. Find the train station. One hotel is supposedly across the street. But, we drove up and down the street twice and couldn’t find it. But, all of a sudden a tiny sign appears behind a building and we find one of the hotels. Perfect. Now, let’s go find a room.

Check out the rooms and they are actually pretty nice. The room is clean with en suite bathroom and the a/c works. What more do I really need? Baby wipes because there is no toilet paper. But, this isn’t our first rodeo and we have a giant pack in the car! Grab our stuff and take it up to our room. We lay down and take a nap. What else are you supposed to do when its 40+ degrees outside??

Wake up and try to go find the first French fort and rapids east of town in Medine. It’s about 15 kms outside of town. End up near a quarry and figure out the Chinaman has blocked the falls. We spend the next 30 minutes trying to find a road down to the falls so that we can go walk around them and take pictures. Well, Chinaman has restricted the view with their pool and buildings for the quarry. I wonder what else they are taking from Mali. It’s amazing. China has its hand in almost every country in Africa. My question is how long will it take before China has taken all of the resources from Africa???

Chinaman compound

The fall's behind the compound.

Give up on the falls and head over to Medine to look at the fort. Part of the fort is now a hotel. There were a few little canons but nothing really impressive. While wandering, we drove through a few villages. I love the looks people give us as we drive by. It’s like they’ve seen a ghost or don’t believe their eyes.

We head back to the hotel and clean up before dinner. The restaurant at the hotel is supposed to be one of the best in town. We all order kuku and pomme de terre frites. What shows up is a pile of greasy fried potatoes and half a chicken with an onion and pepper piece on top. While it was tasty, I knew the grease was going to have me running to the bathroom in 20 minutes. Stupid Gallbladder.

After dinner, we decide to go check out the casino onsite. We wander in and try to play but someone tells us that you need tokens. We exchanged 2000 CFA (~ $4) for tokens and away we went to play. All of the games were electronic slot or poker machines.  I went straight for deuces wild blackjack. My favorite. Except I couldn’t figure out how to get to deuces wild. So, a few gentlemen helped me figure out how to work the machine. They then felt they needed to teach me how to play. But, they quickly learned that I’m not a blackjack rookie. Didn’t do too badly. But, played through all of my tokens because I was having fun!

Leave the casino and Al heads to bed. Liam and I meander into a side bar. They have a giant projection screen set up and are playing the Madrid vs. Barcelona game. As we were walking in they were moving a table and two chairs to have a better view of the game. The waitress asks us if we want to sit down. Why, yes. We will. Sitting in the middle of nowhere in Mali watching a major European soccer match on a projection screen. Wow. Life’s not too shabby!  Order a couple of beers and figure out who the crowd is cheering for. We haven’t picked our EU soccer team (or teams) yet. But, it’s going to happen soon. Especially, with us moving to Italy.

I love watching soccer matches overseas. The crowds are so passionate and excitable. It’s great. Every time a team scored or blocked a great shot, both sides would erupt in excitement or anger. When Madrid scored for the last time before the end of the game, I thought the shanty roof was going to come crashing down as everyone ran around high-fiving and celebrating. What a great experience.

At night, the town comes out to play. The discotec was bumping. The casino was full swing and everyone from the soccer game was migrating to other areas of the hotel. Left the bar area and headed over to the hotel garden where they had live Malian musicians. Mali is know for their music. In fact, Liam read in one of our books that famous guitarists from all over the world to train and improve their technique. Pretty cool. The guitar they play here is called kora. It has up to 21 strings. It’s an amazing instrument. There is a Grammy winning artist who offers lessons in Bamako. If we ever move to Mali, we are going to take a few. But, first, we have to find a kora.

After listening to music for a while, we decide to head upstairs and go to bed. We have a long drive tomorrow to Bamako and want to get some sleep in case the roads are bad and we all end up driving portions of it.

Wake up on the morning of the 11^th as the power cuts off. Wonder how I’m going to take a shower/bucket bath. Have Liam move the bucket full of water out of the shower area and turn on the faucet – just to see if it would work. Well, it does. But, the water is scalding. Put some hot water in the plastic teapot and let it sit for a minute. Then, take a sponge bath using scalding and cool water. Only thing I didn’t do was wash my hair because it was going to be a bit of pain. Felt nice to be so fresh and so clean! Liam wasn’t going to take a shower. However, he broke down. Our first pseudo-bucket shower is a success!

