General impressions

Most of my posts so far have been of things that I found interesting or special.  But I haven't talked a lot about my daily life in Bamako and given some overall impressions.  Overall, life is pleasant here -- more pleasant than I expected. 

The people are especially friendly and giving.  I've been offered scooter rides by strangers to run errands (twice -- I took one person up on the offer).  I've shared tea with workers on their break.  I spent an hour sitting and chatting with a shop keeper with whom I eventually exchanged phone numbers.  Walking down the street, it is common to greet people.  Being a little bit unusual looking (white, or "tubab" in Bambara) sometimes people call out to me, but it is always friendly and they usually just want to chat.  Children are especially interested and like to shake hands as I walk by.

We have two full time guards, a gardner, and a housekeeper.  All of them are very kind.  Our housekeeper, Cise ("see-say"), is a great chef and makes us traditional food for lunches.  As you can imagine all of this help makes living pretty easy.

Shopkeepers are almost all friendly in the face of my very broken French.  Sometimes they'll ask where I'm from or make other small talk.  My impression is that they charge fair prices (the same as they charge locals).  And our neighborhood market is a sight to behold.  It is almost a square block packed with produce and other items.  I'll post some pictures soon.

The weather is consistently warm and  pleasant: high 80's and humid during the day and mid 70's at night.  I understand it gets cooler in the Winter, but quite hot and dry in the Spring.  Before I came to Mali, I was a little afraid of lots of exotic critters.  But it turns out to be pretty similar to say Southern Florida.  In our house we get a few ants, but that's it -- no cockroaches or other bugs.  We do seem to have a salamander trapped somewhere in our house, but I like to think that's good luck.  I hope he eventually gets out.  The mosquitoes are not nearly as bad as Minnesota  In my almost two weeks here I've been bitten about five times.

The streets are alive with activity and just walking around Bamako is pretty fun.  Plus there's lots of commercial establishments I have yet to try -- there's a golf course, casino with poker, many many nightclubs and music venues, and many restaurants.  I start drumming class this week, there's weekly pickup basketball and softball among the ex-pats, and there's a fun sport called hashing  (description linked) I hope to try soon.  There's lots going on here, and I'm excited to get a car because besides the city, the surrounding countryside is beautiful (watch for an upcoming post about rock climbing).

Today I'm especially lucky because I was invited to a wedding!  I'm off.  More on that later.

Boys in the Hood

Here is a photo of the boys who play soccer on our street almost every day. I don't think any of them go to school. As you can see, it is inevitable that the ball occasionally ends up in the sewer. I took this picture standing more or less in front of my entrance gate. (Edit 9/29/2010: I'm told that school starts October 4.  I'm hopeful that all of these boys will start school then.)

50th Independence Day Parade on September 22, 2010.

Arriving to a parade celebrating Mali’s 50th Anniversary of Independence from France

Bamako is a city of entrepreneurs.  Unemployment is high and people scratch out a living any way they can.  These women brought various products to the parade to sell.  It is generally women who run these micro food-based businesses and you see them on the streets of all commercial areas.

People lining the parade route

The message being sent seems to be: Your government is powerful.

 

Me taking in the parade.

 

Ocean no.  Navy yes.  There were trucks towing jet skis too.  Anything to demonstrate power I suppose.

 

We can even protect you from yourselves.

These boys followed us for a few minutes.  Rebecca took their picture.  It made them very happy.

A better view.

 

I'm told this is a traditional outfit, which seems clear, though what tradition, I'm not sure.

 

Several impressive motorcycle stunt riders rode through and this is one example.  They're all standing on just a couple motorcycles.

Look closely for the camels in the above two photos.

More climbing for a view

The troops march by

Scooters carry three people when they're moving too.

More troops.

Our friends Callie, Ross, and their baby Rowan.  Ross had the tailor, who's office is in what should be our garage, make those cute matching outfits for him and Rowan.

It was a hot day.  In Mali, men do not wear shorts.

Crowd scene.  Those muffins on that woman's head are for sale.

Green, gold, and red are the colors of Mali's flag. (Green already passed us by.)

Watching the air show.  See below for two videos.

 

This tree provided shade for some and a viewing platform for others.

