Other than that, this week, I've been doing more field work in villages near Bamako. Since I'm an intern, I've been sent everywhere to act as an assistant, translator, "cultural" adviser... whatever they wanted me to be, I had to be. In a nutshell, I did everything from weighing babies to helping in distribution of medication and vaccinations, from helping improve water irrigation to learning Malian culture and relaying information in an insane mix of French, English, and Bambara... it was a pretty intense week, I'll admit and the weeks are only going to intensify even more, not less. My doctor would be unhappy that I might be risking "overextending" myself so I actually didn't tell him I've been working so much and I was only getting 5 hours of sleep a day. So that was what happened this past week, in summary.
On Thursday it was Mischief Night, but no one at work gave a rat's ass that it was Halloween on Friday, much less know what Mischief Night (the night before Halloween) was. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I freaking love Christmas and I guess if you count my birthday as a holiday =) I freaking love my birthday, too. Then comes Halloween, so yeah, Halloween is a big deal for me!!! Luckily, my roommates are all anglophones who are familiar with Halloween, especially the Canadian. It was actually quite interesting to see that the childhoods of non-Americans are so deprived!!! I mean, on Mischief Night, I'd go out with the boys (because I was a tomboy as a child I always had a bit of a power struggle with Ty as to who was the leader of our bande de jeunes) to egg and toilet paper houses, throw water balloons perhaps, and just run around on mischief night and sneak back into the house hopefully without waking up my parents. Ah... those were the days... On Halloween, we'd dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating, which was always a successful endeavor since we'd end up having a mountain of free chocolate and candies that would last us until Christmas if we rationed our treats wisely. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison... yeah, those were the best years for Halloween. I mean, UW-Madison is famous for their Halloween weekends!!! Look up "Halloween" in Wikipedia, you'll see Madison, Wisconsin mentioned in it! We drank, we partied, we walked the streets and some rioted... I even got tear gassed once, though I was an innocent bystander... I hadn't done anything wrong... well, except drink illegally but that's not a good reason to tear-gas me!
Basically, Halloween was not as fun in Mali as it was in Madison, Wisconsin. Still, my roommates and I decided to go and celebrate Halloween anyway... by going on a roadtrip! Our original goal was to get to Timbuktu... but instead we ended up spending Halloween in the middle of a desert. We'd all chipped in about $100 to rent a car and get a tank full of gas, some more gasoline on reserve in case we couldn't find a gas station (which we expected would happen), a box of bottled water, a crate of beer, a bottle of whiskey, 2 bottles of wine, some food, and hoped that would last us for a while. On Friday, immediately after work, I had to volunteer so my roommates tagged along in the rented car. From the small village near Bamako, we drove out north towards Timbuktu. We didn't really have costumes, but we did have turbans and burkas! Refueling at a gas station in Mopti, we continued on into the night. We probably shouldn't have done this, but we eventually started drinking... while driving. I know, I know... it was a stupid thing to do... and that is what got us lost. We didn't stop driving. We drove into the night and we only stopped once the car broke down. That was Halloween night. We were stranded in the middle of a desert in turbans and burkas with no idea how to get back or where exactly we were and completely drunk. Paul and Charles had gone to Timbuktu before and insisted they knew what they were doing while the only sensible ones were me and Ellen... and we kept telling them to stay on the main road but did they listen, no, of course not. In any case, we didn't fight or anything. We were just too drunk and lost to fight. Fighting was the last thing we would've done. Instead, we decided to sober up before doing anything else. So, we decided to sleep in the car in the middle of the desert. At first we thought of sleeping outside so we had a bonfire going, but with the sand going everywhere, I wasn't a fan of that. Four people sleeping in a car was not comfortable. No one could really lie down. It wasn't the most comfortable night, I'll assure you. Still, I guess we did end up falling asleep, despite being able to hear people breathing heavily and being in such a cramped space. Alcohol helps in such situations and I somehow ended up sleeping in the corner in fetal position. =)
Saturday, we woke up with the sunrise. We had no choice. I mean, the sun was just scorching and incredibly bright that even if your eyes were closed, it felt like its rays were burning through your eyelids. Lucky me, I was the first to wake up and completely sober, ready to find the road again. My roommates, however, were all hungover and less willing to move. The temperature was rising steadily and we realized, we'd come a long ways from Bamako and really weren't sure how to get back. In case we had trouble getting back, we decided to ration our food and water. Our car had broken down, so Charles and Paul, who'd already experienced car breakdowns in deserts before, worked on it for a while. I don't know how much time passed but I felt like the sun was burning through my skull. Eventually, the car started and moved but we were low on gas. We did have the gas on reserve, which was enough to get us back to a major city, probably, but the problem we had was we had no idea which direction we should go.