Gather our bags and head to the car! Load up and get on the road to Bamako. It’s 612 kms and could be a very long day. We have not been given great information about the roads because the conditions change frequently. Turns out, minus about 60 kms the road was pretty new. The biggest threat to our safety was the donkeys, cows, dogs, and goats roaming around.

Baobabs in Mali.

Arrive in Bamako and make our way around Bamako to the embassy. We are meeting up with Mike. Mike & Jayne wonderfully offered to let us crash at their place to maximize the travel budget. Jayne was out of town but we still managed to play Words with Friends without any issues. Gotta love the Internet!

Met up with Mike and wandered to their house. Arrived to a nice home cooked dinner. Their housekeeper is an amazing cook and so sweet. She does not speak a lot of English and I don’t speak a lot of French but we were able to have a few basic conversations over the few days we were in Bamako and she taught me some French!

Spent some time talking to Mike that night about life in Bamako and the plans for the week. Then head to bed. It’s an early morning for everyone!

The alarm goes off relatively early on the morning of the 12^th and I want to hide under the covers. I was so tired. But, pull myself out of bed after Liam gets out of the shower and begin to get ready for my day. Wendy, Mike & Jayne’s next-door neighbor is going to pick me up and show me around town. Since I’ve had a good feeling about Mali the whole we have been here, I’m excited about exploring Bamako to see if it continues.

Wendy comes over around 9am and we head to her house to let the puppies out and then off we go. We head to the Botanical Gardens on the north end of town. It’s a beautiful garden area. There is also a National museum and they are building a zoo in this area. Within the garden, they have miniature replicas of the famous mosques around Timbuktu area. Additionally, they have a photo exhibit on display. The pictures were taken by African photographers following the theme “Sustainability.” It was very interesting to see Africans bring light to many of the major issues on the continent. I enjoyed their interpretations and hope that the exhibit receives international exposure.

After the Botanical gardens, we visited to local shops that had a lot of artwork. We also drove through the major market in town. It would be a lot of fun to come down here and shop. Next, we headed to the big grocery store. I like visiting the grocery stores to see what’s available and how much tings cost. It helps to make decisions on where we want to move next in Africa. Also, bought a few more snacks for the road.

After the store, we walk down the street to have some ice cream. The ice cream parlor had a bunch of delicious flavors and for 1500 CFA you get two scoops in a waffle cone. Okay. Bamako is looking amazing. Granted it’s winter and there is no summer heat to contend with, but, I like it here.

Head back to the house and relax and read. The guys come back from the embassy around 3:30pm. Mike came home about 5:30pm. There are a few other TDY guys and Wendy coming over to join us for dinner. After dinner, Abu, a Tuareg from Timbuktu, came over to Mike’s to show us knives, jewelry, and camel leather boxes that his family made. It took him about 20 minutes to set up his wares on a cotton mat on the floor. We all gathered around the on the floor and began shopping! The design on most of the pieces is the map to cross the Sahara from Timbuktu to northern Mali and onto Morocco. We spent a lot of time thinking and talking about what we wanted to buy and ended up buying a knife, a necklace, a camel leather box, and a bottle opener. Abu also gave us a camel tooth necklace and a small knife in a pink camel leather sheath. I for one had never seen camel leather anything. It’s beautiful. And the way they designed the boxes, sheathes was impressive. After everyone had bought the items they wanted, Abu said that he would be willing to come back over to Mike’s in a couple of days to have tea and talk about life in Timbuktu and the Sahara.

Abu and his wares. (Thanks Al for the picture!)

Admired our new items for a while and then headed onto bed. Tomorrow’s going to be another fun filled day!

Wake up on the 13^th and the guys are going to an exercise or conference or something for work. I’m going to play again. Wendy and I meet up around 11am and we are heading across the river to check out the other side of Bamako. We end up driving past Jasmine & John’s house and stop by to say hello since they are leaving post this week. Jasmine joins us for lunch at the a hotel café around the corner. Lunch was fantastic. The food was great, the company enjoyable and a nice view of the Niger River. After lunch, we went for a walk in Jasmine’s neighborhood to check out a small fishing village. As we walked through the village, we saw an area that had recently been on fire. Apparently, something exploded in one of the houses and they burnt to the ground. Right after the site of the burnt homes, there was a baby toddling around with a singed arm from elbow to the top of his knuckles. Wendy, Jasmine, and I were all concerned. We walked back to Jasmine’s house put together a first aid pack and headed back to village to take care of the baby.

