Hey Everyone,
It hasn’t been long since my last update, but I expect to be at site for a few weeks before I get back to internet. This will be my last long stint at site with a trip out in early-mid August and then moving out at the end of August. Today marks my two year anniversary in country and my third July away from home…
Today is also a big day as my first niece turns 1 and I found out that baby Z, due in November, will be a boy and whose birth I’ll be home for!
I just returned from a trip, perhaps my last, from visiting up north. I left last Sunday with my friend Lindsey whose sisters were in town visiting from home. She rented a car to take us up and very appropriately, we broke down just an hour outside of Bandiagara. We made it though and in relatively good time despite the hiccup. There was a small party for the fourth with some quality pool time at one of the nicer hotels but sad to say no fireworks. The weather was nice however. Rainy season is just getting underway at my site, and Bandiagara is about 2-3 weeks behind so the weather was cooler without the rain.
I got some shopping done in Bandiagara, but towards the end of the week, I wanted to visit Mopti, the regional capital which I’ve never been to before despite all my time in the region. Justin and I took an early car out and got to Mopti before it got too hot and spent the day shopping, hanging out at the pool and enjoying the AC at a local hotel. I’ve been trying to get the last of my souvenirs and gift shopping done this month and succeeded with the majority of it. We went to walk by the huge mud mosque in Mopti and stumbled across a very new museum of the mud buildings in Mali. I’ve now been to the two mud mosques I am allowed to visit as the others reside in the north of the country, Timbuktu and Gao, where it has been deemed unsafe to travel. Thus Djene and Mopti will have to suffice. The mosque in Djene is the only one recorded as a World Heritage Site, but the Mopti mosque was still quite impressive.
Mopti is located as the meeting point of the two major rivers in Mali, the Bani and Niger, thus a major fishing town. This is also a large port in accessing the salt mines in Timbuktu and Gao so everywhere we looked there were enormous mounds of salt. It was a cool market but a little overwhelming being treated as a tourist. We would be hassled until we started speaking Bambara or Donoso (Justin’s language) then prices were dropped nearly in half of what they were originally asking and even lower once we bargained. I felt a little vindicated being able to chat with the locals and being treated more fairly, but it was annoying none the less. We ended a wonderful day at a delicious restaurant overlooking the river…a river whose bank was several feet deep in trash, but we live in Mali and were just delighted to see water.
Not too much else to report on my end. I’m looking forward to a few weeks at site. Much of my days will be spent in the fields though I suspect my lack of farming skills will serve only for entertainment then I’ll be sent to rest under the trees. It’s probably for the best; I’m really slow and can’t plant a straight row of millet to save my life. Already the ground is greener and things are sprouting and I’m pretty excited that I’ll be leaving Mali at its prettiest time of year. 9 months a year it’s brown and barren but for a few blessed weeks it’s green and alive and beautiful.
Hope all is well back home and looking forward to being there in eight short weeks.
Love,
Cait
