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 IÂ 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! 🙂
Can’t wait for more reports when you get back, though they won’t have quite the same flavor without the “q/w/z” thingie. 🙂 Good wishes for a safe trip home.
2:00am Feb 5th. I can’t sleep. Ginny come home as quickly as you can, this separation is terrible. Tear drop! Tear drop!!!