Photos on river and streets of Timbuktu

Large rock salt from desert.

Here I am on street in Timbuktu

This is view of inside boat next to us.

Photo of our boat on the river.

Timbuktu - we're here!

We got on the Pinasse at 2. In the meantime, we had met Omar, or rather Omar had met us and became our BFF. He was a tourist guide, but he was returning to his home in TBK and we decided we MAY need him on the boat for 3 days with no English or
Spanish speaking people.

Our BEST decision! Omar was a help from the get go. When we boarded, he helped us stake out our area. We did this with our mats. We rolled them out, got on them, and claimed that territory. Our place was on top of bales of cotton, so it was very comfortable. We could not stand up straight in our "room", but it didn't matter, there was no place to go.

If you are wondering - yes, there was a "bathroom". BUT to get to it took about 8 to 10 minutes,
and involved climbing outside the boat and walking on the gunwales for a section, then coming back in and swinging fro, bamboo rafters to another section; then you would come to the engine room, and this is where I stopped. I returned to my backpack and took another Imodium!

One time Dan went all the way to the toilet, and he said swinging down into the engine compartment with flywheels and shafts moving and cables jumping around was pretty scary. So scary that his trip to the toilet was in vain!!! very sad.

For lesser activities, we just waited until dark, and took advantage of being on the edge of the boat. But even that was a grueling experience.

All the meals were good, all the same. white rice and some brown gravy on it. And one or two small pieces of meat. Omar ate with us. There were no forks or spoons. We ate in our section, our place, our stateroom, sitting on our mats. --- Omar ate with his fingers, Dan and I used our spoons. Omar cut the meat for us. Having first old us he had just washed his hands (that's in the river with no soap) , he picked up the piece of meat with his right hand and squeezed it into three pieces, then he did the other piece the same. He had to squeeze it because it is not allowed to use your left hand with food. --- praying and eating - we enjoyed our dinner; and the other two meals of the same thing. I had store bought cookies for breakfast, and hot coffee. although the dinners were included in our ticket price, hot water was not. I had to pay for that. But not much, and it was surely worth the 50 cents I paid for hot water. We did get a lot of mint tea free however .

Sleeping was really great. There was a nice breeze and a little boat motion, and we must have slept half the time. The rest of our time was watching the river banks and villages, and the people on a trip.

We arrived TBK early. At midnite. We stayed at Omar's home, on the roof. It was very comfortable, and this morning we had coffee and tea, home cooked fresh bread, we brushed our teeth - halleluya - took a bucket bath - another halleluya! and then began out tour of La city.

Our plans are to ride a camel out into desert and spend the nite in the sand dunes, and return to TBK tomorrow afternoon, and get a hotel room. That's the plan anyway.

Pictures are taking so long I may not get any up. if not I'll try another place late.
So - later - from Timbuktu
Johnny

Setting off for Timbuktu

Well, Dan got in. I was really glad to see him walk thru the arrival gate.

The arrival gate here is outside, just into the parking lot, not well lit , and very crowded. No information on flights status or anything.

After a short nite's rest , we got the bus to Mopti at 7 o'clock and settled in for a ten hour ride.

It was the best ride I have had here. No flats, good roast goat lunch, and for the clincher, after lunch, after 5 hours of travel, the driver turned on the AC, and it worked!!! It was a really pleasant journey! - good things happen - even in Africa!

In Mopti at the hotel we had a fun reunion with several fellow travelers I have met along the way, and everyone swapped information about cost and what was good and what was bad. Then a good night's sleep on the roof of the hotel, the temperature this morning at 7 was 72 degrees.

Today at about 2 pm, our Pinasse,(see photo), will depart. We will sleep on the deck under the shelter for two nites. Meals are included. We have to take our own water. We should arrive in Timbuktu sometime Friday.

The photos are of pinaase, and one is of front of boat, that's where the toilet is. We did not even check it out yesterday in fear we would not get back on boat!

So we will be out of touch for the next three days, and if there is internet in Timbuktu, I will write from there. Even here, the only Internet is satellite, so I am hoping they have a satellite in Timbuktu.

type y'all later - gotta go buy cookies, apples, and water.

