One of my biggest worries coming to Mali was the public transportation. For those of you who know me well, you know that I don't do well with motion sickness. Hell, if I can't even make it on a 30 minute car ride, how do I expect to make it across Africa. My fears were soon realized upon arrival here that travel would be no easy task. There are potholes the size of craters on the moon and people here are worse than drivers in Massachusettes and Quebec - combined!
After riding on a bus for 12 hours I hated it and I never wanted to do it again. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me. Mali is twice the size of Texas, so you can imagine just how long I'll be spending on the bus. There is a train, but it doesn't service the half of the country where I live. It's probably better - I've heard horror stories. So, I'm still new, still learning the bus system. The thing that gets me the most are the "characters" on the bus. Normally this would mean crazy people but here it refers to anything under the sun that you need transported across the country. I haven't seen anyone go as far as transporting cattle, however, goats and sheep are fair game. My language professor, Daou, just bought two sheep to take to Bamako to have slaughtered for the Tabaski feast. We had to drag them from our house to the bus gare, tie them up in bags and put them in the holding area under the bus. The ride is 12 hours long, meaning that they don't eat, drink or pee for that long. It's kind of sad, right? But on the other hand, it's pretty amusing to be sitting at the gare, waiting for a bus to come by and see a bus with either 50 goats on the top or 200 chickens tied on and holding on for dear life.
Above you can find a photo of "Mysterious." Someone will enjoy this sheep for a fete in less than a month. Tear.
