We decided to hitchhike on Wednesday afternoon (more like night, but the sun was still shining in the West African sky) and get as far as we possibly could before it was too dark and too "unsafe" to continue. I were lucky enough since we made it to Kourouninkoto by the time it was dark. It wasn't a terribly large city but we heard of buses that would go across the Malian border to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, early in the morning, before sunrise. We decided to stay up and wait for the bus that way after contemplating what other options we had. After buying tickets, we ended up just napping in on-off intervals right at the bus station. The buses finally came and we were well on our way to Senegal by 5a.m.
By Thursday, we'd made it to Senegal by both our thumbs and by bus... except our bus driver got us lost in Kayar instead of heading to Dakar. There wasn't too much to see, actually... but it was a pleasant little city by the sea.
I had more pressing matters at hand since I was getting more and more desperate to start heading toward Timbuktu. After a night in Kayar and much debate, I was finally able to convince Paul C. that I would be perfectly fine hitchhiking back to Mali alone. So our ways parted then. Paul was headed to Dakar and I was headed back to Mali. It was weird to say farewell to a coworker in a country outside of the one you worked in together.
Friday evening, I had managed to hitchhike back towards Mali, though with minimal progress, having found myself stuck in Kaolack. The sun was ready to set and so, I decided to stay in Kaolack for the night after the driver with whom I'd hitchhiked with offered me a place to crash for the night. I met his lovely wife and children and was able to have a good night sleep...
only after children of the village came to ogle my freakishness with white-powdered faces.
But I managed to sleep, although fear of bugs and constant pestering from the kids helped me stay awake for a good few hours. I was sent back to Bamako on a delivery truck, the driver of the truck being the friend of my lovely hosts in Kaolack.Saturday, I was back in Bamako... right where I started merely 2.5 days ago. I stopped by the apartment for 20 minutes: to have a 10-minute shower and to grab some of the ugliest clothes I had. I was prepared for the worst. I knew that I would probably not have access to a shower anytime soon and I decided I might just completely ruin some of the clothes on the way there... so I grabbed any of the pink or purple clothes I'd received as presents from my aunts before heading out again. I didn't want to lose any time and was determined to see Timbuktu, even if it was going to be the last thing I was going to do. So, brandishing my trusty thumb, I was on my way again.
I felt like the luckiest person in the world on Saturday. I was picked up by a driver of a delivery truck (those trucks are the most reliable, though the word "reliable" is relative since the roads in Mali are horrendous and cars always break down) who was headed over to the Dogon Country area for a delivery he had to make by Sunday morning. I knew that would mean an overnight trip. I'd only hitchhiked with someone past midnight on an overnight trip in the UK, with a Polish student from Holyhead to London and even then, I only did that because I was desperate. Knowing my friends would probably kill me if I ever did it again, I did take a second to reconsider... but I considered my situation and goal of reaching Timbuktu just as desperate so I accepted the ride.
It was perfectly fine as you can see, I'm here posting this entry. We made it to Dogon Country by Sunday morning, as the driver had promised. I was glad to be there =) I met some amazing locals and even some equally amazing tourists who gave me food, tea, and even showed me around, all free of charge! Although I would have loved to stay longer, I had to start heading north. I asked the locals what the best way to get to Timbuktu quickly was... they said I should go by boat on the Niger River!!! I asked if it was possible to go by land but they said the roads would disappear under the sand the further north I went and so, the river was more reliable than the roads. I took their advice and was able to hitch a ride to the Niger river where boats loaded and unloaded merchandise. I was back in Mopti!
In Mopti, I met a tour guide who told me I would have to pay to get on one of the boats headed to Timbuktu and that he could arrange a guide for me once in Timbuktu, to camp out in a tent in the desert if I wanted and I could get a chance to ride a camel in the desert! I decided to go ahead and buy the tour package since I didn't know a better way of getting to and spending time in Timbuktu. After paying a rather hefty amount of money (think about $300), I was given tickets and a phone number for the guide in Timbuktu. He got me on one of the boats that was headed to Timbuktu that day, which happened to be a cargo boat that was delivering some dried nuts. He said the ticket price included food so I thought I would be set for the long ride there and back.
The boat ride wasn't the most comfortable of all experiences. I was told I would have to sleep a night on the boat since it was at least a 12-hour trip to Timbuktu. Sleeping quarters were shown... but they really were nothing. I would just sleep on top of a bag that was full of the dried nuts. The driver (is this even the right word?) of the boat said he could give me a blanket. Also, another weird thing was bathroom... arrangements. There was no bathroom on the boat. It was a cargo boat that looked like this:
So going to the "bathroom" was just peeing in a can at the very end of the boat... with nothing to really hide behind. I was not happy about this arrangement since I was the only woman on the boat and every time I even headed slightly towards the "bathroom" everyone would turn to stare at me. I was incredibly glad to have gone before getting on the boat and having no water with me, I didn't have to go. Dinner time rolled around and I did get hungry. There was someone cooking some rice on the boat and people were paying a small fee to get dinner. I decided to get some myself since on my ticket, it said meals were included. When I showed him my ticket, he refused to give me anything so I went to the front of the boat to ask the person steering the boat about the meal situation. He went back with me to talk to the cook and after some exchange of Bambara that I didn't understand, I received a small bowl of rice drizzled with some oil and topped with some nuts. It wasn't the most delicious thing in the world but at least it half-filled my empty stomach.
