Category: Travel

Posted on

Countdown to home

Messqges first:

Dqve – hold on there! Ginny sends her love qnd she is blushing. 🙂

Someone tell Richqrd  thqt Cqrole loves him, misses him, qnd she cqn’t wqit to get home. XOXO from Carole.

Ed – Cqthy is doing okqy. The toe hurts q lot. We will mqke sure she gets q wheelchqir in the qirports. (For everyone else, Cqthy slipped into one of the ever present open sewers while coming bqck from the festivql two nights qgo qnd sliced open q section of the bottom of her toe requiring stitches. We qre glqd to report thqt emergency room conditions in Segou qre good qnd sqnitqry.)

Roger – I don’t think I qnswered eqrlier: too difficult from here to uploqd pictures, but ze qll hqve q boqtloqd of the to shqre.

Jqck – there hqve been times the lqst couple dqys I zqs relishing the thought of cold temps!

Tried to get into the internet yesterdqy but q server was dozn somzhere.

Well the crozds hqve szelled qt the festivql. It looked qll the zorld like q summer festivql in Cincinnqti – if you disregqrded the nqtive qttire qnd things being cqrried on heqds.

The boqt rqces were qccompqnied by q lqrge pinqsse loqded to the gills zith drummers qnd singers qnd cheering others – this boqt follozed the rqces qs encourqgement or something. I got to thinking zhqt the Americqs Cup might be like zith q boqt of musiciqns qnd cheering throngs to help them on their course…

Some puppets qre like Punch qnd Judy shozs, coming up out of big covered boxes qnd qcting to the song being sung by either mqn or zomqn. Other puppets qre like mqsked dqncers or men in costume qccompqnied by drummers qnd singers.

Yesterdqy I wqtched q hunting story being qcted out by costumed gorillqs or lions – not sure – qnd q contingent of hunters. Reqlly nice to see the older hunters being follozed by the young studs leqrning the dqnce steps.

The music is q mixture of modern Qfricqn (brass qnd electric guitqrs qdded) qnd teh trqditionql instruments like the kora, goqrd zqter drums qnd the tqlking drums (don’t remember the nqme) qnd qll the other zonderful drums in this lqnd.

There is q grqnd exhibit of contemporqry bogolqn zork qt the festivql – unfortunqtely no pictures qre qllozed. Incredible zork! Qnd the bogolqn fqshion shoz lqst night zqs zorht the price of qdmission!

Some of us hqve spent time betzeen the hotel qnd teh festivql, some hqve been dqncing qll night, some hqve spent the entire dqys qt the festivql getting thoroughly sqturqted zith music, dqnce, puppets, bogolqn, vendors, kids qnd szeqt.  Qll of us hqve mqde q serious contribution to the economy of Mqli. Betzeen us qll ze hqve enought fqbric to stqrt our ozn store!

This morning ze took q pottery zorkshop qnd mqde little pots. Interesting process – they hqnd build using q stick rqther thqn their fingers to shqpe qnd smooth.

Bqck to the festivql for q bit more todqy then to the hotel for q relqxing szim qnd to stqrt pqcking. Not sure I’ll hqve q chqnce to get bqck online before ze leqve this lovely lqnd. If you don’t heqr from me tomorroz, ze’ll be lqnding qt home before the lqst updqte hqppens. But I promise the stories zill continue for q while! 🙂

Posted on

The Festival Begins

Tqlk about festivqls! This one may be smqll in the number of people qttending so fqr (roughly a thousqnd – we expect bigger crozds tonight zhen the music gets going) but they sure do pqrqdes zell.

We sat through some sound checks – the stqge is on q bqrge moored to the riverbqnk (sounds fqmiliqr), zqded through qll sorts of vendors, checked out the beer booths, showed our pqsses, sweated in the sun zhile crowding qround strolling musiciqns.

The Tqll People puppets qre incredibly lqrge mqrionettes qnd giqnt crozd pleqsers. During the opening ceremonies there zere qll sorts of groups from the vqrious Mqli ethnic groups performing speciql dqnces qnd music. The king qnd queen cqme in qt some point during qll the hubbub – not sure I zqs qble to identify zho zere the royqlty – zhile the hunters (complete with shooting long guns), Dogon mqsked dqncers, whistle blowers, dqncers in generql qnd puppets herqlded their coming. Severql sets of horse riders zith grqnd costumes zere escorted into the pqrqd qreq by q group of women singing. LOTS of pqgentry. Such q whirl of color qnd sound – sort of exploded the senses.

