|
|
TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
|
|
FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!! Today was quite the day, quite the day. Where do I start? We arrived at 10:00, 5:00pm at home, which means we were traveling for what would seem to be 24 hours, but was really only 19. I was exhausted. The plane flight was pretty good, with more complimentary stuffs, and the most exciting part was the convict on board. He had escaped to Paris and was being quarantined in the backseat with handcuffs [!] on our flight. I saw him on the way out and it was like, LIFE, like in your face. Then we got in this special van on the landing strip and got to wait in the special customs and I was totally disoriented riding in this van because I was with Maureen, the president of the board, and Jerome, another member, and I didn’t know them and it was like a Disney movie.
So we came to the hotel and crashed. Then this morning, we got breakfast and I had lots of bread-y things because I wasn’t allowed to eat this weird meatball stuff. The hotel is really really exotic. Well. Not really. To me, though. There are long white curtains and north-african-esque /middle-eastern style arches and everything is embellished with leather inset with gold and it’s very regal.
After breakfast, we were looking around the shops in the hotel and met Hassei who’s very friendly and is an artisan, or at least he sells sculptures and necklaces and things like that. He was really excited that we were (are?) Americans and since we didn’t know what to do today, he gave us a ride into town.
It’s SO HOT outside, and when we got out of the car and into the market, everything just intensified. There were so many colors and SO many people and so much STUFF. EVERYWHERE! It’s quite an odd feeling being looked at be everyone around you, knowing they’re looking, with them knowing you know they’re looking. I suffered some culture shock, to say the least. Everyone wanted to get us to buy stuff and we ended up buying some shirts and a tablecloth and this mini car made out of soda cans. We tried not to buy anything too cheesy though. HAHA like the kid at school who wears that dashiki with the huge Africa’s printed on it in batik.
And then all of the sudden, it got even MORE intense. As we left this one sort of building with little shops? Stalls? Cells? I dunno, but as we left, it was like the sun was shining 10 times brighter. People were saying prayers (mostly Muslim country) and they were all washing their hands and faces and other people were eating and others of them were cheering really loud about this soccer game that was on. One guy started shaking his butt. It was pretty funny. And all this time people were asking us to buy stuff. Buy stuff buy stuff buy stuff. We had to keep saying “No, merci!” and it got sort of tiring. And these kids asked for money, and this one guy wouldn’t leave us alone, asking to buy a painfully AFRICAN mask and we were trying to cross the street and it was all too much. And then I saw these bracelets and I was so out of it that I couldn’t stop staring at them and I was hot and thirsty and finally we caught a cab and came back to the hotel and it was probably the most overwhelming thing I’ve ever been a part of.
Phew!
It was amazing though, how excited they were that we were Americans. Most of the tourists in Mali are French people, but there isn’t a lot of tourism to start with. Plus because we’re black Americans, my mom says that it’s something they don’t see often and, you know, it makes them glad to see their fellow brothers and sisters doing well up in the U-to the-S-sheezy (I said that part). Haha.
All in all: INTENSE. It’s only 5:30 and I’m absolutely poooped!
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).