Belated Christmas Blog!

This is what I know about Morocco:

1. It’s cold there in December.
2. Their tea is better than Malian tea.
3. And it is very difficult to get a beer.

Abigail took three days to get to Morocco because of record snow falls on the west coast, so Jack, Elizabeth and I met up and headed to Marrakesh without her. Marrakesh was a nice town but, I felt, a little fake. Having been to Egypt I was hoping for more of that Arab splash of excitement. It was exciting, just cleaner than I expected, I guess. And, also, cold. We spent the days roaming through the Souks (stalls) and buying too many things, drinking tea or coffee and eating delicious food. We tried to see the gardens but only found them closed. The highlight was the gardens outside of the medina (the medinas are the walls around the old cities) which were full of cacti. (my friend from my village told me a while ago that he wanted this plant, but he didn’t know the name, so he described it by moving his hands like plates, touching the fingers of one to the wrist of the other and then he said “it hurts you,” and I said “OH, A CACTUS!” so this is where we found them.) Before getting on the train we ate at KFC! We took the train back up to Casablanca (the trains there are a wonder) then to the airport and greeted Abigail just in time to catch a train back into the city where we stayed the night.

We went to Fez the next morning, which was wonderful, it was exactly what I was expecting Morocco to be like and the shopkeepers didn’t harass us as much. They had great food there and we had Abigail, the only problem was the cold. J We bought more stuff, including a cactus. We spent a night in Fez then went to Meknes which has a small Medina and went through their market which was filled with locals and local stuff. I bought several Tupperware containers (one to hold my cactus on the plane) and other gifts for my Malian friends. We went to Pizza Hut for dinner which was rather disappointing then went back to our cold cold beds. The next day we ate the most amazing rotisserie chicken then hopped on the train to Casablanca (the beginning of our very long day of travel).

At the airport we ate then waited for our plane. When we were waiting a Malian woman (who looked like she had come from the village) was sitting next to Abigail pealing an orange. She threw the peal on the ground then moved to a different seat. Later a janitor came by and swept up the peals while giving Abigail a dirty look. As we were boarding, the flight to Sierra Leone was getting ready to go and the line was proof, not only that West Africans understand the concept up of lining up, but also that there is nothing you can’t carry on your head. Each person had a pile or a bucket of something atop their head as they loaded into the gangplank.

The flight was short but got us into Mali at about 3 am Bamako time, we picked up our bags and went straight to the bus station to hop on an 8 hour bus to Kayes! When we got to Kayes we started the 3 days in our trip where we actually got to rest. 6 other volunteers were in town too, so we chatted then ate some pasta (out of the same bowl—practicing for their cultural integration) then watched The West Wing and went to bed. The next day we went fabric shopping in the market and bought food. It happened to be the last day of the Biennale which is the Biennial Cultural Festival. It rotates its location and this year it happened to be in Kayes. I was able to go to the opening ceremonies before I left for Morocco and we made it back just in time to go to the closing ceremonies where the president of Mali spoke. It was interesting watching the dancers but the president’s, A.T.T. (Amadou Toumani Toure), speech was too long, so we took a taxi home and then walked to dinner. In Mali, we have what’s called Street Food. Women line the streets with picnic tables and benches and sell spaghetti, macaroni, beans, meat, potatoes, salad and egg sandwiches. I took them to my favorite street food vendor and filled them up.

On New Years Eve we laid low for the morning, I took Jack, Abigail and Elizabeth to see the hyena. There is a hyena in a cage near my house. Some Malians captured it and keep it in there. I heard they used to walk it but it got loose so they stopped letting it out. It really is one of the most terrifying animals I’ve ever seen. We took pictures then Jack and Abigail went home to hang out with the cats and dog. Elizabeth and I went shopping for salsa ingredients. On the way back we caught a ride in a moto-taxi. I’ll post pictures. In the afternoon, I took them to the pool at the fancy hotel in Kayes. It costs $4 per person but you have to pay $40 up front. It was very refreshing, not because it was really hot, but because I thought it was closer than it was so our walk in the afternoon heat to the pool made everyone grumpy and angry so once we had cold sodas and had been in the nice cool pool everyone was much happier. That evening we went to my homologue’s house. I had made salsa and she had made beans. We mashed the beans up with taco seasoning (sent from Uncle Art and Aunt Sharon) then poured the salsa on top and ate it with our hands, I call this Malian Tacos (this is my attempt at sharing my cultural, or Mexico’s culture, with Malians. They can say the word “taco” unlike many words I’m familiar with because “taco” also happens to be girl’s name in Mali). My homologue had also made my favorite Malian dish so we filled up the rest of our stomachs with that then sat back to drink some tea and watch Marina. Marina is the current soap opera on Malian tv. It’s a Brazilian Soap dubbed in French, so I don’t know what’s going except what I can surmise from the very realistic acting. We took a taxi home, lit some fireworks, tried our best to stay up until midnight then got up at 3:45 to take the bus back to Bamako.