Then, we had a 3-way translation to show the mom how to care for the baby’s arm to keep it clean and hopefully infection free. Jasmine translated my instructions into French. Her cook, Jeremiah, then translated them into to the local language, Bambara. Of course, insert the standard crowd of Africans watching the crazy mzungu take care of the baby. We cleaned the baby’s arm, used a sanitary napkin for an absorbent and protecting pad, and then wrapped it in that sticky brown gauze that I normally hate.  The little guy was a trooper. He barely whimpered and once we had his arm all wrapped and protected, he began to smile. Jeremiah had just baked cookies so we dispersed those among the people who had gathered. I just hope that baby doesn’t lose his arm to infection. Such a simple thing to take care of – if you have the right stuff – which they do now because we left everything with them.

Returned to Mike & Jayne’s and told Liam and Al I worked today and was hopeful that we might have improved the outcome for the little boy. First thing out of boy of their mouths, “But, did you get paid?” Insert obligatory eye roll. So, much for being high on my nursing kite. But, at least I know they have the products they need to take care of the baby. I just hope his mom actually cleans it and takes care of it.

Funny story. The guys were leaving the conference hotel and Al pulled up to the gate to exit. But, the guard at the gate wouldn’t open the gate. Because, Al did not drive around the circle to the gate. He drove straight to the gate because it was only a few feet away. The guard absolutely refused to open the gate until Al drove back around the circle and re-approached the gate correctly. I’m dead serious. Just ask Al. But, be prepared for him to get a little excited and flustered. I think he is still annoyed that the guy wouldn’t just open the gate with instructions on how to properly exit for next time. We tend to take our higher order of thinking for granted sometimes.

Enjoy another home cooked meal and tumble into bed. It was a long day. But, I didn’t sleep very well. I kept thinking about the baby and how I should be doing more to help. So, frustrating. I love what I do but sometimes it’s really hard not to take work home with you.

Woke up on the morning of 14^th. Wendy and I had talked about going on a photo safari of Bamako, but Mike made an appointment for me to talk with the Regional Medical Officer about working for the State Department. I’m so glad he set up this meeting for me!!! It was very informative. If I work for the State Department as a nurse practitioner, they could move me anywhere in the world. Which could be problematic since Liam will always be in Africa. But, we will figure it out. Luckily, I’m in a field where work is fun and I’ll make it happen wherever we are. But, one thing that came out of our discussion. We can do 10 years in Africa, and then spend the next 10 of my career wandering the rest of the globe. Oh the possibilities to wander the world. I’m feeling very nomadic.

Hung out at the embassy in the lobby reading my book while the guys finished all of their meetings. Wandered around the library at the embassy in Bamako. Pretty impressive. There were a lot of African history books and I spent some time flipping through them. Around 2:30pm, they were done with their meetings and we were able to head back to the house.

Spent the next couple of hours writing and stalking my class to see my final grade for Patho. Final grade isn’t posted yet, but at 96% is an A. Another great score. Amazing how that happens when you have all the time in the world.

After dinner, Abu came back over to the house to have tea and talk to us about life in Timbuktu since we can’t make it up there due to safety warnings. There are three pots of tea. The first pot is strong like death. The second pot is sweet like life. The third pot is sugar like love. The first pot was green tea leaves and sugar. The tea was so fresh. It smelled delicious in the plastic bag. I know it’s going to taste fantastic. He served the tea in two small glasses that we shared. The first wife always gets the first cup. Since, I was the only wife there, I received the first glass. So, yummy. But, strong. As we drank the first pot, Mike stepped outside to speak to a coworker and we asked Abu about life in Timbuktu. He explained how the economy has been affected by the lack of tourism. People are not visiting Timbuktu because of AQIM and other terrorist-like organizations. There have been kidnappings, murders, etc recently. When tourism is healthy, he is a tour guide. Now, to make money to feed his family, he has resorted to traveling to Bamako to sell the wares his family makes. He explained that everyone there has been affected. Even the people who do not work directly with tourism.  Once upon a time, the Tuareg people were some of the wealthiest. Timbuktu was the center of trade for the region known as Sudan many years ago. And now, with decreased rain and lack of tourism, people are having to sell treasured family heirlooms to survive. Abu is pretty bright. And we were really impressed with his comprehension of economic situation of Timbuktu.

