This morning we got up (a little later thankfully) and got ready to go to Mopti (which means packing our backpacks and slathering on a lot of sunscreen). Diallo and Tolo were coming with us and Tolo kept asking what our schedule was; I tried to explain that when you’re on vacation you don’t need a schedule, but he didn’t seem to understand this (which is surprising since they don’t seem to concerned about keeping schedules or time here in Africa), so I made a quick list of things I wanted to see: Bar Bozo, a Bozo village, the market, the pirogue-builders and the Mosque (which is modeled after the mosque in Djenne). When the driver arrived we headed on our way; I was again amazed by how the scenery reminds me of the southwest (or what I imagine the southwest to look like (funny I made it to Africa first)).
When we got into Mopti (there’s only one road in) I was suddenly struck by the smell of drying fish, which I can’t say was an altogether appealing smell. Our first stop was down by the pier, though it seemed nearly impossible to actually drive the car down there, the roads were so crowded with people and carts and shack boutiques spilling into the streets; Liz and I tried to suggest walking, but eventually the car made it. We walked over to Bar Bozo and Tolo found us guide to go to the Bozo villages. As a side note we learned of an interesting relationship between the Bozo and Dogon; apparently they have a pact (though the basis in history varies) where a Dogon can take something from a Bozo without compensating him (something Tolo reminded the Bozos we encountered more than once), however they also cannot intermarry. Our Bozo guide found us a pinasse (a Malian version of gondola) to take us over to a Bozo fishing village across the river (the Bani river, apparently the Niger meets it a little further west). On the way down the river we also passed a Somono village, these people are not fisherman, but make the pinasses and pirogues (boat without a motor and boat with a motor). We reached the Bozo village (I heard the name but forgot it, apparently it’s named after the chief) and went in search of the chief to ask his permission to visit). Along the way we passed through most of the village and in the end only found the chiefs first wife and many of his children. We finished out walk through the village which ends shortly before the edge of the island; the rest of the space is used by the nomadic Fulani for a few months of the year.
We departed in our pinasse and headed back to Bar Bozo for lunch; I got the capitaine de Bozo (which was capitaine with a spicy sauce and bananas) plus a plate of spaghetti and tomato sauce. Lunch was quite good and the breeze from the water was refreshing. After lunch we headed back to the car which attempted to navigate away from the pier and towards the mosque. We were able to see and photograph the mosque, but unfortunately (though not surprisingly) we weren’t allowed to enter. After that Liz needed to do some souvenir shopping (I did too) so we looked for a market. Apparently the old artisan market had been rebuilt, but seemed to be slightly low on actual artisans. I wound up buying more clothe (yeah, I’m starting to think I have a problem) and Tolo was angry that I didn’t let him argue the price down lower (he’s a vicious bargainer). We walked through some other areas with merchants and I bought to silver (well stainless steel) teapots (and let Tolo argue away about the price) and some dried hibiscus flowers so I can make bissap when I come home. It was getting quite hot by this point in the afternoon and after a little more exploring so Liz could find some more gifts we walked back to the car and made the difficult drive out of town. We made one more stop on the way home to buy some cold drinks.
When we got back to the house Liz and I were in desperate need of a wash. Afterwards we finished watching a rather bad movie and hung out until it was time for dinner. Dinner itself was a rather disappointing soup, which consisted mostly of broth with a few pieces of meat; the only part about it that is mildly filling is that you eat the broth with a loaf of bread. After dinner I was totally pooped, I think the sun drained out all my energy reserves (but no sunburn today, YAY).
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