Johnny

Monday in Bamako

I tried to put some pictures up today from my bus trip and shots around Bamako, but at this internet place, my photos will not even open. As they say here - this is Africa. -
Yesterday I started my journey by leaving the hotel at 5:15 and walking in the dark twenty minutes to the bus station. My theory was, that at that time of day - the bad guys are all asleep, I never really felt threatened during the daylight hours, however, and everyone is very friendly.
So I get to the bus station and find out the bus leaves at 7 not 6. - This is Africa. - after an hour they started putting luggage in storage under bus and on top of bus. I got in line, only to find out that I had not gone to the ticket window when it opened and gotten a number on my ticket. I had bought my ticket the afternoon before. So back to the line at the ticket window, then the line to put my backpack in the luggage storage. These buses have no on board storage, not much under seat room, and in general not much extra space in the bus.
---However, when I gave the man my ticket with a number now on it - he signed languaged me, that he was not taking my bag and to go somewhere on the other side of the bus. Over there nothing. So when time to load up, I just carried my pack with me, and put it in aisle. My bag was only one of many such obstacles in the aisle, from ice chest, to plastic sacks of all kinds of food, to boxes and suitcases.
We left pretty much on our new time - 7:15 - so I thought maybe this would be a smooth ride.
-this is Africa - About 2 hours out we had a flat tire. My third so far in two weeks. 45 minutes later we are on the road again. We stop for lunch early, at 11:30. I got out and found a merchant selling roast goat. For a thousand CFA's, little over two dollars, you get a chopped up piece of goat ribs on an old piece of kraft paper. It was HOT and hard to handle much less eat. It was right off the fire. -the best way!- Well I found some shade to stand in and enjoyed a very tasty piece of goat. - Then the bus was blowing its horn and pulling out. Passengers were running from all over - jumping on the bus with goat meat flying everywhere. Apparently the bus driver did not like lunch and left in 10 minutes instead of the usual 30 to 45 minutes.
Then 30 minutes later he stops again at a pleasant little lunch spot - dirty, crowded, and hot - but the driver only stayed here 5 minutes. The man next to me got left. I yelled out, and others started yelling at the driver, and he stopped and we waited til my seat mate showed up.
-- So then we ride maybe an hour or so, and the driver stops the bus, leaves the motor running, so no one gets off, for a few minutes. I look over into the crowd and there the driver is eating lunch! I get off, then many get off, but we all stay close to the bus! Finally the driver gets what he wants, we all load up, then an argument starts up outside, the driver gets out and watches, I get out and watch, and after about ten minutes , we reboard the bus and head off into the setting West African sun; - this is Africa -
When the bus is not moving, it is very hot, sweat just rolls down your back and face - it's not nice - but it is Africa - .
This was to be a ten hour ride - it was a 12 hour ride. I arrived at the Catholic Mission house, and got a bunk in a dorm room with four other Malians - one man, one young woman, one child and an older man.
I got a bit to eat across the street, it took an hour and a half for a plate of spaghetti, but I enjoyed the company of some Australians traveling in Mali and also staying at the Mission. After dinner I took a cold shower, washed my shirt and underwear, put my mosquito net up, put sheet on bed, put my T shirt on the pillow for a pillow case, and then enjoyed a nice warm and peaceful sleep.
Thank you Lord for little things!
Monday morning, I went with the Australians for a walk around Bamako. It's the same all over. EXCEPT, we went to a beautiful hotel. room rates began at over 200 dollars for a single. We asked to see the room, and they were the nicest thing I have seen so far in this country, by far.
Breakfast was over twenty US dollars. I think I could stay there one day, or 15 days or so where I am. But it sure was pretty.
Dan comes in tonight. He will get in late, then arise early and settle in for a ten to twelve hour bus ride, then we arrive in Mopti and will sleep on the roof. Then things will slow down to a snail's pace as we head to Timbuktou. Hope to get one blog off before we get on the pinasse - the native boat - on the Niger river.
all for now - Johnny
THIS IS AFRICA!

Hopefully pictures

Here are four pictures.

It takes almost two minutes to upload photo and if you try two at a time it takes longer and the photos don t show up!

first - is my sleeping pad on the terrace of a very nice hotel.

Next -the local bread store. Bread stays hot cause it is in the sun.

Third shot is me at the share taxi stand with a few of my good buddies.

last picture is - how to dry clothes without them flying off the line. You just start laying everything on the sand!

