Miscellaneous Mali

At our first Dogon Village we visited - Begnimato, we had the opportunity to meet their "hunter". This guy goes out most nights to kill whatever moves and is edible. He wears his traditional clothing when he goes out on the hunt - and put it on for us!



These are the lush green tops of onions growing in the "dirt". Their color was such a stark contrast to the surrounding landscape.


Kim is perched about 400m above the plains on the edge of Bandiagara Escarpment. The Dogon people have their villages at the base of the Escarpment and along the ridge. We were visiting a village that is perched along the top edge. Wild.

We think driving in snow is tough...sand can be just as challenging. Although you don't have to worry about frostbite when digging your 4x4 out of the sand...
This is a photo of Bamako from a hill above it...very different from Dakar...and very quite.

This is Timbuktu...

When African's are using the river for transportation, they don't waste any space on the boat. This is the ferry we took to cross a river as we were going to the market at Djenne. There were pedestrians, cars, trucks and bikes. All of them overloaded with goods!!

An ariel view of the market at Djenne which is held every Monday. That is the Mosque in the background - the world's largest mud built structure.

This is the village of Songho where they hold a ceremony every 3 years when they circumcise the boys from their village.

While we were climbing down a trail we encountered two women climbing up. There was a new mom carrying her 1 month old baby boy and the boy's Grandmother. The Grandmother was carrying a 20kg bag of grain on her head. She probably had been walking for 2-3 km with this on her head. Here is Kim caring the bag of grain on her head like the Grandmother was. Even just getting this bag on your head is HARD! We gave these ladies about $2 to thank them for their time and allowing us to take pictures. They were so excited that they threw in a free dance for us!!





Here is a glimpse of the private mask dance that we had. Yes that is an 8m high mask in the centre of the photo. It has a stick rigged to the bottom of it that is held by the teeth of the guy wearing it!



Here are the abandoned houses built under the cliffs. They still use the granaries up there if they have a bountiful harvest. The village only left the cliffs about 60 years ago. Just imagine carrying water, food, kids, etc. up a hill like that!


The Niger River is a fascinating place just to sit back and watch the African world pass by. Here is a boat the is just leaving Mopti on its way to Timbuktu. It is loaded to the point that it's barely floating. If you are sitting in the lower level you are basically looking out even with the water. Kim and I sure were glad we didn't have to spend a day on that (or the 7 days it takes to get to Timbuktu)!!

Sunset over Bamako from our hotel restaurant.

Mali Market Video

This video will give you a sense of what walking around a market is like in Africa. This market is in Djenne in front of the Mosque. It is there every Monday. When we visited it was about 2 weeks before Eid so it was especially busy - think Chinook Centre about 3-4 days before Christmas!

Ghana Through a Lens

The world is definitely "flat". When we were walking around Accra one day, we were walking by a shop and found this guy inside. Clearly a Canadian at heart!


It is a bit weird seeing a snow man in a city where you melt as soon as you step outside of an air conditioned room!

This is a picture of Cape Coast from our hotel's outdoor restaurant.

We talked about the Cape Coast Castle that was used by the British as a slave trading centre with the church built above the holding dungeon - this picture is taken from that church. It is tough (and sad) to imagine what this place would have looked and felt like at the height of the slave trade.

Here Kim and I are on the swinging bridges in the tree tops of the Kakum National Park.

Senegal Pictures

Since Kim and I are waking up at 4am...I hope to get a lot of pictures posted with all this time on my hands!!

Here is a picture of Il de Goree - which has been a slave trading centre, military fort and general trading centre.

This is a picture of the La Maison des Esclaves and the door of no return for slaves destined for the Americas. This was built by the Dutch in 1786 and now stands as a reminder of the horrors of the slave trade.


This picture gives you a sense of Dakar as a city - big, overcrowded and dirty.


This lady is a beneficiary of the microfinance provided through Kiva and SEM. The money she and her group borrowed bought more fish drying tables. They can now buy more fresh fish, dry it and take it to the market to sell. She was very happy to get in our picture...she just wanted a copy!


On our adventure through the mangrove near Palmarin, we stopped for an oyster roast. Our 2 French friends (Guillaume and Christelle) who live in Morocco are also in the picture.

Here is a picture of our treehouse room at Niassam.

TIA

Our good friend Mike borrowed TIA from Leo in Blood Diamonds - This Is Africa. Like OIL, TIA applies to many things in Libya. Now that we have "escaped" from Libya, we feel more comfortable putting some stories up here!

On our flight from Malta to Tripoli, the flight crew handed out currency control sheets from Libya. These required you to list all the money you were carrying into Libya and every time you changed money you were to get it stamped. There was an English and an Arabic sections. The English part said this was just for translation purposes and that the Arabic copy must be presented. At this point Kim was really doubting whether we should be making a journey into Libya. How were we supposed to get this translated into Arabic???? This form also said that we must "register" upon our arrival, failure to do so would result in "serious inconvenience for the visitor". Great. Just what we need - serious inconvenience!! The funny thing about this form was that when I went to change money at the airport and presented the form, the guy "threw" it back at me. Even funnier was that neither Mike nor anyone else we talked to had ever even seen this form. OIL!

Upon our arrival in Tripoli, we were expecting to be met by a representative from the company that had arranged our visa. There was no one there holding a sign up nor anyone that looked like they were looking for 2 Canadians. So we decided to get in line and talk to the Passport Control people. Just as we did this - a guy came up and pointed to my name on a sheet and asked if that was me. I said yep and he said our visas were there and just talk to the Passport Control people. The Passport Control guys were very nice - happy to have Canadians visiting them. They never once even looked at our translation page!! After talking to the Passport Control guys for about 2 minutes, we waited for our representative to process our visa - which took about 20 minutes. He then took us to get our bag and said he was going to find our car. We told him we didn't have a car. He insisted we did. At this point I told Kim that he wouldn't "lose" us because we hadn't paid him yet. We also asked him about "registering" - he looked at us strange and said our "company host" would look after this. Ok. What if we don't have a "company host" - I guess we'll figure that out later. We grab our bag and wait for him to return for us. We are going about 500m to the next terminal for our domestic flight to Benghazi.

After about 25 minutes we can't find our representative. We are in the country, but haven't paid for our visa yet and we have about 1 hour before our next flight leaves. We decide to take a taxi over to the other terminal - we can't wait any longer for our visa guy to find us. In the Lonely Planet guide it says it costs 10LD (Libyan Dinar) (1LD= $0.80CAD) to go to the other terminal or to downtown Tripoli. Mike has also told me the same. So we hop in the taxi and go.

Once our 2 minute taxi ride is over, we get out and I go to hand the taxi driver 10LD. He wants 15LD. I tell him it is only 10LD. He says no it is 15LD. What am I supposed to do now?? Kim and I had this whole African taxi thing down. Get the price before you get in. Make sure it is clear. This time I am thinking that there is an "official" rate and it won't be a problem. Clearly I don't know about OIL at this point!!! So I pay him the 15LD for the ride. I am swearing under my breathe (ok, maybe not that under my breathe). Kim is a bit concerned that I am going to do something to offend a Libyan some how! We have been in the country for about 30 minutes and it has definitely been an adventure.