What you can't see is that the parade is actually on a very new 8-lane paved, divided, and lanscaped boulevard.  Not much development around it, but the road itself is nice.

Below are a couple videos from the parade.

Helicopters

Jets

Goats

Rebecca wants to get a pet goat. These two little brown ones, seen on the side of the road sure are cute. When they grow into ornery adults I'm sure someone would gladly take them off our hands. We'll see...

There's lots of goats wandering the streets of Bamako. Nobody seems to pay them much attention and their owners don't seem concerned about theft -- I don't even see any branding. Stealing a goat would be pretty difficult since there's no such thing as a fast getaway around here, especially given that a scooter can catch any car on the rutted dirt roads. Crime in general seems to be extremely low here. That said, someone tried to pickpocket my friend Randy at the parade yesterday (watch for an upcoming post about the parade). But Randy caught the guy and when the surrounding crowd understood what happened, they were ready to go after the guy too. He slinked away. There's not much police presence in Bamako, even at big events.

I believe the pile of wood in the foreground of the photo will be used to make charcoal.

Rumors and Street Play

Yesterday afternoon at 1:30 I received a call from Rebecca informing me that the only two bridges to cross the Niger would be closing at 2 p.m.  Her school had just received word of this from the U.S. embassy and she knew I was planning to cross.  Her school was hastily sending students home to beat the closing.  There were rumors was that it was for some sort of inauguration or ceremony related to the 50th anniversary celebration of independence from France.  There was also a rumor of an air show at 5pm, which we could watch from the closed bridge.  Well, as far as I can tell the bridge never closed and I can confirm that the airshow never happened.  (Edit: I've been told that the bridge closed a time or two for 20 minutes to allow dignitaries to cross.)

There is also speculation that the government will announce late Wednesday (which is a holiday for Independence Day) that Thursday is a also holiday, and that since Friday is just one little day, everyone should take Friday off as well.  But as you can see, in Mali one never knows.


So in anticipation of the airshow which never happened we went for an evening walk, stopping first to pick up our friends Callie and Ross.  We ended up spending about 30 minutes on their street (which is similar to ours) playing with their 22 month old child and the neighbors children of 5 and 8.  When their ball ended up in what looked like a sewer hole to me, Ross fished it out and gave it back to the children to play with.  I was a little surprised, but I guess I shouldn't have been since earlier that day I saw the local kids playing soccer on our street climb into the sewer to get their lost ball.

I should probably clarify that if you look in the sewer, it is more of a concrete drainage ditch that usually looks pretty clean (since it's been raining a lot lately I suppose), but the occasional smell gives away it's purpose.

Money

The US Dollar equals about 500 Central African Francs (CFA, or just "franc" when speaking). It has been as high as 550 recently.
Here is a 2 year chart:

















I made my first visit to an ATM, and I'm still amazed that 7000 miles from home I can get cash. I felt like I won the lottery.

So how much do things cost here? That is a question that intrigues me. I'm still getting a feel for it, but here's a few examples that I remember:
$1.20 - Bottle of beer in a dive bar
$6 - entree in a restaurant with table service
$4 - Whole rotisserie chicken with french fries from a truck on the street
$.60 - 33cl coke in a returnable bottle from a roadside vendor (this describes most businesses here, by the way)
$3 - $5 - a typical taxi ride

I'll update this as I get more data.

Most beverages are served cool, though not cold. This reminds me of my visit to the Dominican Republic a couple years ago where coolers in commercial establishments proudly displayed their frigid temperature in large LED's. Not so much here.

Photos of our street

The photo looking out our front gate. This half-built structure across the street is someone's home.

From across the street. You can see the open sewer. Our entrance door is around the middle of the wall.


The duplex next door to us. Their guard is standing in front. We all have 24 hour security. It must be necessary, but the neighborhood feels very safe.



This is a shot of our duplex from down the street. You can see a woman with a baby on her back. That low brick structure in front of the white wall (the tailor shop in the corner of our property) is her home. It is crudely constructed of small cinder blocks.

Exterior Photos of out duplex

Our courtyard. You can see the corner of the pool in the upper right and our entrance door in the upper middle.


Our pool. We haven't swam yet actually.


The tailor Modebo who has little shop on our premises.



A shot of the front of our duplex from the entrance.