Saturday around town

Here is photo of my waffle house type place here. He cooks a good fried egg sandwich, which is a treat from mayo sandwiches.

Yesterday I was going to travel by shared taxi down to an island village of Djenne and from there on back to Bamako where I will meet Dan Milam.

I went to the Taxi stand early, I thought. I got there at 7:15 and bought my ticket. Now... shared taxis wait until they are full before they leave, and this taxi was a large one that would carry 9 maybe 10 of us, but here in Africa - it carries 18 passengers plus the driver.

The ticket seller told me we should depart by nine o'clock. I thought ooou - that's a long wait. However, after enduring a wind/dust storm followed by a heavy rain, and it being two o'clock in the afternoon, seven hours of waiting, I decided I had just as soon stay where I was!

It would be dark when and if we arrived in Djenne, and I did not want to do that.

Travel to Mopti

Monday afternoon I started feeling a little queasy in my stomach and ended up with a very upset stomach for the rest of the day. By evening I was feeling better and decided with the help of Imodium, I could travel on Tuesday.

Tuesday I felt great, and left hotel in a taxi to bus terminal. I bought a ticket to Mopti, 10 hours away and the bus left on time, no surprises. It was a closed window bus, it used to have AC, but on this trip the driver kept the front and side door open the entire trip, and it was a very pleasant, though long trip.

The countryside to Mopti was as flat as I have ever seen, and the houses were all brown mud, and most everything else was the same color except for the trees. There were plenty of scrub oak size trees, but they were very pretty. There was a lot of desolate land in between villages. This country is not over populated.

In Mopti I am staying in a hotel that its name in English is - not a problem. It is a large hotel, and it has roof top sleeping! So I am staying on the roof top. I have a thin mattress, pillow, and mosquito net. Bathrooms are one floor down. It is great - cool and breezy. This morning it was 75 degrees.

Today I will look for information about traveling up river from here to Timbuktu. Then I will travel around this area to see the sites.

I am not having any luck with computers and photographs. This computer looks like a 1998 model, the keys stick, the mouse jumps around, and it is a French keyboard. I can change the keyboard to English, but then I can not remember where all the letters are! At least with a French keyboard I can find the letters!

hope to get pictures next time;
Johnny

The Bus trip

I bought a ticket for an 18-hour bus trip from Dakar to Bamako, Mali on an air conditioned bus.
How naive can I be! The bus looked like an AC bus with large no-open windows, and when the trip started there was a nice flow of cool air moving through the bus. VERY nice, I thought, until I heard the front and middle doors close! In a few moments I knew .... there was no AC, and it was going to be a long night.

I never dreamed, however, that it would be a long two nights .... that it was the beginning of a 38- hour trip. First, we had a flat tire - nothing major, but we stopped often to tighten up fan belts, or add fluids, or for the driver to visit his friends; and a myriad of other things that I could only guess at.

Then the border crossing into Mali. At first it seemed it would be easy, because there was almost no traffic on the highway; therefore, no crowds at the immigration passport office. And that was true. It was easy. It was laid back. It was unbelievably SLOW. It took us hours to go thru Senegal departure and Mali entry. I began to wonder how we could possibly get to Bamako in just one more hour - making it a trip of 18 hours.

Then it became dark, we were on the highway, and the bus started dying! After a while we puttered into a town and to a bus station. Now, that is not a bus station in the US, that's an African bus station.

I found out as everyone was getting off that we were changing buses, getting on another bus in good running condition to complete our trip.

Well, three hours later, after clouds of dust followed by rain, then rain and dust together, the new bus arrives just as the rain is getting harder. Everyone is crowded up around the door trying to get on, but the bus company is calling the roster, and only lets you on when your name is called.
I was able to get to my piece of plastic sheeting and cover up a little, as I knew I was near the end of the list.

Finally - everyone aboard, all windows UP because it is raining and the inside temperature rising rapidly, the driver cuts off the engine, and leaves the bus. I check my handy thermometer and it really gets no hotter than 88 degrees. I was surprised, I thought it would have been 110 degrees. But we sit. Then later we start up, travel 15 minutes, and this time we pull over for the night!

When I had asked fellow travelers about when we would arrive in Bamako, they always said tomorrow, now I knew why. This is not an 18-hour trip at its best. This is always a 30 hour minimum trip with two nights spent sleeping/not sleeping in your seat.

