Alas, I finally have something to blog about. At this moment, I am sitting in Kayes, Mali. You may be asking yourself, "What is so significant about Kayes?" Well, my good friend Danielle grew up here. I had the opportunity to spend Christmas with her so I jumped at the chance. Oh, and Kayes' other claim to fame is that it is the third hottest city in the world (based on average temp).
Our journey:
We, as in Danielle, her two siblings, and myself, left for the bush taxi area in Dakar at 4 am. We arrived shortly thereafter where Danielle had the responsibility of bargaining for luggage prices, getting seats, etc. (If you've never been to a 3rd world country, you've never seen bargaining quite like this.) Anyways, we were off and running at 5:15 am. The "we" now included the driver and 3 other African men.
Now, you may be asking yourself, "How big is this bush taxi?" Good question my friend. Picture an old station wagon that holds 8. Roomie? No. Functional? Yes. We joked that this was a magic taxi because the gas gauge always read empty, the speedometer 0 kph, and the temperature 0.
I have heard Danielle's bush taxi stories and knew anything could happen. I was warned the journey could take anywhere from 12-18 hours to the Malian border. We were (hopefully) prepared for anything. We had food, snacks, money, pagnas to use as blankets, pillows, a bed if needed, books on tape, grading. Thankfully we had a great and speedy trip. We made record time and arrived in Kayes 13.5 hours after we left Dakar! (FYI-Dad, good thing I am used to not stopping much. See, I knew my abnormal way of traveling would pay off.)
Danielle's parents met us at the border with Coke. :) Shortly after crossing into Mali, we saw a couple packs of baboons. Danielle always claimed that Mali was superior to Senegal. haha
I haven't ventured outside the house yet so I don't have many things to write about Kayes yet. My credible source (Danielle's dad) said the ave temp right now is low 90s with 25% humidity. I can tell you that equals dry. :)
Over and out from Kayes.
1 comment:
Annie~ so good to hear you made it safely! I'll have to look up Kayes on the map. A pack of baboons, wow~ can't wait to see your pictures and hear about your adventures. Have a fantastic trip and Merry Christmas!
Love & paix~
Alayna
P.S. I often amused myself on longer bush taxi journeys with scavenger hunts. Anything to pass the time & keep your mind off the insanely tight quarters~ include a few basic French phrases and see if anyone else in the car wants to play!
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