I wanted to take everyone to the spaghetti street food man for dinner, but I was overruled so we went to Adonis where they have fabulous Lebanese and American food for an affordable price. We went to bed early and got up around 5:30 to catch a bus to Sevare and start our Dogon adventure. In Sevare we went to a really nice jewelry store and met some of my fellow volunteers and, again, went to bed early. We met our Dogon guide, Hassimi, at the Peace Corps Bureau. He took us in his junky station wagon to another hotel to meet up with 3 other people. A woman who knows one of my friends and her parents. They are all from Portland, Oregon and turned out to be joys to travel with. The first village we went to was on the plateau about half an hour from the main part of Dogon and the escarpment (cliffs). See pictures (I don’t remember the name of it.) If Abigail looks beat up in these pictures, it’s because she was nauseous all night and didn’t get much sleep. She was beat in the morning but handled the rest of the day. We had lunch in Bandiagara (the town where mom, dad and I stayed when we did our Dogon trip), then headed down below the cliffs. We left our bags at a Campement (A Campement is like a hostel. In Dogon Country they are usually built out of mud to resemble the village dwellings. They have mattresses and beds, bathrooms, bedrooms and they provide food and drinks.) then we walked for a few kilometers to the first Dogon village. A small village full of beautiful rocks and baobabs. You wouldn’t even know it was there if someone hadn’t shown it to you. It was tucked into the rock back a little ways. We got to watch the sun set and hear some interesting stories about how the Dogon people arrived in that part of Mali.

When we got back to the hostel, Abigail went right to sleep, the rest of us were beat too. I slept inside with Abigail because I thought I would be freezing up top, but Elizabeth and Jack slept on the roofs. (I should put here that Abigail slept inside because she had no sleeping bag. She had no sleeping bag because I told her not to bring one because I wanted her to bring more gifts for me. J) The next day we ‘hiked’ to a village called Teli. This village is amazing because when you’re about a kilometer away you can see the cliff dwellings in the rocks. It’s pretty miraculous. (My parents and I spent much of our Dogon trip in this village.) We hiked up into the cliffs and heard another history of the Dogon people then ate lunch on the roof of a campement and played 151 (a Malian card game) and took naps. In the afternoon we walked to another village called Ende, here we were able to go through the town on market day AND this is where Jack took his first shower in Mali! The campement we stayed in had running water, toilets and sinks. (sometimes running water just means a faucet for a hose, but not here) We all slept on the roof that night, Abigail, without her sleeping bag, went inside after a couple of hours.

The last day we hiked to a small village where we ate a delicious lunch and Hassimi engaged us in a game of riddles. After lunch we were picked up in his car and taken back to Sevare where we crashed, exhausted. Again we got up early the next morning for a relatively short bus ride to Segou where Jack got sick and stayed in bed, while Elizabeth, Abigail, my friend, Susie, and I went to dinner and had drinks. Poor Jack. We filled Jack with Pepto-Bismol and anti-nausea meds so he could get some sleep then we slept in and took a later bus to Bamako so he could recover. When we got to Bamako I took everyone to my favorite restaurant (the American Food Restaurant) called the Broadway Café. We had burritos and burgers. Fabulous. We also went to the tailor who PROMISED he’d have some things done for us by the next day (since their flight left so late we figured they could get it done and we paid a little extra). The next day we went to the market and ended up in the Grande Marché (death trap for tourists). We managed to get some nice fabric and get out of there without too much damage to our patience and got the fabric to the tailor in time to get clothes made for everyone (by the way, the tailor got all the clothes done on time). We went back to the shawarma place for lunch then to the American food restaurant for dinner again and we met some other Americans, most are working in Mali doing Fulbright grants. We then retired to the Hotel Campagnard for some beers before taking them to the airport. Another volunteer happened to be heading to the airport in a Peace Corps car so I got to ride with them on FREE transport! It was sad saying goodbye. If they had stayed for 6 weeks or 6 months it would have been better.

Instead of going back to site, where I would surely become depressed and lonely, I decided to go to my friend, Susie’s, site for a few days. After that I came back to Bamako and took the shuttle back to Kayes through Manantali (near the National Park). I didn’t see Baboons or Hippos this time, but sometimes they’re around.

I decided to head back down that way again a few days late to watch President Obama’s Inauguration. My friend’s neighbor has a satellite dish so two volunteers, Brandon, and I watched it live on CNN! I got to his site by train. There is now a new train and it was fabulous. Brandon and I took the train back to Kayes the next day.

I’ve been in Kayes now for a couple weeks, hanging with my cats and dog and trying to get through the days when a project sort of fell into my lap. I had taken some clothes to my tailor and he noticed that I had Peace Corps fabric. He asked if I could help him with something and I said that Peace Corps doesn’t give money to people. Turns out he really knows what he’s doing. He has a well-functioning business and wants to improve upon the school started by remodeling it. At the school they teach kids to be tailors and business skills like math and management. WHAT?! Cool, right? Anyway, I’m trying to work my way in and see what I can do but I’m taking things slowly, hopefully I’ll be able to have another volunteer help me who will be here longer than me.

Also, when I said “cats” before I was referring to Keme Saba, Papi AND Elou Trans. Elou is the cat of Natalie and Steve who are currently at IST (they come home today). She was named after the transport they used on a particularly long and difficult voyage from Bamako to Kayes. Sadly, however, Keme Saba went missing on Thursday afternoon and hasn’t been seen since. This is strange because she rarely leaves the yard, except when she walks out…and back in, with me. We thought she might have been pregnant but she was really skinny so that’s unlikely. It’s been about 6 days now, so I don’t think she’s coming back. After tonight I’ll be back to down to 1 cat, Mr. Papi, who is doing just fine.

Sorry for the long break between posts. I will put up pictures from the opening ceremonies of the Biennale as well!

HAPPY GROUNDHOGS DAY! Here we always hope for more weeks of winter, always!

Just kidding about Keme Saba, she showed up this morning, after a week long vacation. She looked a little frazzled but I suppose everyone deserves a break!