Mali and the Finale

17.11.11.

I am sitting in a mud-hut in Debo-Massassi, a small village between Kayes and Bamako, and since here is neither running water nor electricity I write my blog for you with the good old pen-and-paper technique – and hope to find internet access in Bamako, where I should reach in a few days. Debo-Massassi is the first place on this journey I have returned to and so by chance happened to become a volunteer on the vaccination day against Meningitis. But let’s start at the beginning.

We had been heading out of Mauritania as fast as the road and the plentiful police-check-ups had allowed – which probably was an average of 20km/h. It had been the first time that we actually experienced shortage of water and food supplies. If we would find a market to buy vegetables from, it would be a woman breastfeeding an undernourished baby, squatting in front of 5 tomatoes, 3 eggplants, a few pieces of pumpkin and a few onions and potatoes – all rotten close to unrecognisability, covered with flies. The closer we came to the border the greener became the scenery and the happier seemed the humans and animals around.

Finally we reached the border to Mali, which didn’t consist of much more than a few huts. A felt 100 stops/forms/stamps and bills later we had achieved the goal of being in Mali with the car cancelled out of the passport. In Diema we stopped for bread and water and totally by chance a girl asked us for a hitch to her village Debo-Massassi, 20km away. The girl’s name is Ashley and she turned out to be one amazing person, living in that tiny village as a volunteer for 2 years! That’s basically how we ended up having our first Malian experience in this magnificent village where we were immediately invited to have our dinner with the locals – a millet powder which is eaten and mixed by hand with a pumpkin-peanut sauce on one big plate around which the people sit. Yummie! And we learned our first few bambaran phrases, which are innumerous kinds of greetings which are used with every single villager you run into – and that are loads!

Because Jano and Daniela were in time-pressure to sell the car and reach Senegal, we already left the next day and went to Kayes. We stayed at the mission catholiquie – which brings you into the embarrassing situation to constantly having to ask where to find the catholic missionaries when searching your way home....;P Now the challenge was to sell the car. I mean – how do you actually go about selling a car in a place where you know absolutely nobody??? The idea of “cruising” through town with signs in the windows “A Vendre” and blasting (if you would call the ability of my tiny laptop speakers that..) hiphop music had proven before to be a useless strategy. Furthermore our car by now was making as much sounds as the Flintstone’s car must, when the millstones they use as wheels screech over the bumpy road – not exactly a selling advertisement...

This time we tried something else. In the night we went to one of the poshest bars in town to celebrate our arrival, drinking beer after a long time. I decided to approach the different tables during the night and just chat the people up, if anybody knew somebody who would be interested in a white Mercedes limousine... “Chatting up” sounds easier than it is, as each and every word of the conversation was in French. And people reply fast and sometimes with so heavy accents that I sort of have to semi-guess, what they might have said... Well, at one table it sounded something like “oh yes, we are all police officers and we deal in cars...”, as such type of car dealing is strictly speaking illegal I was pretty sure I had understood them wrong, but as I was sure they were interested in the car I set them up to come over the next day around noon to see the car.

The next day we woke with heavy heads, dehydrated from alcohol and the heat. What to do next? Would we be stuck in Kayes for long? The only thing obvious was that our strategy mainly consisted of NOT having a strategy. To save some money we were camping in the parking lot instead of using the dormitory and our stuff was literally littered all over the place and the car. The heat was already starting to boil us, as Kayes is “the hottest city in Africa” – no matter how accurate that statement is, it obviously doesn’t mean anything good. We were sitting around lethargically in our mess and Daniela saw my somewhat hopeless expression and asked me – “So, if you could choose anything, what would be your next move?”... my reply:”Well, if I could choose anything, someone would just turn up here with a big bundle of cash, take the car and I am out of Kayes.” And that’s pretty much what happened next....

Suddenly a brand-new Jeep pulled over and 6 well-dressed Malian businessmen walked up to us. I quickly jumped up, wishing I would have changed my clothes or kempt my hair earlier. On the driver’s seat we still had our dirty dishes dumped from last night’s dinner... Suddenly price discussion was on, and as sudden as they had come they were leaving, saying our asking price was too high. A bit startled from it all we somehow got the kick to start emptying out the car and pack up our bags. In the very instant where we had removed our last stuff from the car a guy returned signaling to buy, but only below the price I had demanded. Just in that moment, when I started considering to go down a bit a few guys in police uniforms turned up on the site – the gendarmerie! What the hell was going on??? Just in that moment I found a biiig bundle of notes in my hand, wondering if I was just about to be trapped by the police...Then it became clear that these were the guys from last night’s pub – and that I HAD actually understood them right. And so, scared of the sudden competition our buyer finally agreed on my asking price and pushed 1.572.000 SCFA in my hand, which are exactly 2400€ - for a car we have bought for 1000€. Weeee are the champions! We made it! Alma found a new home and we are on the road again  - with filled pockets!

After that success Madita and me have returned to Debo-Massassi and are relaxing from the turbulence of the past weeks. Yesterday and today was vaccination day, where w e became volunteers and in a bit we are going to help in the fields.. and then maybe some fresh watermelon?

Luck is with the fools, I guess ;)

 South Mauritania - back to water and life

 Debo-Massassi - true magic!

 

 Debo-Massassi and Ashleigh

 Vaccination Day

 Money, money, money...

Beuteteilung

Goodbye, lovely Alma, treue Seele!

Wondersome Africain bureaucracy

 Walking bushes...

 Alma has looots of fans!

 Boy-posing

 Visiting the village chief

 Just feeling so good here!

 Everyday this garden needs watering with buckets - tough job!

 Cutie-pie

 Our miracle host Ashleigh in her hut :)

 This is where dinner happens at night around the campfire...

 Village lake - has crocodiles! "Sometimes they bite a person" okkk...

 Just so beautiful here!

 Yes, I know - petpictures are boring! But Mush is just so cute and just survived after quite a struggle!

 Fashion rules!

 Boys looking out for crocos with me... (I use the moment for a non-posing pic;)

Skinny fellow...