T in Mali: Bamakool

Over the last few years, I've developed an uncanny talent for leaving a place I call home once I finally get into a good groove there. It's an exhausting habit to say the least, but it does keep things interesting.

In keeping with this trend, I'm trying to love and live up my last couple weeks in Bamako before re-figuring out where home is, but al-Qaeda is bent on cramping my style...more on this later.

Last year I lived in 2 of the EIU's most liveable cities in the world, and now I'm living in one of the world's worst (but not bottom 10...I can't even imagine what the others are like) cities, so I wanted to make sure that I gave Bamako a fighting chance before I reviewed it so to speak.

I love Bamako, don't get me wrong, but I'm amazed it doesn't make
the bottom 10 sometimes.

Jump right in

First impressions where daunting, since Bamako's chaotic streets with its open street side trenches filled with garbage and the blackest, sludgiest water which makes Northern Alberta's muskeg seem like a beautiful lagoon, are a far cry from the verdant groomed sterility found in Vancouver and Calgary's streets (excluding East Hastings, natch.) The pollution is suffocating, and despite giving up my stupid habit no improvement can be registered in my lung function. The mosquitoes are the worst though, they bite me at will through my net, through my clothes and every day that I don't develop malaria, I fear it will be that much worse when I finally do.

Further complicating matter is now it's construction season here, which makes my walk to work even more treacherous than usual, and we've gone from the "hot" season to the "very hot" season. This means nights are unbearably hot, and I feel like my room is about 10 degrees hotter than outside. I wake up in a puddle every morning and my skin gets so sweaty, I feel like I'm turning into a human saltlick.

Gross, no.

Finally, between the heat, one too many awkward marriage proposals at the soccer field I used to run at, and an epic wipeout that left me maimed, I exchanged going running for swimming laps to stay cool and unharmed.

Speaking of marriage propoals, it's been a while since I updated my tally. Well I had a record 4 in one day, 2 while walking home where one guy simply said "I like your face, will you be my wife" and 2 while running laps at the soccer field. Next was my sister's friend who wanted to marry me for my money. After that was a week later at the track, a man wanted me to be his second wife, which feels like a step back to me. First wife or bust. This one became extra awkward when his first wife showed up the week after and began running beside me and asking questions. Finally, the last one came from a man at the track again, who even after I told him I had a husband at home, and he told me that he had a wife at home, still wanted go somewhere to talk about being his second wife. I've since stopped running at there.

Anyway, that takes my total to 17.

Getting back on track now: Bamako's been my stomping grounds long enough to know where a few good places are to eat/drink/relax are and I have met enough awesome people to enjoy them with. In short, despite the dirt, the pollution, the rat corpses in front of my office among other unsavoury sights, the power outages, the mosquitoes, the traffic and "unfortunate" smells (re: Bamako's been smelling extra "fishy" as of late), I've gotten into a good groove here and I've learned to love this city. It's interesting, exciting and for the most part the people are exceptionally friendly or at the very least, curious.

Leave it to al-Qaeda to rain on my parade. Near the end of last week (after my eerily predictive last post), ex-pats registered as abroad received a seriously worded email referring to specific and credible intelligence suggesting that an AQIM terror/kidnapping plot was possible in Bamako and Mopti in the near future and advised us all to exercise extreme caution, avoid being out past dark, avoid places that foreigners are known to frequent, and to change up our habits. In short, I had to put a cog in my groove, which is sad because I only have a short time left in this strange/amazing/complicated place and was hoping to make the most of my time here.

Still, I had a fun weekend where I socialized at friend's houses rather than going out to my usual haunts but even in doing so, there was a marked difference in Bamako over the weekend. For one topics of conversation turned to sinister and scary things and speculation similar to the buzz in the hours just after 9-11. Second, I felt compelled to ask my host-brother to escort me to meet my friends even though it was a 5 minute walk which is something I've never done before, and finally the streets were abnormally deserted at 01:00am when I went to hail a taxi, usually things are just getting started around then. I feel like my home here has changed, which is unfortunate, but does slightly lessen the sting of leaving so soon.

Next post's topic will be more on my mandate or fish heads, I haven't decided yet. In the meantime, here are a few photos of some of my Bamako haunts, this is by no means exhaustive but my patience is wearing thin with this lousy internet connection as always, and I don't think it's wise to post about my daily movements if there really is a threat of being kidnapped by AQIM.