We get checked into our next flight with no problem - there was even an organized line!! Borrow a Libyan's phone to call Mike to let him know we are in. This is where we begin to see the true Libyan spirit come through. The guy who's phone we borrowed, wouldn't take anything for using his phone. I gave him a Canadian flag pin and we were friends!!

At this point I realize that over 95% of the people we have seen so far have been men. It is very strange to see mostly men every where you look. Probably even more strange for Kim! But everyone is pleasant.

We arrive in Benghazi with no hitches and hit the sack - we have been traveling for 27 hours!!

The next morning Mike takes our passports to get them registered. He has never had any visitors, so this is a learning process for him as well. He takes them to a friend to see what can be done, but his friend wasn't in the office yet. So he talks to another guy whom he doesn't know. This guy can't quite figure out who Mike is, why he speaks Arabic, why he has 2 Canadians passports to register. He wants to see both of us in his office. Then he demands to see us. Then he wants to see Mike's passport (which he doesn't have on him). This guy has Kim's and my passports at this point. Mike is a bit concerned. He calls us and I speak to him. Mike doesn't get ruffled very easy, but I can tell that there is some major potential problems at this point. The guy wants to get Kim and I out of the country tomorrow. We can't stick around. Finally some of the people Mike does know show up and things calm down. He gets our passports back and figures we'll skip the registration process at this time...perhaps this is the serious inconvenience they talk about. Unfortunately it is Mike that is inconvenienced...not the visitors!!!!

Kim and I are unregistered, unpaid guests in Libya. Not a good combination!

Now our plan is to get one of the hotels to register us. Our first attempt at this was on Monday night. We ask the guy at the desk about registering us and he says that we don't have to register because we are only there for 4 days and it requires registration if we are there longer than 7 days. Also the registration office is closed and because it is Eid, it won't open till Saturday - 2 days after we leave. Hopefully we don't need to be registered!!!

More later...also will get some photos up...

OIL

We have "escaped" from Libya with very little hassle - but lots of question marks - more on that later. We left MML traveling back to Tripoli with a co-worker of Mike's (Rob) who is heading back to Toronto for Christmas. Rob was a great addition to our travel team and coined the term OIL - Only In Libya. You have to be in Libya to fully understand that phrase!!

We are in Frankfurt today, heading back to Calgary this afternoon. We will post some more on the weekend about our trials and tribulations in Libya, suffice it to say I wasn't sure if we would ever get out - Kim wanted to stay. Libya and Libyan's are great!

Merry Christmas and Happy Eid!!

g&k

Getting Close!!

Leaving Accra was a bit of an ordeal...as it should be! We managed to grab a cab which we believe to have been powered by two small mice. That was of little concern. A bigger concern, was the very significant size traffic jam that developed on the way to the airport. Knowing that if we missed this flight, they would cancel our Frankfurt - Calgary connection home, we became anxious at about the 50 minute mark of our cab ride (which should have taken 10 mins). Luckily, we made the flight and happily slept on the short hop into Lagos, Nigeria for a layover and then to Frankfurt!

We felt a little badly about how happy we were to land in Frankfurt as we made a beeline for Starbucks and then gleefuly wandered around shops where no one was saying "I make nice price for you".

Frankfurt to Malta was short and non eventful although we again fell into the trap of being "back in civilization". It only took us about 6 seconds off the flight in Malta before we crossed the parking lot to those golden arches...McDonalds!!!

After those reconnections with "home", we then boarded the flight for Libya. The flight was almost empty and adrenalin was a little high due to all the stories we had heard. The second we sit down on the plane, we are singled out by airport staff who boarded the plane looking for someone. Heart rate monitors at that moment would have been amusing. Luckily, they had only misplaced the tickets we gave them to board and there was nothing more of an issue. The level of anxiousness remained high - more on that later, but suffice it to say that we arrived in Benghazi and Mike was there waiting for us!!!

Mike, Mel and Lucy (hereafter known as MML for short) have been incredible!! Their home is beautiful and they've been exceptional hosts! After a good sleep and breakfast, we headed out in the car to Susa where we've checked into a hotel for the night. There are some wonderful Roman ruins to check out tomorrow and we got a great look at the landscape. We were able to visit a beautiful mosque and had dinner in an incredible restaurant. The restaurant wasn't busy and they opened the kitchen just for us. So far, what Mike has been saying about the Libyan hospitality and kindness has proven completely accurate! We are looking forward to spending another couple of days with MML. Lucy, in general, has been hysterical! By a few hours into our stay, she was helping us unpack and generally keeping us in stitches!

Grant is also keeping me in stitches because he is now committed to learning Arabic. He is like a little kid seeing Santa Claus every time Mike speaks to the locals and he sees their reaction to Mike's grasp of the language.

Off for more fun with MML ...

kim and grant

Wasting Time in Accra

It is about 400C outside right now, Kim and I are killing time before our 25 hours of travel from Accra to Lagos, Nigeria to Frankfurt to Malta to Tripoli to Benghazi. We have found refuge in an internet cafe - which importantly has air conditioning!!

Cape Coast was a nice relaxing beach town. We did the tourist things and that was about all there was to do there.

Back in Accra with an extra day which we don't really have anything to do with. We took a cab over to the Trade Fair Centre - which we thought was a shopping "centre" or area. But there really is nothing there. Just this internet cafe. Oh well.

We have plans for a BLOW OUT lunch in an air conditioned restaurant this afternoon. This is where we will blow all the Ghana Cedi's we have. We will likely have Coke Floats. Fun!

General observations in/of Ghana - there seem to be schools for the kids and kids in those schools. Very little on the hassle front when we are walking around. Paved roads just about everywhere.

Our next post will hopefully be from Benghazi!!

g&k

African Upgrade

After finalizing our trip to Libya, we headed off for Cape Coast. Our plan was to catch a bus for the 140km drive. The taxi that we hopped in at our hotel offered to drive us to Cape Coast for 50 Cedi which is about C$50. The bus would have cost us about $10, so we really didn't want to take the taxi. We countered his offer at 25 Cedi. He didn't budge. Then we realized we wouldn't have to wait around for the bus to leave, nor hang out on a bus for 2.5 hours - we decided an offer of 40 Cedi would be good. He agreed. I even took the money out of my pocket to confirm that we agreed on the right price. Ghana dropped 4 zeros from their money in July so it can be a bit confusing when talking prices. As well the English here is much worse than the French spoken in the other countries we have visited - we were much better off with Kim's French than the Ghanian's English! Once we arrived at our hotel in Cape Coast the taxi driver wanted another 5 Cedi from us - to help with petrol. After a few minutes of discussion about him giving us 5 Cedi to help pay for our dinner he realized he wasn't getting anything more from us and left. Kim and I are catching on to the whole African way of life!!

We visited Cape Coast Castle - which was the largest slave trading post in West Africa. It was controlled by the British for the last several decades before Independence. It was a thought provoking place to visit - especially when visiting the holding cells. There is also a great example of hypocrisy at the Castle - directly above the men's holding cells the first Anglican Church in Ghana was built. Disgusting.

To reflect - we went to a close by restaurant situated on the beach and ordered dinner. Service here wasn't swift - which suited us fine.

This morning we went to the Kakum National Park and experienced a walk in the tree top canopy of the rain forest. It was a very interesting to walk in a rain forest on rope bridges among the tree tops - as high as 40m off the ground. We even saw some monkeys!

