Bamako Day 1 (26/06/2009)

We got up this morning at quarter till eight ( we were told the night before that breakfast would be at eight or eight thirty. We got up got ready and went to breakfast. We had cereal and milk as well as some baguette type bread. We met to entemologists who are at a meeting here with groups from Bamako, Kenya and some where else that I forget. One doctor was from Miami and the other (Andrew) was from Kenya. They went off to their meeting and after sending a quick email we decided to take a nap until lunch (as we were not sure who was going to come find us or when).

here's cool lizzard that was on my door

We slept for a short while and then the cook knocked on our door to see if we were going to have lunch (my broken french didn't allow me to respond so I left that up to Liz). Just as we were laying down again another knock came. I was a gentlemen that was sent by Moctou to come bring us to meet him. Moctou seems to be in charge of a lot of logistics. He very nicely welcomed us let us know that Friday is a half day (for religiously purposes) and told us that we should come back to him after lunch with our passports, insurance cards and money. He would make copies of the documents to keep and keep our money in a safe and allow us to withdraw amounts in Mali dollars (CFAs or see-fus as they are called localy) whenever we needed.

We headed back down to the house and had lunch with the Kenyan entemologist and with another younger man who works for the NIH doing biologisitics. He is originally from Somalia and told us about the situation there and he and the Kenyan man got into a discussion about the recent unrest in Kenya and how it was similar to what had happened in Somalia and how close kenya may be to becoming a failed state. So we got a quick lesson in African regional politics, which was very interesting and I was proud that I knew enough to at least participate a small amount in the discussion. At lunch we also met Mark an ID (infectious disease) fellow from UMD who just finished up a few months in Bandiagara.

Liz and I went back up to Moctou's office along with Mark and got our things with him taken care off and made plans to have a driver take us out tomorrow night. He also sent someone out to get our sim cars (for our cell phones). We came back down to the hosue and sat and talked with Mark got some advice about traveling and found out some things about Mali. Later in the day we went out with Mark and a driver so that Mark could find stamps and mail his postcards. Unfortunately he wasn't successful (the man was already out of stamps that day), however we were able to buy some postcards, which I promise to send. We got to drive around and see some of the city. There's a museum I would like to go to in the future and there's a very busy market place and they're building a zoo. I also decided why the African women wear the clothes around their heads. I think it cushions and helps make a flat surface for all the things they carry on their heads. They also tie their babies to their backs, which to me seemed uncomfortable, but there were many a sleeping baby so I guess it must be ok.

We came back and found dinner waiting for us. We had pizza, some delicious dumpling/egg roll, wonderful mango and some banana bread. It was a very good dinner (as was lunch). Mark warned us that the food would not be quite as good or as much variety in Bandiagara. Just as were were getting ready for dinner the sky began to change and get dark and the winds began to blow. Thus I experienced my first African orage (thunderstorm). Since then the power has blinked out a few times but fortunately there are generators. After dinner Mark left for the airport (he is heading back to the states) and now here I am typing this to you. I think now I will send and email invite to view this blog and then try to study some french so that I can converse more. Au revoir.