Ok. After another long travel day (the last one before our flights home), we are finally back in Bamako so that I will be able to report on everything that’s been happening. However, a lot went down the last few days (and it’s late), so I will be breaking up the posts to try to cover a couple each day.

So for tonight, I’ll catch you up on Friday, January 6, since there’s not a whole lot to discuss. We got up and went to the bus station, which is wild. Hordes of people are there to sell anything and everything and countless people are trying to shuffle you into their taxis or buses. There were probably more vendors/drivers/people getting you to take a certain bus then there were actual passengers. It seemed like it anyway. Even as we entered the station, two younger guys in their 20’s came up to our taxi as we had a momentary pause in movement. Leaning in the window, they tried to convince us to take the buses that they were affiliated with. When the car started moving again, at a slower pace, they grabbed the inside of the window and jogged alongside. As the taxi began moving too quickly for them to keep up, they jumped up and hung on for the ride. I was impressed. We didn’t take their bus.

Where we spent about 24 hours. The community center is on the right.

We got a bus to Ecodougu, where Scott and African Sky are creating their own sustainable village (a really cool project). The trip took about 3 hours, most of which I knocked out for. The buses are just old tour buses, and the one we took was particularly old and dusty. By the time we get to our destination, I was coming down with a nasty cold that lingered for the next couple days. Sa va.

The site for Ecodougu (which currently consists of an empty community center on a large plot of largely undeveloped land) is right next to another village, which is part of a commune of 11 or so villages. We got there and greeted a few people from the village, sitting in the shade out of the stifling heat of the sun. Eventually, a pickup truck pulled up in front of us. The driver got out to walk around the vehicle and open the passenger door. A cane slowly descended to the ground, and an old man stepped out of the truck. He walked at a glacial pace, yet somehow asserted a very powerful presence. Ba Seydou was the head elder of the commune, and he was awesome (and reminded me of Yoda, which made him even cooler – actually, all of the elders I met basically reminded me of Yoda. It made me happy).

Learning how to make tea.

We basically hung around outside of the community center for the rest of the day. Sekou taught me how to make tea, there was a visit from the elected mayor of the commune, and we took out the brick making machine (which I’ll talk more about tomorrow), but basically, we just sat and talked. This will be a common theme in the posts from the bush. We did a lot of sitting. It’s just the pace of life in the bush. It was nice. The sky is also gorgeous at night.

Anyway, that pretty much covered the events of the day. Oh, and I learned how to poop outside down a hole, which takes some getting used to, but is actually quite nice at night under the stars. That, and showering with a bucket of water.

Scaring the snakes away.

That’s good for now. More tomorrow – getting to Dissan.

-S