When we did stop, there were often little stalls with food, but it all looked ugly and appetizing to me. Generally, I find the food in these places to be good but not on this trip. I was beginning to get a little hungry but could not find anything that I thought I COULD eat, until I saw a man at one stall slice a baguette and put mayo on it. I thought , okay, this could be good. Then he folded it up and gave it to a fellow traveler .... a mayonnaise sandwich! So I ordered one and found it to be rather good when put in its proper place. I also ate a packet of salted biscuits (Ritz style crackers) and drank a lot of water.

We arrived in Bamako about 3:30 in the afternoon on Saturday. I had slept in a bed in Atlanta on Tuesday night and not again until Saturday night in Bamako. QUITE A TRIP!

I like to travel, so I got a lot of that in a hurry.
I am staying at a Catholic Mission house in a room that has 5 bunks. The price is the lowest in town, and it is safe and secure. Today my dorm mates are from Spain and Japan.

Much more to tell later? come on back, I`ll be around.
Johnny

Bus station

Johnny just called from the bus station. Indeed his new best friend, Aziz, was telling the truth and there IS a bus to Mali. He sees it, and it might actually have AC!! AND.....he didn't get robbed tho Aziz was upset Johnny didn't pay him $200 for his services!! Johnny says that he'll be out of touch for at least 24 hours. We didn't have a very 'clear' conversation so I'm hoping that's all he told me to say.

Made it Dakar - Oct 15, 2009

Well, you know how air flights are almost always late. Well, that could be because you want to arrive on time or early. I wanted to arrive in Dakar late, so it would be closer to daylight. What happened ....... we took off from Atlanta exactly on time, had a 100-mile an hour tailwind
all the way across the Atlantic, and arrived over an hour early. At 4:15 a.m. ....

(This is French keyboard; with the A and W and M in the wrong place, plus the skip space key sticks. Bear with me!)

The Dakar airport is a dump- exactly like Hollywood would portrait it, but they would not really do it justice.

It turns out I have as many good friends here (or more) than I had in India. I selected one friend, or rather he was just the slickest of my friends, and he sat with me in the restaurant/cafe until 7:30. A taxi to town cost about $15.00 , and the bus cost 50 cents. Aziz, my new friend and I took the bus. About 35 minutes to city central. Well -- 1 hour and 15 minutes later -and about a thousand passengers later, we got to downtown.

I got the least expensive room I could find - about $30.00 - Hotel Providence - no AC, no hot water - but that is really not important now - here. Actually - compared to my $5 and 6 dollar rooms in India - this place is -UGLY!

I plan to leave in the morning. Aziz said he would reserve me a seat on an AC bus to Mali, and then he will come to my hotel at 4 in the morning. We will get a taxi to the place near the stadium, and I will buy my ticket, get in my reserved seat, and head for Mali.

After he left me so I could get some rest- in my fine hotel, I realized- he may be taking me out to rob me in the morning. So I went out and talked with two travel agencies, and neither knew anything about a bus toMali. One agent said she spoke English, I asked her about bus to MALI? She said, 'yes', then wrote out the prices for me, one way and round trip. It was over $800.00.
I don't think she speaks the English too good! That is airline prices, but she kept a nice smile.

So I took a taxi to the BUS "station" .... if you have never been to one of these places in the 3rd world, you are really missing a site! They are unbelievably confusing, and crazy, but they work. I found the buses that go to the frontier - MALI - and they are classic African buses-old- funky - hot - and very interesting.So back in center of town, I had decided I would not go with Aziz in morning, because there is NO BUS to Mali, much less to Bamakoko, Mali!

Then I saw a tourist office, and it was open, and a policeman, who I think was visiting his girlfriend , spoke English. GLORY! Anyhow - they both knew of a bus to MALI! AND THEIR DESCRIPTION WAS THE SAME AS MY GOOD FRIEND Aziz.

So, now with greater confidence, I will enjoy what I can of this actual dismal city, and make plans to meet Aziz at 4:00 in the morning, but still praying that it is not a planned robbery!
So with this sticky French keyboard - I sign off from pure exhaustion.

Today's the day!

Well, the calendar finally got to October 14, 2010, the start date for my travels to Timbuktu!

