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