Day 3: Mali – Dogon Country

Mali is home to a relatively stark and flat landscape.  In the center of the country however, large majestic canyons dot an area of 100 miles.  This area is popularly known as Dogon Country, or Pays Dogon in French, since the Dogon people have settled into villages along its edge. There are tens if not hundreds of villages that line the plateau, each one as picturesque as the other.

The history of how the Dogon arrived to settle along the harsh terrain of the plateau is  questionable.  Moreover, they were not its original inhabitants.  They were greeted by the Tellum people, who the Dogon believe, were magical creatures with super powers.   The Tellum people lived hundreds of feet high inthe steep cliffsides, settling into small cave-like dwellings.  With no ropes or ladders, the Dogon believe the Tellum could fly. All we know now is that the Tellum are no longer here.  They fled.  No one knows why.  But their steep cave dwellings can still be seen today, and it took our breath away when we saw them lining the top of the plateau.  HOW did the Tellum get up there?  COULD they really fly?  WERE they aliens, as has been suggested?

Here are some photos of us hiking down to a few Dogon villages.  It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Overlooking the savannah near Sanga village, on the top of the plateau, about to hike down

Climbing down a Dogon ladder to reach a village

Hiking down to Ireli Village - We had no idea of the view we were about to see, pictured below

Dogon homes at the bottom, hundreds of Tellum dwellings in the cliffside - Ireli village

Closer view of the Tellum dwellings

Chilling with village elders in front of their town hall 'toguna' (Females are NOT allowed inside)

Side view of the Toguna

Upon arriving in the village, we were greeted with a warm bowl of ... millet beer.

Bright Lights, Big City…kind of

My social calendar has EXPLODED. I’ve traded in my recent nights of cooking dinner by myself, blasting Disney tunes and watching SATC dvds on repeat, to bright lights big city baby! Well, more like Some lights, Small city!
I was flown out to Bamako today to work on a pressing proposal with a team the next week or so. How fortunate I am. Locals take large busses that take between 10-14 hours to reach Bamako. Peace Corps volunteers take smaller busses that take between 10-12 hours. Normally, it takes 8-10 hours to complete the drive in an SUV. This time, it took only an hour. It was great to see my surroundings from a bird’s eye view.

The plane

My local airport

The view of Sevare

The view of Mopti - Crazy congested city on the Niger River but with a lot of heart and soul.

The cockpit door was open during the flight!

Within hours of landing, my social calender was filling up so quickly that I began turning down invitations.

This week is jam packed with exciting activities; Bamako feels so much bigger to me than it did when I first arrived over a month ago.

Last night, my friend and I enjoyed ice cream sundaes at the Broadway Cafe and ended the night salsa dancing at The Terrace club.

This afternoon: Pedicures in the afternoon with a friend, beach volleyball tournament and HH at 6, dinner with friends at 9
Saturday: Pool date with friends. Another badmington party that night!
Sunday: HASH (taken from the Bamako HASH website: The Bamako Hash House is Mali’s international, non-competitive running and social club. Harriers and harriettes frequently describe it as “a drinking club with a running problem,” but the social element of hashing is of equal importance to the running. The Bamako Kennel gathers every other week for hash runs.

In a hash run, one or more hashers (the “hares”) lay out a running trail, which may include false trails, short cuts, and trail breaks. These features are designed to keep the pack together regardless of fitness levels or running speed. The pack (the “hounds”) follow the trail from check to check. From a check the pack will normally check out the surrounding terrain to attempt to find the continuation of the trail. A well-laid check will have the effect of allowing slower runners to catch up and rejoin the main pack while the faster runners try to find the trail again.
Sunday night: Dinner at an expats house

Thank goodness I packed my metallic silver snakeskin stilettos and my sneakers!

Market Mudbath

So I’m behind a few days with writing, but it was only because I was transitioning…into my new home. I’ve finally moved in, yipee!

My new home is about a ten hour ride from the capital, Bamako. It is a medium sized town near all the main tourist attractions including Timbuktu, Dogon Country, and Djenne. The reason I am working and living out of our field office is because 90% of our development programs occur in this region. As our boss says, “It’s where all the action is.” This will enable me to better understand our programs with site visits and access to partners.

Anyway, I serendipitously met an American guy who lives in my town last week. He invited me to a party his friends were throwing last Saturday night. I arrived in town at 7pm, and made it to the party by 9.

I was having a nice time, meeting other Americans living in the region, until drama struck. One of his friends comes rushing into the party screaming for help. His guard, a Malian man, had malaria and just took a turn for the worse. As I was the only one with a vehicle at the party, I, of course, agreed to drive him to the hospital. Indeed, poor man was sweating bullets one minute, and shivering the next…signs of acute malaria. Fortunately, we got him to the hospital on time and am happy to report that today, he is recovering well.

I wanted to start off my first Sunday morning on a different note. I blasted iTunes and cleaned the heck out of my place. 4 hours later and 3 piles of mouse dung richer, I ventured off in my company issued vehicle to explore my town and shop for things I still had outstanding.

I had a list. I thought it was reasonable, i.e. noodles, oil, salt, clothespins, ground beef, wine, sugar, coffee, etc. I thought I would drive around looking for some stores to purchase these supplies and in addition, make an effort to note key places around town such as the post office, restaurants and markets. I thought it would take me only an hour given the small scale of the town. I definitely underestimated how hard it is to concentrate on driving stick shift while looking for key places left and right while dodging a myriad of video style obstacles coming at you, as seen in the video below.

I drove around and around and around the four paved streets that make up my town for 3 hours (I definitely must have confused the police who sit at each corner of the rectangular grid) until I acquired 70% of my list (most importantly, I found the only Coca-Cola Light dealer in town, BONUS!)

You can only get meat in this town at the market. So I went…right after a big rainstorm. This is also when my trip was cut short. The market is not on the paved road, but on side dirt ones. What do the dirt paths turn into when it rains? Mudbaths. Literally 2 minutes after venturing into the market, I slipped and fell butt first into the mud (amongst other things). I guess my gold metallic Steve Madden flip flops did not have enough friction.

Market Mudbath

On the bright side, a bunch of people first laughed at me, but then helpfully offered to instruct me on how to buy meat. They selected which part of the cow I should get my cut from at one stand and then took me to another stand where I had it ground (for 50 cents).

I made it back home safely andand proceeded to boil some noodles and cook some ground beef until I realized I never bought tomato paste/sauce. So although my first dinner at my new home was pasta, beef with olive oil and salt, it was nonetheless quite a reward after my first day of exploration.