Mike came back in, drank his tea, and we prepped the second pot. The second pot he added mint and sugar. This tea was perfection. It was delicious. We also found out there are 3-4 men who travel in caravan to the cities north of Timbuktu. Abu has made the trip 3 times. The first time his responsibility was to make tea, set-up the tents, and cook. It’s very important as a man to make the trip by yourself one time to show to our community that you are capable of making the journey. I was impressed. I can only imagine how beautiful the stars are at night, alone, in the Sahara. He smiled and excited began to talk about the stars. I’m so pissed at the terrorists. They really take all the fun out of life.

Al asked Abu if the Tuareg people were trying to regulate the terrorists’ activities in the area. He said they were because they want the tourists to come back and spend money to boost their economy. It’s sounds like a bad situation. Abu also talked about a drought that occurred years ago. Many elders are worried that they are seeing the signs of another drought. They are concerned because the Malian government does not frequently send aid or assistance to the area. If they don’t receive any help, they will have minimal water and food. People will die. Animals will die. It sounds like it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. If there is a better.

We make the third pot of tea. It’s even better than the 2^nd pot. Yummy. Okay. I’m addicted. I have to find a small teapot and some loose tea. I’ve studied how he made it. Time to get our tea on. Crap. I’m going native. C’est la vie.

After the 3^rd pot is finished, we say goodbye to Abu and promise to visit as soon as we can! I really can’t wait. He has only enhanced my desire to disappear into the desert around Timbuktu. Shortly after Abu leaves, we all head to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.

Wake up on the morning of the 15^th. The guys head to the embassy to meet with the Ambassador. I stay at home to pack and clean up our stuff. We are going to stay at a hotel tonight so Mike can have his house back to pack and get ready to go to the States for vacation. The guys come home to pick me up and change and then we are on our way to the NIH malaria lab in Bamako. Um. Yes, please. Who knew NIH had a lab to grow mosquitoes in Bamako. I couldn’t believe how many mosquitoes they were breeding. I felt like a kid in a candy store. They also have a relatively new HIV and TB lab. We were able to view a few microorganisms that they are also studying. Basically, it’s a swanky topical disease lab in the right place! What a great center! We really enjoyed the tour! (Thanks Mike for setting it up!).

Leave the NIH lab and head back into town. Grab a bite to eat at the French institute. Lunch was tasty and around the institute, vendors have set up shop. We found a mask we liked from the Sikasso region and snatched it up. The seller said I stole it for the price he sold it to me. But, I told him he didn’t have to sell it. But, I’m glad he did. The mask is really cool and detailed. This trip is going to make our mask wall a work of art!!!

Sikasso mask.

Make our way over to the hotel, check in and then head to the embassy to pick up our passports. Then, off to Mike’s to pick up all of our stuff! I can’t even begin to say thank you enough to Mike & Jayne! It was so nice to have a comfortable bed and non-restaurant food while we traveled. And you guys will ALWAYS have a place to crash in the future! Also, any future IRTers, consider this an open invitation to save money during your travels!

Head back over to the hotel and drop our stuff in our room and talk about dinner. We decide to eat downstairs at the hotel for ease since traffic was so crazy this afternoon. We ordered steak. And the cut of meat was fantastic, but did you know, well done at this restaurant was still bleeding onto the plate. Sigh. I managed to eat part of it after blotting the extra blood out. Finished dinner and headed upstairs to bed.

Dakar, Senegal and Beyond or Watching the Sun Set over the Atlantic...

5 December 2011 – 9 December 2011

Wake up to Liam shuffling around the room. He was getting all dressed up to go to the embassy. Today they have all of their big meetings at the embassy and need to be there by nine. After being attacked by mosquitoes several times throughout the night, I was tired and a little grumpy. Why don’t “nice” African hotels have bug nets? Seriously. Malaria is a rather LARGE problem in your neck of the woods.

