New Adventures

On the last day of the strike I slept in very late. Yesterday when I went by Constance's store in the evening she had a plate of food waiting for me, plantains and sausage. And one of those great big liter bottles of Flag beer. Of course it was delicious and I ate with gusto. The funny thing is in the States I wouldn't be caught dead eating a meal in front of a dry goods store, but hey things are different here. Everyone sits out on lawn chairs, drinking soda and beer, and shooting the breeze and it doesn't have the same connotation. It's so hot that most people are outside in the evenings, either in front of stores, if they have them or are friendly with the storekeepers, in front of their own buildings, on the terrace or on the roofs. Constance insisted on walking me home and she briefly met Rodney and Andrew. Her husband insisted that they have tea with him at some point and bade me to pass the message to them.

I was smart to have eaten because when I returned I saw what Rodney had prepared for us. He cooked beans for 90 minutes quickly over a high fire, not slowly, and of course their skins peeled off but they were still not fully cooked. He served them then, those peeled, hard red beans over rice. Yum! Surprisingly Andrew ate it without saying a word only saying hmmmm when Rodney said he thought the beans might need a little spice. And the kitchen? Whoa, you would think Rodney had a food fight in there while cooking. Half the time I can't even stand to go in there. But he did mop the floor after I pointed out that it only took half a day for it to get filthy after I last mopped.

At 7am I became aware that the electricity had just turned off. The sound of the AC and fan shutting off sound somewhat like a jet engine doing the same. And then silence and heat that creeps in from the perimeters of the room. But since it was early still, and I was still enjoying my Flag induced sleep (Constance had said I would sleep well) I didn't pay it much mind. By 11 the apartment was so warm that I had to go. And I left with only the idea to talk to all my friends on the street. I only got as far as Ouima, the 15 year old who doesn't speak a lot of French. Her older sister had two friends over, Aisha and her younger sister Fa. Aisha is married with kids and Fa is a young adult clearly with a lot of spunk and energy. They both tried out their English on me and were very good. Fa asked me if I drank tea and I said yes. She said she had to drop her friend off but would return so we could have tea.

In the meantime I said hello to Amadou, the phone card vendor and I was making my way down to Constance's store when Fa returned on a moto. She called me over and said hop on. I was confused. I thought we were going to have tea I said. We are, she said, at my house. I looked at the moto and cringed. She said you shouldn't be scared, hop on! And with that we took off. She did indeed live close, on the same street as the grocery store that Rodney and I found ages ago. One we arrived she introduced me to her friends Fatime and Miriam and her older brothers Chaick and Habib. She told me that she was from Segou and her parent still live there but she and her brothers are in Bamako living with their sister while they attend university. All the siblings except Aisha are between the ages of 20 and 25. Fa is in school to become a secretary I think, the translation is a bit difficult for me, Chaick is studying law to become a lawyer or magistrate and Habib is studying literature.

Fa made tea with the tedious attention it take here, boiling the leaves in a small blue kettle over a tin of live coals, adding mint leaves, pouring sugar and then mixing the tea by pouring a glass full artistically with the kettle held starting low and then going higher, and then returning that tea to the kettle; This is done a few times and then tea is offered to the guest first. I drank it and then exclaimed that it was good in Bambera which produced laughs. Fa looked at me, The tea was well made? she asked. Very well made I responded. We all got to talking about Mali and the US and various other topics and I found myself having a great time. Fa then announced that she had to go to school and would I stay or leave. I said I had an errand to run myself and I left with her, promising that I would return, perhaps even when I was done with my errand.

I made my way across the river to BDM bank in an effort to get some money. I am literally down to my last 10 dollars which is not as bad as it would be in the States because I can last a while on that but still... So I ask if I can use the bank to get money from my account in the US if I have my credit/debit card. The agent says yes and I breathe a sigh of relief that quickly dissipates when he frowns at my card. That is not a Visa, he says. We only take Visa in Mali. It reminds me of one of those ancient Americna Express commercials from the 80s. I didn't know that places existed that turned down money not associated with a specific brand. It's ironic that those were AmEx commercials but yet AmEx is not useful here either (of course I have that card with me and Andrew has useless AmEx traveler's cheks with him that he may as well burn for cooking fuel.)

So I leave BDM and take the short walk to the Sofitel international hotel where the ESF travel agency is located so I can finally purchase my ticket to Ghana to meet up with Shirley and her family when I leave Mali. (Shirl I'll send you the details separately.) Again the problem with how I will pay for the ticket. I produce one Visa credit card but I tell the agent I al not sure that I have enough mone available on the card for the ticket, but that she should check. And as she makes that call I sit there and I pray. After a 5 minute wait she announces that it's good. Wonderful!!

And so I hop back on a Sotrame to head back home, except that it is now near rush hour and there has been an accident on the bridge. Our Sotrame is packed with 17 people, many of whom are carting buckets of goods from the market. We are stacked in against each other getting very familiar and as no vehicles are moving, no breeze is entering through the windows. I like all the others commence to sweating. I tried closing my eyes but it just made the odors of sweat more palpable. I thought about exiting and walking that long walk over the bridge but it looked like it might rain and in any case the distance was way too long to be feasible, and once I got on the bridge I wouldn't be able to catch another Sotrame. So I sat and sweated. I told myself I was sweating out all my impurities like in a sauna. Why pay for an expensive spa when you can have the experience for less than a dollar?

Finally an hour later and many attempts by our driver to circumvent the traffic by trying different approaches to the bridge, I get off at the stop near Fa's place. I actually wanted to buy water since neither Rodney or Andrew had bought a new case when the last case that I went and got ran out and we had all been buying bottles individually the last few days. I figured there were a few other things I could get as well but I saw Miriam as I crossed the street and she convince me to come back to Fa's place. We all went up to the roof and continued to talk. Chaick's girlfriend and a friend of his, with whom his girlfriend seemed particularly chummy, were there.

I noticed the electrical wires that ran down the street were within arm's reach of the roof...dangerous. But the view was beautiful. And I could even see the large green house next to my apartment building. We talked until dusk. Fa insisted on watching a 30 minute TV show and then she, Aisha, and Miriam walked me back to my place after I refused to take the moto with Fa at night. Fa says Aisha is going to Segou tomorrow and will be there with their parents for 2 weeks. She says if I am interested she will take me to Segou one weekend and show me around the region and we can stay at her home.