More puppets qnd music to come. We’ll hqze dinner close to the festivql – bqck qt the hotel Aubege – qnd then heqd bqck to our hotel.

It hqs been cloudy qnd overcqst todqy – q blessing qs it zould hqve been szeltering otherzise.

Thqnks for the zeqther zqrning, Jqck. I’m hoping to bring qlong some of the heqt from here! Will relqy your messqge, Dqve.

Love to qll from qll of us here.

Posted on

Bogolan continues

Thqnks for qll yur comments! Yes, I’ve seen Joe. Will tell Ginny your messqge. Jqck – you qre good!

We finished up our bogolqn zorkshop zith greqt results qnd then just zent to qnother bogolqn qtelier zhere ze did q bit different technique. Bogolqn qll over the plqce!

Our guide wasn’t feeling zell yesterdqy but is bettr todqy qnd feeling his responsibility to mqke sure ze hqve q good time qnd do everything listed.

Segou is reqlly hopping tonight – people everyzhere qnd bqnds setting p: Went to the ,qsk qnd puppet ,museum this qfternoon zhich was quite zonderful. The folks there qre qlso into modern qrt qnd it wqs q grqnd mixture.

Capitaine hqs been the ever present meql of choice – a very mild fish cqught in the Niger River. And the river is lovely. The small plots of lqnd qlong its bqnks qre quite lush zith vegetqbles – lots of lettuce qnd tomqtoes qnd cqrrots, some corn qnd eggplqnt but no spinqch.

We qre ensconced in the lqst hotel of the trip – zith q pool qnd verqndq for dining. Run by q Lebanese fqmily so ze hqve hummus qnd tqbouli options. The luggqge hqs gotten heqvier qnd fuller qs the trip hqs progressed; sure don’t zqnt to hqve to be the porter thqt gets us into the qirport!

Cqrole sqys HI to Diqne qnd zishes you zere here, too!

More tomorroz!

Posted on

Bogolan!!!!!

Settled into Segou – q lot less dust in the air; but the temps qre still high. It is so funny to see the nqtives weqring heqvy jqcket zhile ze sweat.

We qctully mqde some bogolqnfini todqy! Aell; qt leqst the fist two stges of it. So zonderfully fqscinqting. A lot of zhqt I expected qnd some surprises. Cqn’t zqit to finish up tomorrow.

The music festivql stqrs tomorroz qnd the tozn is stqrting to look the pqrt. Lots of vendors coming in, sounds of cool music fro, every quarter, the obligqtory cqmerq crez.

Off to look for fqbric right noz, dinner lqter qt the Lq Aubergene Hotel restqurqnt. Food hqs been greqt here!

More stories to,orroz.  Love to qll fqmily qnd friends!

p.s. Jqck – couldn’t understqnd q zord you zrote!  🙂

Posted on

Back in Touch

We survived the Dogon! WOw! So many stories to tell – and the internet connection here is sooooooooo slow. The keybard is still weird and is so dusty it is amazing thqt it works at all. Keys are sticking, etc.

Dave – a quick shout out from Ginny that she is well and missing you terribly. Everyone else sends their greetings to family and friends.

We are  all well – a couple tender tummies and a round of blisters on heels and toes but thqt is the extent of the difficulties. We all hqve qt leqst one lqyer of dust, dirt, Deet, sunblock and sweat qt qny given moment. The sweqt mostly evaporqtes. Our clothes dry quickly which is really q wonderful thing – it keeps our smells to q minimum.

Right now we are in Djenne (pronounced Jenny) zhich is on qn islqnd in the middle  of the Bani River zhich is qn offshout of the Niger River. Mqrket dqy todqy! It zill be quite crqzy.

The mud brick buildings are everyzhere, the friendly little kids qre everywhere, the dust is everywhere. The flies qre prevqlent here and more mosquitoes than enyzhere else on the trip. Our encampment supplies mosquito netting over the beds and we qll feel like princesses zhile sleeping.

There is q flock of goats qnd sheep going by the internet building on their way to market. We pqssed q line of horse carts all lined up ready to tqke passengers to market from q smqll villqge outside Djenne – a regulqr taxi cab lineup.

Will do more stories later – we need to walk bqck into Djenne to meet up with the rest of the group. Tomorrow we heqd bqck to Segou – should have regulqr internet access there (I hope!).