I just got back from Senegal and spent a few days in Bamako before returning to San. I hope to get back to site this afternoon. Cold season was all too brief however and the days are already becoming incredibly hot so we’ll see what this afternoon brings.
Dakar was unlike anything I have seen in Africa thus far. The vast majority of the time I thought I was in Western Europe. There are developed roads with street signs that people actually follow, all the stores have windows and air conditioning and there are credit card machines and ATMs everywhere. It was the most bizarre feeling and I have to admit I’m glad Bamako is not Dakar because I would be hard pressed to leave.
WAIST overall was really fun. We had three softball teams and none of them made it to the finals but it was fun none the less. It was actually kind of eye opening seeing volunteers from other countries. I know I’m a little prejudiced because I am a Mali volunteer, but the first time I saw the Gambia volunteers I was struck by how healthy their team looked. Our guys can’t stop losing weight, but I swear some of those guys almost had guts on them…no wonder we couldn’t win a game. This is totally me trying to justify our terrible softball skills but it still makes me feel a little better. Speaking of food, I’m pretty sure I put on a few pounds over the past two weeks. I ate well in Dakar. There was ice cream.
The more time I spend in Mali and having the chance to travel a little outside of Mali to other developing countries I’ve started to find some untraditional poverty indicators. There is the obvious infant mortality rates literacy rates used to measure poverty but I’ve come to find some other measures. For example, you don’t see many joggers in Bamako but there were men and women constantly running near the beach (of course if Mali was as cool and breezy as Dakar we might have more runners too). Another was the moto-car ratio. In Mali only the most wealthy drive motos thus they are the main means of transport you see by Malians other than bikes and donkey carts. In Dakar I rarely saw motos because everyone was driving cars.
The American club in Dakar, which is where the softball tournament took place, was beautiful with a huge pool and yummy delicious food. Needless to say my days were not spent sightseeing but relaxing by the pool with grilled cheese in hand…Cheese, it’s been 8 months since I have had cheese!! Part of me regretted not seeing much of Dakar but I’ve come to really value what a difference knowing a local language makes in getting around a foreign town. I hate getting ripped off and hassled thus I much preferred hanging out with friends by the pool. I did hike up to the light house and had an incredible view of the city and coast which I’ll send pictures of soon.
The bus ride to and from Senegal was exhausting. Spending 30 hours on a bus with no AC and very little leg room probably gives the impression that it was a miserable trip, and I assure you, it was. Fortunately I have medicine for motion sickness that has the lovely side effect of knocking me out. Thus I would wake up at the check points and show my passport, wipe the sweat from my face and fall asleep again. All in all, not a bad trip.
I came back to Bamako on the night of the 17th and spent a few days in Bamako. The Peace Corps bureau moved over the weekend so I went to visit the new bureau which was gorgeous and so nice and clean! We have a stage house in Bamako that I stayed in while in town. I came back to San on the 20th with my friend Justin who stayed until this morning when he left for home in Mopti. It’s been relatively uneventful so I’ve been enjoying the break and soaking up the luxury of San for the day. I am however, sad to say that hot season is arriving with vengeance and it’s a pretty formidable forerunner of what’s to come. I’ll keep you updated.
I’ll probably be at site for the next two or three weeks but I’ll try to write again when I come into San for St. Patrick's Day. A bunch of people are coming into san which will be nice. I like the people in my stage a lot but only in small doses and while I was ready to leave Dakar, it will be nice to see some of them again in a few weeks. I hope you all are doing well and can’t wait to hear from you all soon.
Love,
Cait