Interior photos of our duplex

Our Kitchen. Rebecca is making delicious banana bread.


Our dining room. The door to the kitchen is to the right. Clothes are drying on the chairs. We have a washing machine, but no dryer.


Our living room through the front door. Just to the right is a long hallway with three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.

First Impressions

In this post I'll put some random first impressions in no order of importance. I want to get caught up on what happened in the past few days and then try to just update a little bit each day. Otherwise this will be too daunting.

The drive to our duplex from the airport is mostly along a new 4-lane highway. This is just like America! But get off the main roads and everything is dirt -- a sort of reddish dirt that turns a little bit muddy in the rain, has lots of undulations and potholes, but is driveable easily in a 4x4 and with some care in a regular auto. The important thing to watch for is the open sewers. For example, there is alleyway near our house that appears driveable -- but at one end where you turn onto the street there is an open sewer about 4 feet wide and 4 feet deep. I don't think this is common -- but it's a lesson in the care necessary when driving -- or walking.

We went to dinner Thursday night to a Cameroonian restaurant. On the walk there it became clear that people live most of their lives in the street, even at night. Some of the children (often aged 8 or 9) enjoy interacting with the white people walking by. "Toubab!", they often call, which means white person in Bambara, the native language. French is spoken by most people as well. The food was good. Rebecca had an excellent whole grilled fish (carp, perhaps) that I'm sure was caught in the huge Niger River which bisects the city. Otherwise sauce dishes with chunks of meat served with a starch like millet or casava seems to be the norm.

It has rained almost every day for a at least while. But overall the weather is pleasant. 90 degrees or so during the day and 80 or so at night. It will get just a bit cooler in winter, and with spring will come the hot/dry season where temps can reach 120 I'm told. Fortunately we have excellent A/C and have been using it every night. The electricity is quite reliable. The Internet is not as reliable and I'll be searching for a new Internet provider on Monday.

I really need to work on my French. Everyone is very friendly so far and I'm anxious to communicate with them.

Last night we went to a celebration of Mali's 50th anniversary of independence. There was between 50,000 and 100,000 people on a large street and a nice stage positioned at one end. It was scheduled to begin at 6pm and to feature many world-famous Malian musicians. By 12:30 a.m., when we left, about 3 "warm-up" musicians had appeared. There were far more speeches than music -- we heard fewer than 6 songs by 12:30 a.m. I'm told this is typical. Unfortunately as we were leaving it started to rain, and it rained all night. Bummer for the celebration.

We also went to see music Friday night, but it was a bit of a bust. The clubs were empty because everyone was saving there energy for Saturday night. We finally ended up at a dive bar called La Fida. There was a drummer, bassist, and lead guitar player who played the same chord progression for at least 90 minutes (the whole time we were there) while various people took the microphone and made fun of other people in the club including us. I'm told that joking around is an important part of Malian culture.

Arrival

I left Minneapolis for Mali last Tuesday morning. I was able to fit everything I wanted to bring in two checked bags and a carry-on. Surprisingly I used the greatest amount of space/weight to bring my climbing gear, which I haven't used in years. Rebecca has been climbing a couple of times around Bamako and recommended I bring gear.

My overnight trip to Paris included about 30 minutes of sleep and a 5:30 a.m. arrival followed by a 4:30 p.m. Paris-Bamako flight. So I checked my carry-on at the airport and took the train to the city. It was an easy trip to Gare du Nord. The trip to the Eiffel Tower was slightly more difficult. Going against the advice of the tourist information desk I walked the 4 miles or so -- each way. By the time I got back to the airport I was exhausted. But I did get a brief and enjoyable Paris experience including the Eiffel Tower, Pain au Chocolat, coffee, beer, and more.

I arrived in Mali at 8:00 p.m. that day and after a two hour wait for my bags ("work slow-down") I was greeted by Rebecca and Randy who she works with and kindly offered to drive to pick me up. We drove straight to our place in West Badalabougou near the Pont du Roi Fahd (bridge). Central Bamako is just over the bridge.

I like it here, I've been very busy, the people are kind, nobody really speaks much English except foreigners like me, I need to work on my French, the food has been pretty good, our place is nice. There is a big 50th anniversary of independence celebration tonight featuring speeches (I'm told), and music. More later!