Anna and I stayed in Atlanta last night at my sister's home, Sara and Rene Cote.

This morning Anna will take me to the Marta station near Sara's house and I'll ride it to the airport. With the new security measures in place at airports these days, the old "see ya off at the gate" days are long gone, and there's nothing romantic about saying goodbye in the security line at the Atlanta airport.
So goodbyes will be said at the MARTA station! Now, that's cool!
My flight leaves at 12:49, and I need to be there an hour early, 11:49 and then I add an hour to that to achieve a"no rushed" feeling, so I plan to leave about 10:30 for the airport. MARTA takes about an hour from up here in north Atlanta.

I fly first to Washington D.C., and have about a two-hour layover, leaving Washington on South African Airways at 5:40 p.m. direct to Dakar, Senegal on the west coast of Africa.

I arrive in Dakar at 5:30 a.m. Dakar is 4 hours ahead of us here in Georgia, so, therefore, it is
only an eight-hour flight to Senegal. The South African flight continues on to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Right now its 84 and feels like 91 degrees in Dakar at 11 in the morning, with a high of only 87. The low was 78.

The currency in Senegal and Mali is the West African CFA franc. It is valued on the Euro, which is very strong against the dollar now, so my exchange rate should be about 441 CFA's per US dollar. I hope they have large denominations in bills.

Okay - so I will be out of touch till I get my feet on Senegal soil, and my body has recovered from a LONG day of airports and squnched up seats.

Gonna be fun!
Johnny

One week before departure

Well, things are finally starting to click. Time to leave is getting close. All those things I have put off doing - all of a sudden seem to be urgent now to get them done.

Am waiting for my passport that I sent to the Mali Embassy in Washington for a VISA. Mali requires that you have your visa prior to arrival there. Most countries just issue visas at the
point of Entry.

I think I have packed properly. I have been packing for about a month, and now have my
pack down to 15 pounds plus my day bag, which is kinda of like a "purse", but contains my camera, guide book, hand soap, flashlight, and a few other items that I may need while riding a bus or a shared taxi (more about these later, but basically a long distance mode of transportation, a car with 7 passengers and a driver.)

I also have my hammock with mosquito net, plus a bed sheet sewn up like a sleeping bag. This is for the boat trip - possibly 3 days each way - where we sleep on the deck or in hammocks on the boat, or possibly even ashore. The travel conditions and schedule of each boat seem to be rather vague. The mosquito net can also be used if our hotel does not have screens on the windows. I have a thin silk sleeping bag/sheet to use in hotels of dubious health standards.

Another thing I feel is most necessary is my little "coffee kit". The kit consist of a coffee mug, a jar of Folgers instant coffee that fits into the coffee mug for travel, and an electric hot water heater thing ah'ma'dodgie that goes into the mug of water and heats it up. I have one for 220 volts and one for 110 volts, and four different kinds of electric plugs. Coffee first thing in the morning makes the day better -- ALL DAY! Plus, many places in the world - most places - do not even offer coffee until after 8:00 A.M.

I am making a change in my clothing. On other trips I have always carried a long sleeve shirt, a pair of trousers, 1 pair of underwear, one or two T-shirts, and a pair of quick dry short pants. I have cut that load down. I will not carry the long sleeve shirt nor the short pants. My thinking on this is that the only reason I ever wear the extra shirt is because I have it! And now with a pair of zip-on, zip-off long/short pants, I no longer need the short pants. And two T-shirts were just too many. I like to sleep in a T- shirt.

The only thing worse than carrying too many clothes is having to carry DIRTY clothes in your pack. Therefore at night I wash my shirt and underwear, and sometimes my pants. In the morning, if they are wet, I just put them on anyway and they dry quickly, but most of the time my "quick dry" shirt, underwear, and pants are dry and ready for a new day. I carry two coat hangers, string for a clothes line, two clothes pins, a rubber drain stopper for a sink, and a small bag of soap powder.

Over the next few days I need to get my travel monies all lined up (all the currency I take must be new or nearly new, no markings, not too wrinkled, and no tears. I need to get all the pertinent numbers in my life recorded where they can be found, and thats about it.

I will begin taking malaria medicine today - and will take one pill a week while in Africa, and then continue that for four weeks after returning from Africa.

So - I think I am ready to go - now to enjoy the days before departure.