Segou and surrounds

Woke up this morning to find 3 strange white people sleeping on the ground of the courtyard, under mosquito nets. One, an older French man with a mohawk and tattoos, left a card behind announcing himself as Willy Nomad. The other two were a younger couple, also both French. I gather one of them had been studying in Mali for the last 5 months. Apparently Idrissa met them at the cafe and brought them home afterwards. They left after breakfast, without ever speaking to me or being introduced.

This morning we were heading out to visit some nearby villages, an expedition originally planned for the day before, but postponed due to the rain. We left shortly after the French trio, and headed in the direction of the plage, but turned off on a different dirt road, closer to town, that led down to the river's edge and a small 2 car ferry. Idrissa was with us for this trip, acting as a local guide. Al Fady drove the landcruiser onto the mini roro ferry, then we watched as a man and his wife pulled a cart onto the ferry, then had to drag the donkey aboard by grabbing his front legs, lifting them in the air and pulling her so she was only walking on her hind legs (definitely not something you can do with a horse!). Once she was on the ferry, they tied her headstall to one of the side railings but she spent the whole of the short trip pulling back so hard that she ended up sitting on the rubber wheel of the cart with her hind hooves off the deck. We drove off the ferry ahead of them so I never got a chance to see how they got her off.

There was a Fulani village at the top of the embankment, with lots of cattle and woven, thatched huts. When I took a picture of the cattle and the huts, the children all crowded around, clamouring to have their pictures taken. After I complied, and showed them the pictures, their parents came over and wanted to look at the pictures too.

We drove a short distance along a dirt road to a Fulani village where they were celebrating a wedding. We greeted several groups of women who were sitting in circles on the ground preparing food for the feast. Then we went to a two-room building where the men were gathered outside, eating from a communal bowl of rice and meat. They insisted we join them, so we washed our hands using the usual bowl, soap and plastic teapot arrangement, and then dug in, squatting on our heels around the bowl. I only had a few mouthfuls to be polite, and then we were ushered inside the building to meet the newly married couple, who were reclining on blankets on the floor of the inner room, still dressed in their finery. To my confusion, there was a second man lying on the floor with them. It was never explained who he was, and I couldn't actually tell which of the two men was the bridegroom! Anyway, we said our congratulations, and backed out. Outside I was soon surrounded by children wanting their pictures taken. There was also a young mother with a baby who wanted her picture taken, and they were all thrilled to see the photos of themselves and friends.

After we left this village, we passed at least one other that was also celebrating a wedding. Speaking of weddings, the day before, in Segou, we watched a wedding go by, all honking their horns like they do in Canada, the only difference being that only the actual bridal party was in a car, all the other guests were on motor bikes and mopeds!

Our next stop was Kalabougou, a Bambara village where they make the famous local pottery. We watched a woman shaping a bowl by smoothing clay over the botom of an already completed jug, and saw the area where on weekends the pottery is fired. Each family has their own firepit. While the women make pottery, the men are blacksmiths, forging hoes and ploughshares and repairing bicycles. We saw one other western woman in this village, she was taking one of the one-day courses in pottery-making I think. As usual, I was soon surrounded by kids. One little girl clutched a battered, but obviously much-loved, teddy bear.

After we left Kalabougou we drove along a red gravel country road for miles. I kept dozing off, as did Papa. Finally we reached a dam across the Niger, where I was told not to take photos -too late, I already had! We went inside the dam, where several groups of people were fishing off the edge of the dam. On top, we were passed by a donkey cart laden with fresh peanuts, still attached to the roots of the plants, and with dirt still clinging to them. Papa and Idrissa helped themselves to a few handfuls -the women on the cart didn't seem to mind. Obviously, the peanuts were raw, and harder to shell than older, dried ones, as the shells were still soft and a bit green.

A bit further on, next to another dam and bridge, we stopped for a picnic lunch under some shady trees. The guys bought a string of fresh carp, and grilled two over a small fire. I lay on a mattress Papa provided, gazing up at the soothing, dark green of the leaves. While we ate, we had to fend off the attentions of several curious chickens. One young boy seemed fascinated by us, and brought his school math text book and sat watching us, pretending to study. Idrissa talked to him a bit, grilling him on math problems.

After we crossed another bridge, Idrissa asked if it would be okay to look in on his sister, who lived on a military base nearby. I said sure, so we swung by the base. It turned out that his sister had just finished her six-months basic training, and had a 48 hour pass, so we gave her and a male friend a lift in to Segou. On the way, she showed us pictures of herself and friends taken during training. I was surprised to see a woman in the military in a Muslim country, and asked if it was common for women to join the army. I was told that yes, it was fairly common. (I had also seen female police officers in Segou). We dropped the male friend on the outskirts of town, and Idrissa's sister came back to his house with us, where she showered and changed and then disappeared to enjoy her leave.

Papa said he had things to do before we left next day, so he arranged for Al Fady to drive me to the plage. The little boy who had been helping make jewelry the day before came with us, to help Al Fady wash the Landcruiser. I had Al Fady stop en route, and I bought myself and the little boy Fantas. At the plage I had a nice, cooling soak while they washed the car, then they joined me. I don't think either of them could swim, so they stayed in the shallow water. A little further down the beach a young white couple were sitting with 3 African men. They also had a large, brindled, Mastiff-type dog with them. Neither of the couple spoke to me, but one of the African men did, in English.

Al Fady stopped at the internet cafe on the way back to Idrissa's house, but I only stayed 15 minutes because I had very little small change. When I got back to the house, though, Papa insisted I return to the internet cafe, saying Al Fady would arrange to change my 10,000 CFA note. That was fine with me, so I went back for another hour, although due to a power failure I only got about a half hour of actual web time. Then the man said he didn't even have change for a 1000 CFA note, and to pay him next time.