I slowly stir out of bed and begin to ponder what my day will entail. Since I’m still tired from our rather late arrival, I moving at the pace of a drugged snail. Manage to take a shower. Put on my bathing suit and sundress and decide to go for a walk around the hotel hoping to find breakfast out by the pool and ocean.  Head downstairs and begin to meander through the lobby. Liam was down here this morning and managed to tell me the pool area was really nice before he dashed out to the embassy.  There are a bunch of overpriced shops to the left of the atrium, a bar in the right corner, a restaurant serving what appears to be breakfast across the atrium from me and a hallway past the shops. I head to the hallway. Pass a business center (think Kinkos), then a hair salon. Walk through a set of sliding glass doors into the great outdoors and see a great pool area. There is also an ocean side restaurant to the right. Head down there and they are not serving breakfast.

Walk past the pool and head down the path to the ocean. What a fantastic sound as the water hits the shore. I’ll never get tired of listening to it. Sit on a bench in front of the water for about 15 minutes. Then, decide I’m hungry so I walk back to the restaurant that is serving breakfast.  The hostess gives me a dirty look. Apparently, now that I’ve adjusted to life on Africa time. I’m late. And have only a few minutes to gather the items I would like to ingest to satisfy my huger. So, one of the waiters follows me around and as soon as I grab something, he steals it from me and takes it to the table. Meanwhile, I’m dumbfounded. I’m not incompetent. And they apparently have not seen a ravenous American on a mission. I have two minutes to get everything I’m going to eat. Okay. Then, get out of my way and quit distracting me. So, I sent him on a mission for tea and juice. That bought me just enough time to grab some fruit, a yogurt, and a pastry. Everything was great. Especially the yogurt. It was nice, thick, creamy French plain yogurt. I could have eaten a vat of it. It’s hard to find yogurt like that in Dar.

Worth the view.

Head back up to the room to figure out the safe and get a book to read. Plus, I need to cover my whiteness in sunscreen. Sometimes, I forget that I don’t look like everyone around me. Until I’m resembling the high redness of a cooked lobster. I don’t come with fantastic dark skin as a natural sunscreen. I blame my parents. Western European muts that they are.

Head back to the pool area and absorb plenty of cancer causing rays. Spent about 30 minutes watching three lizards argue over who was going to win the area around a giant palm tree. It was pretty entertaining. They were bobbing up and down and then would turn and stare at me. As if I had any input. Really, I’m just the giant human with nothing better to do than watch lizards. Continue, as you should, lizards.

Try to get into the pool for a nice refreshing swim. Made it just past the belly button before I decided I was not about to freeze to death in the tropics. I’m still questioning how the water was so cold. It doesn’t make logical sense. Oh wait. It’s winter north of the equator. Why was I swimming outside in winter? See. Africa messes with your head.

Lay down on the lawn chair and warm back up. Read a few more chapters in my current Africa reading material Why Foreign Aid Isn’t Working: The Trouble with Africa by Robert Calderisi. (It’s a pretty interesting perspective on Africa’s failed finances).  Finally, start to feel a tiny bit hungry so head over to the bar area and order a delicious salad with mozzarella, prosciutto, and pesto. Wow. It’s almost like I’m back in the real world. Except for the lizards. Mosquitoes and general third worldness right outside the hotel. Weird how that happens though. Enjoy my salad and head back up the room to work on my schoolwork for a few hours before the guys come back to the hotel.

The guys come back from the embassy around 3:30 and I find out that they have another engagement at 7:45 tonight. No biggie. Liam and I head to the pool to talk about the rest of our time in Dakar and the rest of the trip. Al joins us about 45 minutes later. We decide to have dinner in the restaurant right by the ocean. While at dinner we decide to extend another two days at the hotel in order to have enough time to get our visas for Mali (all the other recommended hotels were full) and we are going to Goree Island the next day since it’s a Muslim holiday.

Next day (the 6^th), we get up and prepare for our ferry ride and adventure on Goree Island. Gather all the stuff we need and migrate to the harbor. We arrived to the port around 11:00am. The ferry wasn’t leaving for about an hour and tickets will begin to be sold around 11:30am. So, we grabbed a bunch of bananas and ordered a coffee from the local “Starbucks.”  An adorable older gentlemen making Nescafe coffee. To mix the coffee and hot water he would pour them back and forth between two cups. His pour technique rivaled some of the best bar tenders in the world. Impressive performance with a delicious result. Caffeinated and fed is the best way to jump on a boat for an island.  Get in line to buy our tickets. Explain to the ticket counter guy that we were African residents. Of course, we had to show proof because no one ever wants to believe that we are residents. Tickets are generally cheaper if you are an African resident. Some places only have discounts by region (common in East Africa). Regardless, move to the left and pass through a turn still. Have to show that we are residents again. Move into the sitting room and wait. Somehow we lose Al in the process, but that’s because he thought we were going back to get more coffee. Take a seat in the front of the waiting room (see I’m going native. Gotta be in the front).  All of a sudden a woman behind me begins to talk to us in English. Apparently, she thinks I have sucker written on my forehead. Her name is Fatima and she asks us to come by her shop to see her nice stuff. Of course she tells us, “I give you good price.” Don’t they always?