We just received good news from the Libyan visa people - they are going to be at the airport to meet us and we think there is a flight for us to head to Benghazi on Sunday night - so the Jack and Jill party that Mike and Mel are hosting for us is on - book your tickets now!!

We are back to Accra tomorrow - just another afternoon of relaxing in the heat for us today!

g&k

Ups and Downs of Travel

On Tuesday night as we were flying to Accra, Kim and I decided that regardless of what the Libyan's say about our passports we were going to go!

Then we had to figure out our plan of attack. We knew there was an Air Malta flight from Frankfurt that would work for us, but we hadn't been able to book it online. First thing was to find a travel agent in Accra.

No one at our hotel in Accra (which as an aside didn't have our room reservation for last night, so after a bit of "discussion" they found one for us :) ) knew of a travel agent close, so we headed to the internet cafe to see if we could try booking online. I was on the internet and Kim went to ask the info desk if they knew of a travel agent close by. The clerk stood up and walked 5 steps and looked in an office and said "yes, right here". So Kim talked to him, but his system was down. I couldn't book it online. Then we decided to go for a walk to see if we could find another travel agent while the other guy tried to get his system back up and running.

We found an American Express travel agent. He had no luck finding anything for us that was less than $1600 each. A bit rich for us. We are poor by African standards remember!

Unwilling to give up, we went back to the hotel to try to call Air Malta directly. Couldn't get the phone to work. Back to the internet cafe to see about our travel agent. He was busy with someone else when we got there. There are phones available at the cafe so we decided to call Air Malta. Got through. Very bad connection. Called back. Got through. They found flights for us for $450 each. Much better. We are going. AND WE ARE PUMPED!!!! We sure hope the Libyans like us at the airport!!!

Off to Cape Coast, where we will relax for a couple days and then off to Libya.

Also, Accra has been very different (for the 12 hours we have been here) compared to the other parts of Africa. It seems quite prosperous and very modern. More on that later...

g&k

Africa Panic

I just had to post about boarding our Emirates flight that goes to Accra then to Dubai.

There is a tour group of Africans that rushed to the gate as soon as it was announced - which is the norm we have discovered. Not sure if they are afraid their might not be enough seats or what. You can imagine that they also just bunch up at the gate. The security guard made them all stand in single file. Panic can be seen on their faces with this strict process. Someone isn't going to make it on and none of them want it to be them. They are looking at us with concerned looks like we are going to miss out and if they could tell us they would.

I have also learned that a bucket is not an allowable carry on for Emirates. Weird I know. So far 3 buckets have been left behind...

Now that the mass has boarded, we get to board...in single file of course!

A Different System

Grant is off buying magazines so I'll pick up where he left off on our helpful Ivory Coast airport employee! At the appointed time, he did return to fetch us and walked us through the airport straight to Emirates check in. No one questioned us, we went through first class check in with Emirates and as it turns out, he was correct when he told us we had to get our luggage (contrary to what we were told in Bamako which was the assurance that it was checked through - shocking, I know!). As an aside, I adore Emirates Airline, they are efficient and courteous and had located our bag within minutes! I don't know what it is with us and luggage but - you guessed it - it was sitting in lost luggage. Anyway, back to our new friend who then escorted us back to the restaurant which he said was a more comfortable place to wait. He advised us what time the plane was coming in and where we were to go. We thanked him! Then he sat down with us and announced that his day was finished and he was leaving. That was followed by a long, awkward silence. He broke the silence when he looked at us and said "little gift?". Even though we knew that was likely the scenario, we stll thought tipping airport employees was unusual. Oh well, its a different system! When we get home, I'm going to try tipping the friendly volunteers in white hats at YYC.

There has been no interesting cultural Africa tidbits today as it has been a travel day. There was some excitement during check out of the hotel this morning where Grant snapped at the desk clerk. They charged us slightly more than they quoted us for the usual reasons...you didn't ask for a double blah, blah, blah. No problem really however they had told us when we checked in that there was a free bus to the airport. You can imagine that when we checked out - there was no bus. They tried to tell me that I had to book it the day before. I said that I had but in Africa the phrase "we need to leave Tuesday morning at 8 am" is apparently often confused with "its a nice day isn't it?". Due to the miscommunication we were taking a taxi which was just enough to put Grant over the edge on the room surcharge. So after printing out the email confirmation, he went back and demanded his money back. Believe me, it is funny to try and translate Grant when he's mad! The poor desk clerk kept anxiously looking at me asking "what's he saying???". (We now have the good cop/bad cop routine down in a multilingual situation!). In the end we got the money back and Grant felt that justice was served. Interestingly, DHL wouldn't let us pay by VISA because it took them too long to collect the money (so they say) however the hotel claimed not to be able to cancel a VISA transaction because the money is instantaneously transferred and can't be reversed. Aaagghh...AFRICA!

More from Ghana shortly!

(PS - we are still trying to confirm passport requirements for Libya but the Canadian Embassy in Mali doesn't know any more than the Calgary/Ottawa offices so we are thinking that for the benefit of all Canadians, we might just have to try it and see what happens!)

Cote d'Ivorie

Good Morning from Abidjan, Ivory Coast! We are just on a 4.5 hour
layover on our way to Accra. Very nice airport by African standards
and we have been treated like VIP's! We were just getting into the
transfer line when a gentleman came over and asked us which flight we
were on. We told him and he said that check in does,kt open for 1.5
hours and to follow him. So we do. He takes us to the bar and tells
us he will come back to get us. Here we wait. Since we have mobile
internet access we are posting and even took a photo to commemorate
our Abidjan visit!

gm

French Pastry and Live Sheep

Last night Kim and I went to a restaurant in Bamako that had a very good write up in the Lonely Planet guide. We were the first people in the restaurant at 6:30pm. The food was very good - living up to all expectations. The funny thing about the restaurant was over the 1.5 hours we were there 15 people were there and all of them white. I guess Lonely Planet guides are good for business!

This morning we have been running a few errands - paying DHL for their exorbitant shipping charges and justifying to them why we weren't shipping express which cost twice as much but would be there within 4 days. I don't think they understood that we weren't going to be home for another 2 weeks! Kim did ask why they were suprised we were using the frieght shipping option and the lady responded that only people with no money us frieght. Kim and I have now been labeled poor by African shipping standards. Oh well.

After DHL we enjoyed some French pastries on a patio while watching the world go by. The French influence goes deeper than just the language - the food choices here are influenced by the French as well. Which is why we have been eating about 3 loafs of French bread a day and a few buttery pastries on top of that!! Unlike France, as we were watching the world go by, we witnessed several buses go by with many live sheep tied to the roof. One bus even had the sheep just standing there on the roof, nothing keeping them tied down. Not something you see everyday in most places.

We have also been working on our Libyan plans - Mike should know more for us in the next day or so...we'll see...

Off to enjoy the afternoon by the pool...

g&k

Night Life in Bamako

Hearing that Bamako is the centre of music in West Africa, we figure arriving from Mopti after a 7 hour car ride on a Saturday night - we better experience it!

