Monday, August 17, 2009

Back to Bamako Living: Home Sweet Home

We left Kayes at 4:30 in the morning on Sunday. Since the bridge is out, this required getting a pirogue at 3:00am. Imagine the usual pirogue antics (as outlined in last post) in pitch black, with lots of luggage, and no wooden planks to walk on. The fare doubled to 20 cents for a ride, but there was a lot of do-it-yourself hoisting, slinging and jumping from muddy banks into wooden boat and back. Thank allah that we were a team of 4. My shining moment came when I climbed a steep muddy hill up from the bank wearing two laptops and pulling a heavy suitcase - in flip flops! It was one of those ubiquitous moments in Mali where you close your eyes, attack the present, and don't think of the consequences associated with the risks.

After the pirogues, the bus company - Ghana transport - seemed like limousine service. We were smart and got our tickets early at the station on the Rights side of the bank - instead of downtown - so we got priority seating. The 8 hour ride included complementary croissants and soda (better than any domestic US flight), 2 bathroom pit-stops in brush covered areas, and bumping coupe decale, reggae etc, from the big speakers wired into the bus radio. The one downside of the ride was the driver's strategy of using his horn like an invisible cow-catcher - blasting it at any wildlife, cars, or people in our way - then speeding up as if to put greater pressure on them to get out of the way. For those passengers trying to sleep, the loud bus horn - which i think I have only ever heard in action films - created a harsh alarm signaling danger - but often you would wake to find a couple of birds flying out of the bus' path.

We arrived in Bamako, we dropped my RAs off, I slept for 3 hours and then went to pilot pool party where I ate South African braai and drank sangria. Back to bamako living - hooray!

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