First Voyage

1/2 Bamako -> Siby

Today was a great day. We spent the morning in Bamako, and met some cool Lehigh students, Jordan and Lucy, who are here for the next two weeks helping Bruce with some research of his. We then left for Siby and I had a good conversation with Matt, as well as one with Dragoess about politics. It was great to start to connect to people on the trip, as well as providing some interesting insights into the Malian view of politics.

When we got to the village, they served us a gigantic lunch, about 3 times more than I was able to eat, but delicious nonetheless. Mom would be proud I ate all of my beets, even though they’re still not my favorite. After lunch, I wandered around a bit until I met a really cool guy, Faman Camara, one of Soumaila’s large extended family. We talked for a long time and he gave me a Malian name, which, of course, I promptly forgot. Shows how good I am with names that I can’t even remember my own. It’s apparently the name of his mother, which is pretty cool, but a little weird. He showed me the porcupine and the crocodile that they keep in the village. I’d never seen a porcupine before, and it was surprisingly cute and disgusting at the same time.


From the front, it was super cute, while from behind…not as much. From there I spotted some Malians slack-lining. I had no idea that was a thing outside of the US! I tried it out, with the expected results. Being in another country did nothing to improve my slacklining abilities.

Cayley and I tossed for a bit, and got some Malian kids to join us. Soon after, we started throwing however, it was time to head to the arch. After a long, ridiculously bumpy ride, we made it there, and were all impressed by it’s beauty and by the view it presented of the surrounding country.

When we came back, Cayley, Jordan and I started throwing again, and were soon joined by four small Malian girls, Bruce, Soumaila, Alex, and briefly an older Malian guy whose name I never got. Faman and I talked a little bit more again after it got too dark to throw about school. The system must be really different here, because he’s 22 and just finishing his senior year of high school. Shortly thereafter, it was dinner time, which was, of course, delicious. I was amazed when they served us each about a half of a chicken. They must have killed at least 12 or 13 to feed us all. After dinner came the best part of the day: the dancing. I was definitely super self-conscious, but really tried hard to just let myself go and not care. I was able to to some extent, and because of this, ahd a ton of fun. It seems like all the Malians really enjoy watching us Toubabs dance, even if we’re fantastically terrible, so that was reassuring. There was a moment when I was sitting to the side, listening to the drumming and the griot singing, when I looked up at the stars and knew that this was exactly where I should be. While I’m still nervous about a lot of things, I know without a doubt that this trip was the right choice for me. I can’t wait to see what else it has in store for me!

Looking back on this day and thinking about how many of these drivers were the same ones from the Grand Voyage is crazy. I honestly don’t really remember them much at all. It’s still hard to think back to the first impressions of them, and crazy to think about how much I enjoyed their company later in the trip, and how much I miss them.