Yesterday, we went to see the Bandiagara escarpements. One PC volunteer had a homologue (work partner) who could show us around for a PC price. We saw three differnt villages and had a chance to climb into the cliffs. One area was designated to a wise man, the hogon, who is elected, unlike the village elder. But he is equally or more important. He is only to be served by his virgin daughters and he was bathed, not by water, but by snake tongues. When food was cooked by the women, they sat on a tortoise, and they had to feed the tortoise the food before serving it as a precaution against poison. Apparently, where we were, there are also crocodiles in the rainy season (which is almost started). Crocs are sacred animals here. The cliff dwellings we saw were abandoned by pygmies and then the dogon people, but in other areas of the cliffs, I believe the dogon people are still up there living. Too bad we didn't get to see those.
We had an interesting lunch conversation with our guide. He was telling us he is soon to be married. His parents picked out his wife. According to the PCV whose homologue he is, his wife-to-be is 12 or 13. But although they are engaged, he has to wait for another year and a half or something before they can live together. Probably because she is so young. I tried to ask his age, and he got misunderstood and got flustered and was like oh we don't ask the age of the girl. I tried to explain to him that I was asking about his age, not the girls, and then he said he was like 25 or something. Glad that got cleared up, but I got the distinct impression that since he knew we were Westerners, we would look down on his marrying such a young girl so he didn't want to tell us her age. He never did say hers...
After lunch, we went to go see how they make Bogolan cloth. It's mud-stained cloth, but it's actually quite beautiful. Dogon country is also known for it's indigo prints. I bought a beautiful indigo scarf looking like thing. I would like to make some African clothes here, but we'll see how that goes lol.
After leaving the cliffs, we started on our way to Djenne. This is a world heritage site. The PCV (peace corps volunteer) who lives there said that it is actually quite bothersome for those who live there because they are only allowed to use mud brick for making houses. They would like to advance, but because of the world heritage site laws, they are not able to use any other material. The city is actually an island and we had to take this crazy old barge across. We arrived late at night and weren't sure it was even still in service but after waiting and flashing our lights a lot, the barge came. The city itself is nice and the PCV we stayed with lives in a nice concession and her nyegen (bathroom) is actually inside her house! It's still a nyegen though, lol, nothing real special. But she does have plenty of potable water which is nice. Jade always has to order a jug of water to come to her house. We slept on the rooftop again, and it was one of the best sleeps I've had in Mali yet. The wind was blowing fiercely so there was a nice breeze. It also meant I was covered in dust when I woke up though... ALSO, there were fewer animals in this city it seems! In bandiagara, the night before, I felt like "wow, this is what it would b like to sleep in a jungle". There is a huge cacophany of animals waking up and they make so much noise around the entire city. But Djenne, there were just a few chickens sqwauking that I could hear. Not bad. Relatively peaceful lol.
On our way back to Bamako, we stopped in Segou again for lunch. Sadly, the sandwich shop was closed and I had to get streetfood. I was quite worried but I did not get sick so I'm thankful. I got "fried" rice (really just rice that's orange) and peanut sauce (blehhhh). But I bought a mango, which is always nice. Lastly, before we left, we picked up frozen yogurt in these little plastic bags from a lady. The PCV from Segou said it's the best in the city. And it was soooo good. There's really not a lot of dairy here, so it was nice to have this. And nice because it was sooooo cold. Often, I cannot find a cool drink because there's not always a refrigerator around.. :(
Last night, we had a goodbye dinner for two volunteers who are ETing (early termination). We went to a Chinese restaurant! Honestly, it's been a little weird cause I thought Chinese people were all over the world lol, but there really are not a lot of them here. This restaurant had the most I'd seen since I got here. The food was pretty good and they had a wonderful bathroom with a flushing toilet and toilet paper!! Toilet paper is a prized commodity to Jade and I because it's limited! And quick sidenote, the other day, Jade finally divulged to her host mother that she does not wipe herself with her hand, but that she uses toilet paper. It was quite funny trying to explain to her. The host mother asked me how I keep poop out of my nails when they are so long (which they aren't even that long lol). Jade told her that I use toilet paper and then the big secret was out! The mom wanted to know why Jade still carried the little hand water bucket (they wash themselves with this bucket, after using the bathroom) to the nyegen and Jade basically said because she knew Malian people expected her to bring it lol. It was quite funny, and the host mother said she would try toilet paper and see if she liked it lol.
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