Dicko comes to pick us up at the hotel around 10pm - well before things really get started we are told. We make a bit of a tour of some of the potential hotspots and decide on Hippo D'or - which has a live act playing - The Jeebby 5 (which it turns out is one of our drives favorites). We pay cover ($3 each, which includes your first drink) and sit down right at the front. About 10 minutes later the band starts playing. Pretty good. Then the lead singer comes out. Things change for the worse in a hurry. Imagine the worst karoke experience you have had - times that by 4. This guy was terrible. The band also just played - they didn't even tap their feet! For those of you who have enjoyed a Sugarshack Stampede party in the last few years would appreciate Orange Whip sooooo much after our experience!!!!

Today was a relaxing day until about 4pm when I called Aeroplan to confirm some information on our flights. Before we left I had called them to check to see about cancelling one of the legs of our trip, they said no problem. Today we have found out that once we have started the trip, we can't cancel any part and if we miss a flight all subsequent flights are cancelled. We were going to miss one leg of our flight to fly directly into Libya, but if we do that it is going to mean much extra expense and potentially not making it home for Christmas - and I can't miss Santa Claus! We are now looking at work arounds - we may make Libya, we may not. We really want to since we have put so much work into getting there and our friends in Libya have put in even more!!

We'll keep you posted....

g&k

Missiles, Millet Beer and Canadians

More from Dogon Country todqy where we stopped to pick up some overly tired Trekkers for a quick lift to our camp...as they threw their MEC bags in the bac, we were fairly certain we had found more Canadians and we were right! Two girls from Ontario were spending some time in Mali so we caught up on our English together!

After lunch we decided to bargain for a unique but totally impractical souvenir which we will reveal at the slide show but suffice it to say that you should never trust the guy selling you something when he assures you that international shipping isn't expensive. Having just returned from DHL's office and knowing that we can't carry this thing around, we bit the bullet but we certainly aren't buying anything else that costs twice the purchase price in shipping!!!

Dicko continues to educate and enlighten! Many of the local women will wash clothes in the river topless. The first day, he explained that foreigners often misunderstood that this was not something to stare at, but by yesterday he was referring to the Malian Missiles and how they could stop war around the world!! Funny man that Dicko!!

Our last night in Dogon, they had arranged for us to see a traditional mask dance which was particularly exceptional since we were the only tourists honored with the dance! Everyone else - and it was the whole village - was local!!

Just before returning from Dogon, we had to see a Dogon market which looked startingly similar to all the other markets. Nonetheless, I was getting caught up in the fun so when our guide asked if I wanted to try millet beer from a big communal bowl, well there was no hesitation at all! aftr taking a sip, I looked at Grant to see if he wanted to join the fun but he was essentially recoiled in horror! He just shook his head and said...the price of his immodium just went up! Now, in my defense I did quickly calculate that this was alcohol so I was probably safe in terms of local undigestibles in the water but Grant was convinved that Cipro was goung to be needed! I was so concerned, I think I walked around with clenched butt cheeks for three hours in the horrible anticipation! I am happy to reprt that I either have the intestinal fortitude of a local or my theory about all alcohol being safe is entirely correct since ive felt great ever since!

Running out of time on our card here...more later!

kim and grant

Back from the Dogon Country

We have just arrived back in Mopti from a great adventure in the Dogon Country. Dogon are the people the live in the area - so think of as visiting the Native Indian Country.

Our first stop was in a village that does a famous circumcision ceremony every 3 years. Unfortunately before we got to see any of that, they took us through a building they claimed to be a school and handed us a piece of paper with a little note on it. The note said give us money for our school. I was extrememly put off by this. They didn't tell me what it was going for, they didn't show me any kids in a school, they just held their hand out and ask for money. It makes you mad when they expect white people to provide money without any explanation of what they plan to do or what they have done. This really set me off in a bad direction. The area where they do the ceremony was interesting, but I had a hard time finding anything they told me genuine after the school fiasco. They also tried to tell me that if this one musical instruement, that is played every three years, was played now - all the women within 10km that were pregneant would abort their babies. Now that is just foolishness!!

Now that I was pissed off - we went and picked up our guide for the Dogon Country - Macki. Macki was great!! We stopped to look at the onions that are grown in the area. What a contrast of color - the rich green onion against the red rocks and red dirt. That night we were in the village of Ende, staying in a great little encampment. After dinner, Dicko found a guitar and played African and Blues under the stars. All the other guides were calling him Ringo Starr. The other guides and Dicko also started into discussing politics. The conversations were always very respectful, but passionate. Very interesting. We had a great time. A much better ending to the day!!

Day two in Dogon took us to a village built on the plateau (meaning we had to hike up to it). What a neat place. We arrived in Begnimato and then climbed to what they called the eagle nest. We had great views of the plains of Mali. On our way back to the village, Macki explained to us that buying a drink in the village was a way for them to feel socially conexted to us and supported them financially without just having thier hand out. Now this I understood and respected. We stopped for a couple Coke's, which came to $2, left them another $2 and they were over the moon!!

Macki was very open for questions and discussion. We discussed the women's menstration cycle, sex, local attitudes towards tourists. He has tried to explain to the local's that if the tourists don't buy something in their store, it is not because they don't like it, but that the tourists have a budget just like the locals. We can't buy everything we see. Also with locals saving up for their pilgramage to Mecca, they understand the expense of traveling and that the tourists just don't show up in a private jet and start throwing money around for a reason!

As we got back to the truck after our hike down, there were a few kids that followed us to the truck. We were playing tag with them. Hopped into the truck, which we got stuck in a sand river bed! The kids thought that was very funny, but started digging the wheels out. We all pushed and got it unstuck. This unexpected opportunity gave Kim and I a chance to connect with the kids in a way we otherwise wouldn't have. We took some photos with them. Showed them the camera, which they thought was very weird!!

Now we are off for a ride on the Niger River in our pinasse - more later!

g&k

Another Market...

Today we visited Djenne (Jen-ay) which hosts a weekly market. This market is world famous - that is what I said too, famous to who??

To get to the market, we drove for about 1.5 hours on very good roads and then had to cross the Bani River by ferry. When we got to the crossing, there were couple other cars there and a bus loaded up. When I say loaded up, I mean loaded up! See the picture - that bus is loaded.

At Djenne, we had a guide who was exceptionally good. He walked us around Djenne and then the market. After lunch we went to a jeweler's shop. I pulled out our camera to take a video and a few shots - he wanted to see the camera. I thought I had offended him and was going to be at the centre of an international problem (see English teacher in Sudan). But he is just a technology freak. He wanted to play with the camera, how much it cost, how many photos it would hold, how to order one on the internet without a credit card. This lead to a very interesting discussion of finance, etc. He never made us feel like we should give him the camera or anything, just a genuine discussion about how he could acquire one.

On that point, Djenne in general was very genuine. People there didn't hassle us because we are white. They didn't pressure sell us anything. They would offer, if we didn't want, they moved on. As a comment on Mali in general, the bargining process is more a social interaction than just strictly commerce. Markets are such a part of their life - it is where they sell what they produce and where they buy what they need - all from potential friends. This maybe the reason we have pages of email addresses from new friends include guides, taxi drivers, jewelery merchants and general travelers!!