At night, I didn't get much sleep at all. It was too cold to sleep. The temperature plummeted from about a comfortable 90°F (33°C) to a chilly 60°F (16°C). The thin blanket I received wasn't enough, not to mention the fact that I was sleeping on a sack of dried nuts. Sleep was minimal, I kept waking up in intervals of what seemed like 30 minutes or an hour. Eventually, the sun started rising and I decided to stay awake. The Niger River was incredibly slow... it seemed not to have a care in the world and I was able to adjust to this slower rhythm of life on the slow-moving boat. There wasn't much to do on the boat except read, which is precisely what I did during most of the journey. Other than that, I took a few pictures with my cellphone and was deprived of breakfast since apparently, my ticket actually covers only one meal per day. I was so thirsty but I knew better than to drink the Niger water, so I decided to wait until I got to Timbuktu.
I think the boat ride was definitely more than 12 hours. Closer to 16 or 18 hours, I'd say. I got off in Timbuktu on Monday and the first thing I did was find a more private "bathroom." I then called the number that was given to me by the guide I'd met in Mopti. The person responding on the other line was apparently a tour guide named Alibaba.. not even kidding, he was very serious about his name. He met me where the boat had just docked and said we would be camping out in the Sahara with a tourist from France, so there would be three of us in total. I said that was fine as long as I had my own tent, which he assured me I would get along with blankets and at least a meal per day. While in the touristy region of Timbuktu, I found and stocked up on some bottled water. I met the French tourist that Alibaba had told me about and afterwards, he gave us some blankets, got us our camels, and loaded up the tents, we were off.
Timbuktu was nearly impossible to get to. I can understand why. It is the middle of nowhere. It's a "city" in a desert! There are some ancient buildings in Timbuktu but besides that, there is little to see. Of course, there were occasional random huts in the middle of the desert where packs of families lived, which amazed me. I also found it funny how even though it's a sparsely populated, desert of a city in the middle of nowhere, it has an airport! Apparently tourists fly in to see Timbuktu for a few hours, then fly back to wherever they came from (usually Morocco), just to say that they were there. Kind of pointless if you ask me! Getting to Timbuktu was an incredible adventure in its own right!
While we headed out in the Sahara on camels I felt a profound feeling of absolute satisfaction. It was a near-perfect feeling of happiness. I was finally in Timbuktu. I was riding a freaking camel.
As the sun set and the stars started to scatter the velvety blue sky... it was incredible...
Oh, and I couldn't help but think of the Christmas song, "We Three Kings"! Why? There were three of us, it was almost Christmas, and with the setting sun, it cast long shadows of three people on camels traveling across the desert sand... and the lyrics of the song (for those who are unfamiliar with it) go like this: "We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts, we traverse afar." I wasn't bearing any gifts, but this was most certainly "traversing" afar for me!
We spent three days camping out in the desert in Timbuktu.
One bad think about camping outside in the Sahara desert... the scary desert beetles!!! These buggers were everywhere in the morning, scurrying around and making me want to disappear into thin air.
Traveling by camel by day, sleeping in tents by night, passing random plots of houses along the way, I spent Christmas morning in Timbuktu... then I panicked. Christmas morning... that meant I had to get back to Bamako in less than 2 days!!! I was scheduled to leave that morning and Alibaba told me not to worry about the boat as it was on time. I got on the boat and after another grueling more-than-half-a-day trip to Mopti, I felt doomed since it was too dark to hitchhike. Then I got a call from Alibaba saying my ticket actually included a ride back to Bamako and there should be a car that would pick me up in Mopti that night if I wanted to get back earlier. Though relieved, I wasn't exactly sure what kind of car to look for, so I just waited. It ended up being a 4X4 that stopped, looking for people headed back to Bamako from Timbuktu. I wasn't the only person getting on since there seemed to be a handful of people headed back to Mali's capital that night. We had some malfunctions here and there and I was finally in Bamako at midnight of the 27th. First thing, after calling a taxi, was take a shower since I'd gone a full week without a shower!!! Gross! So it was desperately needed. It was as if all the stress was relieved. I called a taxi and I got to the airport at around 1:30a.m. After making me pay a "departure tax," which I thought was ridiculous though I paid it grudgingly, I was on the plane to Casablanca Morocco.At the Morocco airport, I don't know why, but someone propositioned me for sex. I wasn't sure if he was serious or even how to react correctly, in fact, I wasn't even sure what exactly he was asking at first because he asked me, "Ça coûte combien ?" [How much (is it)]?" My answer was, "Je ne vends rien" (I'm not selling anything). Then I slowly realized what he was asking... so I gave him the one-fingered salute and walked away. I guess Morocco is a little different from Mali... I wasn't even wearing anything close to provocative or inappropriate, just a t-shirt and capris. Don't see how that labels me as a prostitute but I was offended! Wouldn't you be???
ANYWAY, I flew back to New York and got back to JFK by around 3p.m. and by the time I was back home, it was nearly 4p.m. What a shock it was!!! Being back in New York was weird. Everything was familiar, of course, but it was strangely familiar. Also, it was FREEZING! I guess I got too used to the warm, sunny weather of Mali that even slighly above freezing temperatures are torturous now. Once back in the apartment, I took another shower. Oh, and the apartment was a royal MESS. I'd subleased the apartment to a student at NYU for the semester. I came back to find boxes of frozen pizza litered across the floor, wrappers from food stores on tables, napkins on the sofa, dirty dishes in the sink... I was close to freaking out. So, after my shower, I spent a good 5 hours cleaning the apartment.
Victor, my roommate went back to Spain for the holidays so now I'm alone in the 2-bedroom, now perfectly clean, apartment. I'm so tired. I'm also probably jet-lagged. I'll probably sleep soon, though. I just wanted to post this before going to bed.
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