About this time, Liam decides he needs to wander. He leaves his bag and disappears up the stairs of the ferry waiting room. Al follows suit a little while later. While they are gone, two other people sit down. That’ll teach the guys to get up and leave their seats. Liam comes back down and tells me to come upstairs because there are some great areas to take pictures. He was right. We got a few shots of the Beer boat, the boat to Goree Island. There was also a HUGE container ship in port and another ferry that heads to Ziguinchor, in southern Senegal. 

Beer boat. Yes please.

Right at noon, they opened the doors from the waiting room (or holding tank) and allowed the masses to move to the boat. From a previous post – you know how this occurred. It’s always the same traffic flow patterns. Except they held everyone upstairs for a while until the crowd had thinned downstairs. As we made our way to the boat, we once again had to show proof that we are residents. Goodness. They are all paranoid that people aren’t going to do the right thing.

Get on the boat and head straight for the front. Except we should have sat on the starboard side to get the best pictures of the island as we approached it. The ferry ride was about 15 minutes long. During the boat ride, a few guys were playing with small gourds on the end of a string and making really cool music. We decided we would be buying several for presents and our own entertainment. 

Goree Island.

Boat docks at the pier and we all jump off the boat. There is a fort on the tip of the island that is now a historical museum for Goree Island and Senegal. On the outside of the fort, there are old canons to the right of the fort. What does Liam do as soon as he sees them? Runs over and straddles it. That seems so logical doesn’t it? Let me jump on a weapon, rocket, missile, etc. Big powerful weapons between your legs make you cool. Hmmmmm….maybe women really do have all the power in the world…

At a loss for words.

Wander around the fort. It reminded me of the Ship Island fort in the Mississippi sound. Except Ft Massachusetts is much larger and way more fun! Leave the fort and walk through the village of the island and visit a few shops with artwork and watch a few children playing drums. Meander over to a restaurant and enjoy a pretty tasty lunch. While we are eating lunch, Fatima and many other vendors came by several times to remind us to visit their stores or try to sell us their wares. While we are eating. Dude. Lunchtime is not shopping time. Unless I’m home by myself and bonding with Amazon.com. But, it’s a nice island café and I’m trying to enjoy my fish kabob and fruit cocktail.

A pathway

We did break down and buy some of the music balls from one of the guys on the boat. He let me make a video. Maybe. One day. We will have skills. But, since Liam and I are both musically un-inclined – probably not.
  

As we were finishing up lunch, I see a group of guys walking towards one of the docks with a ramp, a bungee cord, and roller blades/skates. Could all my dreams come true in this moment? Could they really be about to do what I think they are going to do? Why yes. They are. FANTASTIC.

After lunch we head over to the Maison-des-esclaves. This building was where they exported large numbers of Senegalese and West African men, women, and children for slavery. As horrible as it is to admit this – all I could think about was how much nicer this holding facility was than the one in Zanzibar. Regardless, it’s a horrible thing that happened to these families.  And they were treated so poorly. By colonists and fellow Africans.

Leave the Maison-des-esclaves and hide from a few of the vendors because they are literally following us around. Yes, I was hiding behind buildings and stealthily moving through the streets. Even though, we knew the vendors know the island better than we do. I just didn’t want to buy a necklace I will probably never wear.

We headed toward the dock to catch the boat. On the way back, I stopped and took a few pictures of the brightly colored fishing boats on the beach. Senegal is all about color. And I’m all about capturing it.

Boats of many colors.