Our final stop in Djenne was at a famous ladies mud painting studio. You might not think mud painting is "high" art, but it is!!! This lady is so famous, she even made it into the Lonely Planet guide - which is how we judge everything when we are traveling!! The experience was similar to buying carpets in India or Egypt - they start throwing them all over the floor. Kim and I were both thinking the same thing - we need one for hanging on our staircase wall. After we decided on the one, before we even had agreed on a price, it was in a bag ready for us to take. Now we just had to decide on the price. The first price was 65,000 CFA (C$135). Our guide spoke up and it dropped to 55,000 CFA. I countered with 20,000 CFA. Some more general chatter. Then they wanted my final price. I said we could only do 30,000 CFA because that is all we had. This is kinda true because it isn't real easy to exchange money out here and we have to pay for incidentals along the way. Then there was a discussion on taking other currencies including Canadian dollars - oddly enough they had no interest in them. I guess they don't follow international finance and the general love of the Canadian dollar! Then Kim and I pulled the "we must go now" trick and he wanted a little higher price. I offered 60 Euro (C$80, 39,300 CFA) and it was accepted. We are now the proud owners of a great wall hanging/bed spread/carpet/table cloth...dyed in mud!!

We are back in the hotel and Kim was practicing her new signature and initials for work. Just like girls in elementary school!!

Off to Dogon Country tomorrow, sleeping on the roof under the stars. We likely won' have internet connection for a few days since they barely have electricity.

g&k

The African Diet

We finally got on our plane - 2.5 hours late leaving Dakar for Bamako. Upon our arrival in Bamako, our best new friend - Dicko - met us and whisked us away in a new Toyota Land Cruiser with A/C!

For those of you at Kim's office - he is even better in person!! We did a quick tour of Bamako and then to the hotel - which was also very nice.

On Saturday morning we were off to Timbuktu. Got to the airport at 8am for a flight that didn't leave until 10:30am - nobody knew exactly what time our flight was leaving - even up until departure.

A different guide, Ayaob, met us in Timbuktu. We took a quick drive around, then stopping by the hotel to check in and lunch. The hotel was excellent - think the best boutique hotel in New York or Chicago but in Timbuktu - not what we expected!!! Lunch was awesome - both in presentation and in taste it would rival any restaurant in Calgary. Our thoughts that we would lose weight in Africa are quickly going out the window, every place has great food.

In the afternoon we took a camel ride out to a Touareg camp. We were on the camels for about 40 minutes. The camel guide was accompanied by 3 other men, who where very chatty. When we got to the camp, we were served tea. And of course they tried to sell us jewelery!!!! Each piece of jewelery had a story. They wanted us to hear about every piece. At one point I stand up, planning to go. I am told we still have 2 more courses of tea. Kim is tolerating the sales pitches, but I am not. Eventually all our chatty friends take off as the Japanese tour arrives. The camel ride back was rather lonely - just Kim and I, the camel guide and the camels. While we were waiting to meet back up with our guide, we started bargaining for a few items. The initial price was named by the seller, I countered, he countered, I countered, he countered. That was it. I was done. I named my final price. Eventually he came back to me and we split the difference - small victory??? Kim and the sellers had a good laugh - I don't know if it was at my expense or not - no translation on that!!!

That brings us to dinner. Our guide invited us to his home for a feast with a famous Timbuktu historian. First a whole lamb is brought in, which has been cooking since 8am and is stuffed with couscous. We start with a soup, which Kim and I have agreed not to discuss its contents. It didn't look pretty. Then on to the lamb. Our host started tearing pieces off and as we finished, he would throw more on our plates. The lamb/couscous combo was very tasty. The discussion with the historian was very interesting, both on the history of Timbuktu and Mali.

Today (Sunday) we flew to Mopti early in the morning. Dicko met us at the airport and we headed for the Mopti market. Wow. Talk about lively. There were boats arriving from villages along the Niger filled with stuff and people to the rafters. Everything under the sun can be bought here. Business was happening all over at a furious pace. We stopped for lunch and watched some boats dock and the ensuing unloading - good entertainment.

We are now kicking back at another great hotel!

Bonsoir!!

g&k

Time to start planning!

We are at a hotel with free internet so now it's time for Kim's comments again! We are off to see the weekly market at Djenne tomorrow which is supposed to be quite the site! Since we are having such a great time in Africa (again), it's definitely time to start planning our next trip - it's never too soon! It's going to be a bit tricky this time as we will have to work around a wedding and a honeymoon. The next big international trip might have to wait until after that local party. So, since you'll all be attending the festivities...this is fair warning to keep your calendars clear! No idea on a date yet but yes, FINALLY for all of you who've been asking (nagging, pestering, suggesting, demanding or otherwise requesting) we are going to throw you all a big party and make it official! Grant chose Timbuktu as the place to ask me to marry him since it's a place of such mystery that most people don't believe it exists...and let's face it, most of you thought we'd never get married! We've called our parents so now the rest of the world can know! Wish we could have told you in person but the phone bills from Timbuktu are insane!!

Reggie

A few housekeeping items as we wait for our plane to Bamako.

First, my name - Grant - is very difficult for my French friends to pronounce. So Gourgui, our wonderful Senegalese server at Niassam, came up with a new name for me. Ousmane. I am now in the process of getting my travel documents updated to reflect the new me. One concern I have with my new name is that I saw it spray painted on several buildings while we were driving yesterday. So either I am famous or not to smart in spraying my own name in grafitti!

Kim also came up with a new name for me - similar to my name for her - Mik (due to her very short boy haircut). She is now calling me Reggie. Pour quoi? Whenever I travel I hate shaving, so for the past 10 days I haven't shaved. Last night I trimmed it all down to leave a 70's style moustache - thus Reggie - the best 70's name Mik could come up with.

The cabbie from our previous adventure in Dakar - Shrek - said he would meet us at the hotel this morning to take us to the airport. When we came out he was there. Excellent service. He even said we were such good friends we didn't have to pay him! So we didn't! Actually on the way to the airport he pulls over and another dude jumps in the drivers seat. This is Shrek's step brother and it is his cab that we were in - they are just switching back and the step brother dropped us off at the airport. Finally we paid the local fare for a taxi! Shrek's step brother didn't even question our payment amount, which was a first for a cabbie!

There - we wasted 20 minutes in the airport!

Ousmane/Reggie

Peeing Bats and Smoking Rotarians

First a bit of catching up from yesterday. We visited the weekly market at a central village. Think an outdoor Wal-Mart crossed with Stampede for 1 day a week. People travel 15k by foot and upto 100k by bus to get to this market. They have everything from tabacco, fruits and goats. People rent stalls from the community to sell there wares and then spend that money buying what they need - great demonstration of basic economics at work. At 4pm, everyone leaves and just the billions of plastic bags are left to blow in the wind.

For our travels back to Dakar today, we shared a van with our French couple friends, with a stop at the world's oldest baobab tree and at shell island (Isle de Coquillages). When we drove up to the baobab tree we all had a silent groan - we had driven by this tree yesterday and it is surrounded by hawkers with tourist knick knacks. We hire a baobab expert for a talk on the virtues of the tree. He then climbs through a little hole in the base of the tree and invites us in. The hole is just above waist height, so you have to hurl yourself through it. I am last through and am not overly impressed once inside. We are standing in a "cave" carved into the middle of this huge tree. I hear something flapping around, look up - bats. There are several bats flying around. Guillome (the man in the French couple) is looking up and gets bat pee in his eye! Who needs that??? Kim asks me if I need a photo of the bats - she got a look that didn't require words or translation. Once we emerged from the pee'ed on bat cave, the hawkers begin their pitch. Lucky for me they didn't speak a bunch of english so I just played ignorant - not too difficult for me! When we get back into the van, Guillome fired a shot at the driver - he didn't warn us that there were bats that pee'ed on the tourists in there!

