I'm sorry for the long delay in updating this but I've been lazy. However, I've been taking lots of pictures so hopefully this should be a good chance to catch up on what it looks like here during cold season, which is just a relative title. Also, this is just mainly going to be pictures and quick descriptions. I don't have much time and I'll just let the pictures do the talking. I hope you like them.
In November I met up with some friends and went out to Siby, which is a small town outside of Bamako with a lot of awesome rock formations that make for perfect climbing. We went out there with a French friend from up north and got a guide to take us to some of the cooler more difficult climbs and had a blast. Thanks Mom and Dad for bringing out the gear, that was a great Christmas present, and it's getting lots of use.
The climbers: Nick, Artur, Sara, Me and Owen
Getting my belay on, I'm really only good as an anchor
More climbing, but not so steep
Then in December I went on a hike up into the cliffs surrounding the lake in Manantali and got some good shots of the scenery around the area I live. The hiking was a little tough, but there was a well made path leading up to the fields, at which point bushwhacking was necessary, but completely worth it for the views.
The road leading up to the top of the Manantali cliffs
The trail was littered with monkey corpses (2 shown here) to ward off genies from destroying the crops of the local farmers...or something like that, I feel a lot was lost in translation.
Gap between rocks showing the lake, though the visibility was bad.
The perfect spot for cliff jumping if I could only find a way to get down to that whiter rock...and if I were allowed to swim.
The view of the ridge surrounding the lake
Now onto New Years: we spent some time in Bamako at a friend's house and shot off lots of fireworks. It was quite a good time.
It all started out with sparklers...
Then came the grand finale.
I'm almost positive that no one got hurt during this little shindig, but I was the one taking the pictures so clearly it couldn't have been my fault if anything did end up happening. Also, surprisingly, the house didn't burn down either.
The day after the new years party we were hanging out in the quarter of town where there just so happens to be an amusement park. Intrigued by the concept of its existence in Mali, we mustered the courage to go inside and found that there were absolutely no rules which lead to a fantastic new years day. Here's some pictures from that:
The ticket office, each ride was about 40 cents.
(Tri, Sara, Me, Dina, Jessica, and Gloria)
Bumper Cars
Swings in their tame state
Swings getting warmed up (me in the blue shirt)
This video was not sped up, it was just really scary fast (I hope it works, because it was not working for me earlier).
Tea Cups, if they were actually operational I would have thrown up.
During the middle of January I spent a lot of time at site trying to finish my project and find a solution to the current well problem I'm having. We have decided to wait until hot season to finish it so the water table will drop and we won't have to pull out so much water before we get to the digging surface. The women's association is already getting excited about starting their large scale garden and saving seeds. I finished all the latrine slabs and am working up the confidence to attempt the 2 meter wide well cover. I'm just worried about the shear weight of it and moving it around. It's going to be a difficult maneuver and probably take all the manpower in the village which may be tough to get together when the weather heats up.
February:
Every February in Segou (about 4 hours east of Bamako) there is a big Malian music festival called Festival Sur le Niger and although I hate the Malian music they constantly play on repeat in the busses while going between cities, the musicians that were featured in the festival were incredible. The stage is a floating platform on the Niger river which creates a really cool setting for the entire show with lights reflecting off the water and the shiny fabric worn by the performers. It started on the 1st of February and lasted through the 6th. There were a lot of volunteers there from all over West Africa and it was fun to hang out and meet them. Most days consisted of waking up late, showing up to the beer tents, watching music on the beach and getting mixed up in random drum circles in between.
Me getting into the local attire with a turban. It was also surprisingly cold out, so it helped a lot.
Late night stage
Jembe lesson with Kante
Earlier on in the night stage
That's about all I've got for now, but later this month I'm planning a trip up to the northern part of the country, Inshallah. I have to complete my well project before I'm going to let myself leave my village. Life is going well and I'm still enjoying being here, though the transport problems I've been having recently about getting out of Kita and back to Manantali have been bumming me out. I hope all is well back in The States and with any luck I'll be back in about 7 or 8 months.