While waiting in line to get on the boat, a guy approached Liam about buying more gourds-on-a-string. So, Liam asked him how much. He said 10,000 CFA for 2. Well, Liam said that was too much so he started bargaining with him for fun. At some point, the conversation flipped and Liam started trying to sell 2 of ours to the guy. Liam said, “I give you good price.” And the guy said okay. Until Liam quoted his price. “10,000 CFA for 2.” The salesman reached for his wallet and Liam pulled two gourds-on-a-string out of his bag and the salesman started shaking his head saying “Too much.” Wait a second. Isn’t that price you just tried to sell them to us for? Funny how that works.

Jump back on the boat and take the short ride back to the mainland.  On the way back to the hotel, we stop by the African Renaissance Monument. A guy from North Korea decided that Africa needed a Renaissance style statue. So, he designed and built one for them. There is an elevator you can take to the top of the guys hat, like the Statue of Liberty.  But, the monument was closed by the time we got there. And I don't know about you. But, I'm a little leery of a North Korean elevator in Africa. Plus, Liam wanted to admire the 40 foot boobs.

African Renaissance Monument at sunset

Head to the hotel to clean up and go to dinner. A friend recommended La Parrilla, an Argentinan steak place. We found the restaurant online and made our way there around 7pm. We were the only customers in the restaurant. Must be a place where people late. And I must say. The food was fantastic. Enjoy a nice dinner and head back to the hotel to sleep with a nice full belly.

Woke up on the 7^th, with Liam prepping to head to the embassy to turn in our passports for our Mali visas. However, his ID was MIA. We spend the next few hours hunting it down. To no avail. He has to run to a training event and gives me directions to find the Dakar embassy and where the travel office is in the embassy. So, I head to the car. Hoping I can find this place. Of course, I get downtown, make a few wrong turns and it takes me almost an hour to find the embassy. Finally, find a place to park and this guy walks up to me and in French (at least I think it was French) says that he will watch my car (I think). I tell him No. I don’t need him to watch my car. It’s a tank and will be just fine. So, I run into the embassy and argue with travel about it taking 4 days to get our visas when it should take 2 days MAX. They finally agree and say that we should have them back on Friday. A day too late but we can adjust our travel schedule. Drive to the port to see if Liam’s ID appeared there yesterday. Still no such luck. Ended up going a wrong way again and had no idea where I was. But, somehow figured it out and found the hotel. Order lunch and spend the afternoon relaxing. It was a rough morning.

The guys come back from the training event and we discuss dinner. We are meeting another one of the IRT guys and his wife for dinner. Well, right before dinner Liam gets sick. He rallies and we head to dinner. He avoids food and actually has to leave the table a few times to discard a previous meal and ingested bugs (aka food poisoning).

As we are walking back to the car, Liam walks over to a palm tree and covers the base in gastric contents. We get in the car to head to the hotel and my stomach starts to churn. CRAP. This isn’t good. Barely, make it to the hotel room and I am stripping my clothes off to make it to the bathroom. Yep. This sucks. We are going to be fighting for the bathroom ALL NIGHT LONG.

I spent the next day sleeping in bed and waking up and running to the bathroom. Liam felt better around 3pm and made it to the grocery store to pick up some juice and light food to munch on. I spent most of the day thinking I had malaria. But, finally decided I didn’t when I didn’t have a fever (Yes, I packed a thermometer). Al was also sick and spent the entire day in bed. Bottom line. Apparently, we needed to hang out in Dakar for an extra day b/c our bowels had BIG plans for us. Still not sure where we got sick. But, this is Africa. And it’s part of living on the continent.

Friday morning. We wake up and prepare to check out of this hotel (finally – we are free). Head to the embassy to drop off one of the vehicles and pick up our visas. Park the car within the embassy compound parking and head out of Dakar.

On the way into Dakar, Liam was eyeing some oranges that women were selling on the street. So, on the way out of town, that was all Liam would talk about. So, he bought a bag of oranges. They were pretty tasty. Excellent purchase, Liam!!!!

Drove back through Thies and headed towards Tambacounda, Senegal. It is a town near the border of Mali. My stomach was OFF the entire way there between my stomach bug and the bumpy roads. By the time we made it to the hotel, I thought I was going to die. We stayed at a B&B at the edge of Tambacounda called Le Relais de Tamba. It was a nice hotel. Just don’t ask them about the toilet in room 109. Somehow, Liam managed to separate the base from the floor and we clogged it.

After dinner, we headed to bed. It had been a long week and we are still feeling questionable. Sleep is going to help – I know it.