Next was shell island. Imagine an small african village on an island where all the streets are made from sea shells and there is a connecting island where there is a cemetry that is made of sea shells. Riveting.

Back in Dakar tonight and time to go to a local Rotary meeting. Start time is 7pm, so punctual Kim and I are at the hotel by 6:45. No one else is to be found. A couple ladies show up at a few minutes before 7. They decide the meeting room we are in is too small, so we move to a larger one next door. By 7:10 there are 5 or 6 Rotarians there (3 of the women are smoking at an open window, talking in French about how they shouldn't be smoking in front of guests). They eventually get the meeting started with 9 Rotarians there. I say a few words about my Club and they introduce themselves. The meeting tonight had one of their Club members giving a presentation on member recruitment. That was all well and good, what was really entertaining was the complete disinteret some of the members showed at being there. They were smoking non stop (which is just funny to even consider smoking indoor these days), talking amongst themselves and playing with their cellphones. Rotary Clubs are different every where, but this one was a new one for me!

Off to Bamako, Mali tomorrow to finally meet Kim's good friend Dicko!

Tout a l'heure! (My favorite French expression of the day).

gm

National Geographic

Quick post today...we went to a local market with our French friends today. Chaotic place. Our friends were looking for wooden bowls to use as sinks. Our guide knew a family that could make them.

We drove up to their compound and they began to discuss. This is where I experienced National Geogrphic first hand. There were many kids running around and a couple women doing chores. Next thing I know - whamo - boob just flopping around in the open. Sorry Jenkins, I didn't get a picture for you - felt a little awkward since they knew I wasn't with NG! But Kim was doing some scouting children to bring home for my mother!

gm

Oysters!

Another fabulous day on the Sine-Saloum Delta! Today, we joined a lovely French couple (who are currently on a work term in Morocco and vacationing here) for a trip through the mangroves on a "pirogue" (picture a large rudimentary fishing boat). Our guide was very knowledgeable and explained about what trees and fruits were used in traditional medicine, how the mangroves are now protected by environmental agencies and the process of teaching the locals about sustainability. Previously, the locals would cut down the mangrove trees not knowing that they were also killing them permanently. Unfortunately, the whole trip was in French and I fear that Grant may be growing tired of my enthusiastic and animated translating! He didn't appear as excited as I was about what came next... we learned that oysters cling to the roots of the mangrove trees!!! It didn't take long before our boat captain had grabbed several large roots covered in oysters and put them in the boat. In short order, we left the mangrove and came out into the mouth of the river which was enormous! Grant could have told me that we were in the ocean and I would have believed him (although I'm embarassingly gullible so that's not saying much!). We pulled over to the bank of the river and cooked these roots covered in oysters over an open fire, tossing the shells to the side much as you would peanut shells in a country bar except we were on the banks of the Saloum River!! I washed it all down with a cold beer. Now that is living!

A quiet afternoon relaxing and off to market tomorrow! We've met lots of incredible people travelling through here. There is a couple from Oregon who had come to visit their daughter. The daughter is in the Peace Corps and has been living in a small village in Mali for the past 16 months with about 8 more to go. Grant was so enthralled with the concept, it was a toss up if he was going to start the Peace Corps in Canada or just go and join in the U.S.! It does sound like a fabulous organisation and certainly one of the better ways that the Americans spend their money!

We also helped some young girls find the lodge while we were walking to the village. As it turns out they sat in front of us at the club in Dakar two nights previous! Its a small world!

As a quick aside, the lodge is beautiful but it did take us a day to get used to the lizards in our room. The walls don't meet the ceiling so we regularly see them perched at the top of the wall or climbing down the window. They are harmless and have now become a quaint addition to the decor!

Looking forward to what is probably my last few glasses of wine on the trip. You've gotta love the French (its a French couple who own this resort). One of the very first things the owner said to me at the bar on the first night was to point out a great bottle of white - because "who doesn't eat fish with white wine?". Sigh...I couldn't agree more!

Kim

Hammock Life

A view from our 2nd level hammock

Roughing It

The picture is from my perch in our hammock where I am writing from tonight. It was about 32C here today, although gets a bit chilly at night, down to about 15C. To clarify for those in Calgary, those temperatures are all on the + side!!

Last night we had a great dinner - definitley a "foodie" place for Kim's enjoyment! She even ordered a bottle of wine (C$12). They even stored the undrank portion for tonight - surprising that we even found out they did this with Kim at the table.

Breakfast included the best mini-bagauettes every - I am in white bread heavan!! We lounged around the pool this afternoon, waiting for our 4pm appointment with Mamadou Faye in the village.

Mamadou is the local volunteer with SEM in Palmarin. There are 8 projects in Palmarin that have received loans from SEM/Kiva. Mostly in agriculture and fishing. An example is that there is a goat market there now, so other villages come to Palmarin to buy goats versus heading to a bigger village. Farther away. On the fishing side, ladies who dry fish are able to buy more fish from the fishermen and then she sells them to people who transport them as far away as Mali and Ghana.

The loans make a difference for the villagers - allowing them to do more locally and keep more people employed.

Micro Finance really seems to work. We are fortunate to have been able to see it on the frontlines.

gm

random stuff from kim!

Now that I have the blackberry again, let's focus on some important observations! I wasn't really expecting Africa to be a "foodie" vacation but last night at Just4U the waiter suggested that I try Yassa which he said was a traditional Senegalese dish. He said something about chicken and onions and I figured "when in Rome"! Well, as it turned out it really was just grilled chicken and onions but these were beautiful caramelized onions in a rich broth with spices I couldn't identify - it was amazing and I'm on a bit of a mission to figure out how to make it! The only thing that could possibly have made it better was a spectacular bottle of wine - of which there was only a very limited selection so I opted for a mint Sprite instead. Besides, I can't imagine being tipsy in Dakar being a good thing, what with trying to remember French and not get ripped off by cab drivers! (Kelly - notwithstanding your excellent guidance, I still think we are paying too much for cabs...haven't paid less than 2500 CFA yet...oops!). Anyway, back to the wine situation, I have high hopes for potentially a glass or two here as there is some type of excursion (the investigation of which is about to get my full attention) where they take you out on a boat and retrieve fresh oysters and have an open fire picnic with a bottle of Muscadet! Now how good is that?!

This could be the most tranquil and remote place I've ever been and it will be spectacular to unwind completely before carrying on!

Now I'm off to take care of Grant - continue translating english for him! He just gets more and more dependent by the day!

Kim

Niassam Picture

I can only post one photo at a time from the Blackberry

Cote Petit

We left Dakar this morning for the Niassam resort. We thought it
would be a 4 hour drive over most "African" roads. The first 2.5
hours were on very good roads - paved
with very little pot holes. Then we came to a dirt road, which we
expected. Then the unexpected happened - the Dakar-Niassam Rally.

We went from dirt road to goat trail to barely having any trace of
previous journeys! This was a short cut, but there were times I am
sure that even our driver wasn't sure which way we should go. In
these circumstances one begins to wonder how much gas we have, should
a mid 80's Toyota Corolla really be off roading, if we break down are
we close enough we can walk? All valid questions and luckily none
needed to be answered. We arrived safe and sound at Niassam.

