I've had great company the last two weeks as my father is here to visit! His flight arrived in Bamako as scheduled (without any side trips to Guinea or stops in New York). We quickly escaped the busy streets of Bamako and headed to Segou where we strolled along the river and indulged in good meals before being thrown into village life. We stopped at my teammate Kyle's village to shop for vegetables and chickens at the market, which we happily ate for dinner. Then we set off on the 20K bike ride to my village, which seemed surprisingly effortless! Once in the village, we spent a few days out in the fields harvesting millet, then hosted a party complete with goat liver and onions! The second half of the trip was spent hiking (and WALKING!) in the Manding mountains near Bamako. We definitely got our exercise while walking out to a waterfall and back, but I'll let Dad say more about that. Here's his version of the story:
Travel in Mali has been a hoot! And food has been travel's close rival. Biking to Mary's village of Tongo, we faced rather stiff headwinds. The landscape pulled us on. The tires only had to be pumped up several times. When the one tire on Mary's bike was off the rim, tube wound around the rear sprocket, fortunately we were within meters of her village. It did put an end to bike riding through the area until Kyle and Amy arrived with replacement parts.
Harvesting millet was a great experience. With a small square instrument for the right hand, we stooped over and sliced the heads of millet from the stalks. Learning which heads were ripe millet and which were worthless didn't take too long. At the end of the first morning's work came the reward of eating "toh," in the field. Based upon this one experience with toh, it wasn't that bad. But seconds? No thanks!
Earlier blogs will help you understand why we never travelled the river, so a boat ride was never part of our travel. But we did walk a lot. The two best walks were probably in Siby, first to the arch and next to the waterfalls. One day after that "stroll", Mary has increased the distance to the waterfalls about 150 percent. For both of us, the "yalla-yalla" is certain to become our fish tale. What is beyond exaggeration is that we walked ALL DAY. And it was worth it.
The people of Mali are remarkable in their work ethic and their smoothness to accommodate one another. For example, at the well project for the Tongo school, lots of men showed up and worked with the technician. They sifted gravel, mixed concrete, hauled water, liveried 50-kilo sacks of cement, and had tea.
The same is true in the fields as the workers harvest. As examples of "smoothness," I have marvelled at how traffic flows in the city and along the highways. It appears to be an accident waiting to happen; yet they interweave and yield. It ha been a pleasure to meet men of wisdom and character. And that includes the PCVs!