Thus, we came up with a plan. One person would stay in the car in case someone came along (yeah right) and in case there were armed bandits because we really weren't sure how far north in Mali we were. I'd been told that northern parts of Mali were dangerous for Americans, that there were incidences of armed conflict, robberies at gunpoint, kidnappings, and landmines in Northern Mali... completely different from the peaceful south... and that the Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) allegedly operates in Northern Mali. I wasn't the only one who knew this. My roommates were also warned by their governments and their jobs that even Timbuktu might be dangerous for Westerners. Of course, Paul and Charles had already visited Timbuktu, but they'd found it completely safe... but even they were hoping we hadn't gone past Timbuktu. North of Timbuktu, there is really nothing to see but the Sahara Desert. No villages, only violence, desert bandits, and who knows what else goes on north of Timbuktu... or so I've heard. That's why we were all silently praying we hadn't gone that far. So, Ellen stayed in the car, the three of us decided to pan out into three directions as far as we could without getting lost. We all had a whistle, a stick and a lighter in case we needed to get back. If the sun was setting and someone hadn't gotten back to the car yet, those people back at the car would send up flares as signals so we could get back. Seriously, I felt like I was in a movie. It was not a wonderful situation, but still, kind of cool!
At the end of the day, it was Charles who found the right way to the road. I on the other hand, saw nothing but desert. But the visibility was great. You could see miles and miles ahead of you. I could probably see Ellen sitting on top of the car from a couple miles away even! Turns out, we hadn't veered very far off the main road. We'd spent a good few hours fixing the car and figuring out our plan and by the time all of us were back in the car and back on the main road, it was already the afternoon. There was no way we'd be able to drive back to Bamako in one day much less go to Timbuktu and then back to Bamako by Monday morning for work. So, we decided to just head back to Bamako... even though we realized we were so close! We'd gone a little too east of Timbuktu... so close but yet so far! We headed back until we were out of gas, then refueled and continued driving. We made it to Bambara-Maoude where we got a full tank of gas. The sun was setting when we were still just short of Sévaré and the car broke down again. We pushed the car off the road where it wouldn't be too noticeable... again, it was like the middle of nowhere but this time, we knew which direction to push the car to get back on the road. We had to spend a second night in the car and this time, not being drunk, it was much harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Eventually, we managed and woke up with the sunrise.
Sunday morning, after fixing the car again, we made it to Sévaré where we replenished the gas again since we wanted to get back to Bamako that night. From Sévaré to Bamako, a trip that should've taken 5 hours, took 10 hours because the car broke down three times along the way. Eventually, we got back to Bamako, returned the car, and headed home. After a much needed shower and a good meal I'm able to say we made it out of the desert alive! Turns out, we weren't north of Timbuktu, just to the east of it. Why is it so hard to go to Timbuktu? I have to go before I leave Mali... I must.
Today's Random Quiz:
| The Road Trip of Your Life |
 You live a life of leisure. You take your time in every aspect of life and enjoy it to the fullest. You are all about risk and randomness in your life. You travel off the beaten path... in fact, you're often the one carving the way! You are able to find a fairly healthy balance between work and play. You work when you need to, but you never let yourself burn out. In another life, you could have been a great artist. You trust your creative instincts enough to let them lead you. |
No comments:
Post a Comment