What a beautiful spot. A complete departure from the hustle of Dakar
to tranquility. Our room is a tree house in a boabab tree. The main
floor has our washroom and shower, second floor has the hammock and
breakfast table and the third floor has the bedroom.

Kim has been a great translator for me and it is amazing to me how she
can switch to English or French - snap- just like that. Today though
it became a bit clearer to how her mind works (or doesn't). We were
talking to Sebastian, who is French and we guess is the GM of the
hotel. He tells us something in English in his French accent. Kim
turns to me and tells me what he said. I didn't think his accent was
that bad! She really doesn't hear a difference between French and
English...amazing to me!

gm

Picture Perfect

Ok, here is my first attempt at posting pictures from my Blackberry.
There should be a picture of Kim enjoying a Diablo Menthe (Sprit and
mint)...and NO alchol if you can believe it!!

We just sat down for dinner at Just 4 U - where we think our friend
Doudou from SEM knows someone who works here (Jo) but nobaody here
seems to know him. But like our waiter says - everyone in Senegal has
many names and we may know him as Jo and he knows him as Mohammed!
C'est la vie!!

Many New Friends in Dakar

I finally got the blackberry away from Grant!  Now, let's get the important stuff out of the way.  In a welcome but anti-climactic turn of events, we now have our luggage!!!  I blame the Portuguese this time as it is apparently common local knowledge that they screw up baggage on every flight into Dakar.

We started our day with a taxi ride to see Ismael who works for the local microcredit organisation.  Our cab driver on the way was chatty (his name is Cheikh which is pronounced "Shek" which leads me to refer to him as Shrek) and in the course of our conversation in French, I negotiated for him to be our driver for the day.  You should have seen my determined haggling!  I got him down to 45,000 CFA from 50,000 - and then we ended up paying him 50,000 anyway cause he was a nice guy - I'm sure you're all shocked at my hard nosed business skills!

Our meeting with Ismael was amazing!  He and his colleague, Doudou, spent about an hour and a half discussing the program and some of the challenges and growing pains they face.  They spoke reasonable English but would revert to French often out of habit or ease, so I got a lot of translation practice (there is some degree of satisfaction at having Grant totally dependent on me). 

Believe it or not, when you sponsor someone on Kiva the money comes in specifically for that project and they will even take the sponsors picture from Kiva into the village to show the borrower.   These are people who really seem to love their jobs and are working to advance the Senegalese and preserve their traditions and culture.  We are set up with the local contact in Palmarin where they have several projects so more on that in a few days!

After leaving Ismael to find our trusty Shrek waiting patiently for us outside, we did a quick airport trip for the bag and then an hour drive out to Lac Rose which is literally a pink lake due to the minerals and also the site of an Amazing Race episode!  No trace of Amazing Race there now, but interesting to see them collecting massive amounts of salt from the water which is then exported or sold locally.

Since our friend Doudou (from microcredit) confirmed that it was safe to do so - we are heading out to a club tonight for dinner and some local music.  Doudous friend works there so its almost like home!

Dakar is starting to feel more comfortable however its still a very big city with a lot of dirt and chaos!  Off to shower the days layer of dirt off (literally) before going out!

I'll give the blackberry back to Grant for the next post - he's funnier and hopefully he can post some pics too!

Kim and Grant

Grant here - I will post more on Kiva as well - I am more confident in the ability of lending via Kiva to make a real difference.  SEM will be posting 2 new loans on Kiva in the next day or two, so we are hoping we'll have internet access to lend some money - good karma!!

Dakar During the Day

After a few hours of sleep, we got up around 11am.  Our hotel (Hotel Farid) has a Lebanese restaurant in it (actually across the street currently due to construction), we are too late for breakfast today, but just in time for lunch.  Great lunch - chicken skewers. 

Our only adventure for the day will be to Isle de Goree, the island where they shipped slaves off to Europe and the US.  It is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, we know the general direction. 

We get to the general area of the docks and ask a security guard where it is.  Actually Kim asks him in French where the boat is.  He looks at her and smirks - you mean where do you board the ferry? (in French)  Kim didn't know what the word for ferry was so she learned a new word and we where on our way!

Get to the ferry terminal and pay.  Then a nice local comes by to offer his services as a guide.  We have an hour to kill at the terminal and don't really want to listen to someone that whole time.  So we sit and wait.  It is about 30C here, so sitting out of the sun is a must. 

On the ferry ride, the same guy comes over to us, do you want a guide now?  No we say.  He says ok, but you'll end up getting one.

We get off the ferry after the short 20 minute ride to more offers to guide us.  We start to walk around and one of the guides finally convinces us.  He says he lives on the island and he can do this or live on the street - good point.  So he tours us around the island with us "tipping" him at the end.

We see several of the forts that were built on the island over the years by the various occupiers (Dutch, French and English).  We visit the Slave House which is where the slaves were housed before they were sent off (for Amazing Race fans, this was in one of the episodes). 

Then we head back to the mainland.  We head back to our hotel, coming across a young man who starts complimenting me on my shoes.  Then walking along with us, he compliments be on my nice pants.  Then there are a few more guys in close and my friend grabs at my pant leg.  And I mean grabbing the fabric in his hand like he is going to pull off my pants!  Kim and I both go to smack his hand away and the immediately cross the street.  Do a little reconciliation of the pocket contents - everything is there.  Got the heart racing though!  Don't know if this aggressive local was doing that to get a kick out of tourists or he was trying to pick our pockets - he was successful on the former and unsuccessful on the later!  He also didn't follow us or anything when we crossed the road.  Perhaps with our hyper sensitive awareness to potential pick pockets, we did the right thing and thwarted his attempt!

Back at the hotel we called the man from SEM (the micro banking organization) and set up a time to meet on Saturday.  We are very excited to chat with him about his views of Senegal and what works in aid and what doesn't.

For dinner we went to a Lonely Planet top recommended restaurant which was at the end of our block.  Tried some Senegalese specialties, Kim had rice with fish and vegetables and I had meat, vegetables and cous cous.  Both very good - all for C$20.

Then we attempted to contact the airport.  Finally got through and they said try tomorrow since there is only one flight per day, it wouldn't be in yet.  Hopefully tomorrow we can track it down!

The time change has my sleep screwed up, after 2 hours of sleeping it is now just after midnight and I am wide awake!  Good time to post!

gm

In To Africa

We have landed in Dakar.  We have passed through customs.  Now we wait for our one and only piece of checked baggage.  It is 2am local time.  We are reminded of our last adventure in Tanzania - where we waited for our luggage, two weeks later reunited with it.  And we wait.

By 3am the baggage handlers have unloaded the Air Portugal plane...and there is no bag for us.  So we make the all too familiar walk to the African baggage office.  Kim utilizes her French spectacularly!  We get a confirmation that the search is on...should be here tomorrow, probably "delayed" in transit - it will be okay.  Do we believe them?  What choice do we have!  Luckily we have learned from previous trips; we have most of the essentials - except large bottles of sun screen and toothpaste, but we can make do!

Next was the adventure of finding a taxi to take us to our hotel - now it is 3:30am.  As you walk out of the airport the mass of taxi drivers offer you "deals".  We know (we think) how much a ride should cost.  First driver says 20 euro - about 4 times what we think it should be.  So we walk away after a bit of negotiating.  Then another driver comes by - 5000CFA (about C$10) more like what we expected.  Deal done, we walk towards a cab and get handed off to the actual driver.  We hop in the back seat and hands start flying into the car - beggars.  Kim fends them off until the driver finally gets in and we drive off.

Imagine driving on a road with no street lights, no lines and lots of pot holes and other obstacles - oh and add to that the wind shield has a "grease" film on it distorting vision.  The taxi wouldn't/couldn't go over about 30 km/h - which might have been best.  When we started seeing signs for the centre of Dakar we were both relieved that we weren't going to run our of gas, get a flat tire or get pawned off on to another taxi - which we were both thinking.

Pull up to our hotel at 4am and there are 8 Italian guys checking in ahead of us (ladies, its Kim, and let me clarify that usually 8 young Italian men would be welcome but picture very loud and carrying more luggage than I would take to New York for a month).  By the time we get to our room it is about 4:30.  We are exhausted.  We were hoping to get a start to the day at a reasonable time, but decided to sleep in!!

Next - our first day in Dakar and the aggressive local intent on making his living off tourists...

Getting to Africa

We are just at the airport in Lisbon, Portugal ready to head off to Dakar.

We spent about 3 hours outside the airport in Lisbon and got asked if we wanted pot/coke/hash about 7 times.  Put a backpack on, step off the bus and bam...the offers start coming.  Kim and I must be naïve because neither of us can ever remember being offered those sorts of things before!

Our 24+ hours of traveling is nearing completion and we are excited to really start.  By the way, great article on Senegal in the November issue of Conde Nast Travel magazine - if you can read it online you will get a great sense of what we are going to be experiencing (hopefully!).

gm

The Airport

We are now checked in; we said goodbye to our one and only piece of checked luggage...now it is in fate's hands - or Air Canada baggage handlers.  I prefer fate over the baggage handler but there is only so much I can do...

We attempted the upgrade but no luck with our Aeroplan tickets, but we are kicking back in the Maple Leaf Lounge currently.

gm

One more sleep!

We are down to a couple days at work (which really aren't going to be productive!) and one sleep before we head off!!

We still don't know if we are going to make it into Libya. We received a reply from the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli - they confirm that Libya is expecting the Arabic translation to be "sealed". The Canadian Passport office toll free line says no problem to do that, just drop by an office. So I head over to the Passport Office in Calgary and grab a ticket and wait the required 1 hour. Talk to the Passport official and she takes the two passports to get them stamped. I am feeling pretty good. Things are falling into place. Then...she returns...two passports...unstamped.

She says they can't do that. I tell her my story about the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli and my phone conversation. She goes to get her manager. I tell her the story. And she looks at me like I am on crack. She can't read Arabic so she can't certify the translation. I agree. But the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli say it is ok!!! All she can do is request a clarification from the "policy" department which takes 48 hours. I don't have 48 hours. She can send an urgent request but no guarantees. Ok...do what you can.

So now it is time to think of alternative plans. So far we have these: go to the airline office for the airline we fly into Libya in Dakar - ask them. Go to the Canadian Embassy in Dakar, see if they will stamp it. Go to the Libyan Embassy in Dakar, see what they think. Repeat in Bamako and Accra. Other than that...we'll just have to wing it!!

Amazing Race - Ha!

Kim and I are both huge fans of the Amazing Race - who isn't really? Contestants on the Amazing Race just have to deal with getting to a place - not getting IN to a place. That is what Kim and I are up against.

Today I pick up our passports - looks good. Arabic stamp is in place, Passport Office embossing in place. Before I leave the Harry Hays Building - I call my Arabic translator Giovanni. (When I told Kim that Gionvanni was going to translate, she made sure I told him that we need a translation from English to Arabic...not to Italian - an appropriate question with a name like Giovanni!) When I first talked to Gionvanni he said he would be downtown on Friday and he could drop by to do the translation. How much better does it get. So I speak to Giovanni - he is almost downtown, he'll be by shortly.

Giovanni arrives at my office and proceeds with the translation. Turns out he was in the "foreign service" for many years in Italy, Vatican and several other places. Today he runs a interpreter and translation business in Calgary, as well as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Guinea. So if you ever need to go to Guinea...I can hook you up! My new friend Gionvanni departs and I am pumped - everything seems to be in place. I fire off an email to Kim and then to Mike in Libya letting everyone know we are good to go. At least that is what I thought.

Seconds later my phone rings - Mike from Libya. He wants to confirm what we have exactly in our passport. There have been all kinds of "issues" for those entering Libya. He thinks we need to have the Arabic translation "embossed" by the Passport Office. So I call the Libyan Embassy in Ottawa - leave a message. Call Passport Canada (found a better phone number too!) they haven't heard of any details on what is required. Email a copy of the translated pages to a contact at the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli - we'll see if they can add any information. So now we wait to see if there is any clarity on this issue.

People keep asking Kim and I - why West Africa. I had been responding about the French speaking aspect, blah blah blah. What it really is - we have been to all the "pedestrian" locations - we need adventure. All of the above is adventure - flying by the seat of our pants!! Kim's mom won't like that, but we'll have our helmets on Judy!!!

5 more sleeps...

Overcoming Obstacles

After a bit of scrambling to figure out exactly what we needed to do to get our passports up to snuff for the Libyans - we are on track. Although I must say that Passport Canada doesn't like answering their phone nor do they know a lot when they answer it.

After my phone conversation with Passport Canada they said the best thing to do was go to the Passport office and see what they can do - it normally takes 10 working days to get the stamp in the passport. Over night our friend in Libya said that if we couldn't get it done in Calgary, we could FedEx our passports to the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli. That was an option, but Kim and I really didn't want to send our passports that far this close to our departure.

So first thing this morning we trotted over to the Passport office. It had been open for 20 minutes and we were 98th in line. The Commissionaire at the door was confident that we could get it done in our timeline, but that I must sit down and turn off my cellphone. And don't ask anymore questions. There is a bureaucracy here and they will process me when they get to it!

We talk to a Passport officer, she says normally takes 10 working days for $12, but we can get it done express for $30 more. Great. She goes to work processing mine and says we'll have it back on Tuesday - the day before we leave. I am thinking that is fine. Then Kim asks about what information is translated - good question. It is just items like "name" and "date of birth" that are translated...not the actual information. So if we get it back on Tuesday, that won't leave us enough time to get our names, etc. written out in Arabic. Now we are getting our passports back on Friday.

Currently we are locating an appropriate translator that can do it by Tuesday...so it looks like our visiting Libya is still alive!!

gm

2005 - South African Air labour strike...this year...

What we have learned in our years of traveling to different places - always expect the unexpected.
You may remember on our last trip to Africa, we found out about a week before our departure that South African Airways was shut down with a strike. We survived that - without luggage for 2 weeks - so we can survive most things that get thrown at us.
This morning we learned from our Libyan friends that the Libyan government changed their entrance requirements and didn't tell anyone. They now require everyone entering or exiting Libya have an Arabic translation of their passport. There were several tourists that arrived and had to turn around and go back. Some tourists who were already in Libya couldn't leave because they didn't have the translation - doesn't always make sense!!
Check out this story in the International Herald Tribune - it is kinda funny - mostly because we aren't there suffering through it!!
Now we are attempting to get our passports translated and waiting for the next curve ball!