Fashion Show, Douentza, Ansongo and Gao...Yeah, we've been busy here!

Okay, so it’s been forever and a day since I’ve written anything, but I have been active, if not completely busy out of my mind. I had a couple of down days because I’m kind of bored right now. I don’t really have much work to do and I’m just waiting on money for the cow insemination project (shameless plug, really: ) and I was down. Then I took to the road! For about a month it was Festival Central here with festivals in some major towns which brought some great musical acts and artisanal products from all around. It all started in Segou with the Festival sur le Niger which brought Habib Koite and Salif Keita and then continued in Mopti with Amadou and Mariam and then went to Douentza for a cultural festival and even continued all the way to Ansongo for a Songhay festival. The past week I went to my old stomping grounds, Douentza, for the Dogon cultural festival and then continued to Ansongo (though I didn’t make it in time for the festival), which is pretty close to the border of Niger and then back to Gao. The trip was twofold. One, I needed to get away from site and two, I have friends whose site’s I wanted to visit and see them in their elements, living their everyday lives.

So, here’s the recap, in photos, of course:

First of all, there was a fashion show with people from Farafina Tigne. Of course we did it Peace Corps Baba/Farafina Tigne style and went all out! My teammate Beth and I were the two token white people in the procession and we were decked out.

Group shot of many of us.

So, it was kind of like carnival as we promenaded down the streets of Mopti.

PC Baba, of course, wearing bogolan and riding a white stallion? Where he even found the horse is beyond me!

Me and Bozo (That’s his name because that’s his ethnic group, though he is pretty silly!)

Me and Vielle, the single handed best djembe player in all of Mali – that I’ve met anyway.

Then on to Douentza. Douentza’s festival was a cultural festival so not many tourists were there, which was awesome. I haven’t talked about how much I dislike tourists, but I’ll make that an entry soon enough. Anyway, there were Dogons from Bankass, Koro, Bandiagarra, Mopti and Douentza and each town was represented by dancers. Here are some highlights.

Here’s a huge toguna that was constructed especially for the event. A toguna is a meeting place in Dogon culture where only older men are allowed to go. It’s built close to the ground so that a man can’t stand up quickly, if angry, to leave the meeting. It’s also adorned with Malian flags. Verte, Jaune, Rouge, go Mali!

Dogon’s are infamous for wearing this indigo cloth which they themselves dye in Dogon Country. They were all decked out in it, looking fabulous.

Some Dogon men dancing with their swords.

This is the essential “Dogon” wearing costumes for dancing. They are what tourists come to see.

Also, here are some videos of different groups of Dogon's dancing:







After being lied about transport times, I finally made my way to Ansongo (which is like 600 kilometers from Douentza) and I was exhausted. I got on the bus at 3:30 AM only to find the window was broken (remember, it’s the desert-ish area so it’s still chilly at night), plus an old Peulh guy that couldn’t sleep and was screaming so that no one else could either. Thanks to an iPod and a sheet I had the foresight to bring with me, I slept until Gao. I arrived in Gao, waited for 5 hours and then we left for Ansongo. The scenery was pretty, it’s more of the desert there, and I made it in two hours, to see the Ansongo festival finishing up. I was there to visit my friend Joanna and we spent two days seeing the town and I went with her to her baby weighings at the clinic. We also took an afternoon boat ride to these gorgeous rocks that are in the middle of the Niger River.

Here are the rocks at sunset.

We climbed the rocks and I’m standing with the Niger in the background.

Joanna and Dave, Ansongo teammates, with Ansongo town in the background.

So, after two days, I headed back to Gao ville to experience all that is Gao. It’s really pretty there, this kind of sand blown city in the desert. The population isn’t that large, but it’s really spread out. So, I went to visit my togoma, Sarah, and we had a great time. She’s a tourism volunteer so I visited the Gao Tourism Bureau, and of course part took in some tourist activities. I visited the Tomb of the Askias which is the tomb of the famous Askia Mohammed. It was constructed in 1495 and is remudded every two years to preserve it. Inside, there is the body of Askia Mohammed and also other valuables that came from his travels around, like gold originating from Egypt. All of his descendants are buried on the ground of this tomb, which is pretty cool. It’s still used as a mosque everyday for men and on Friday’s for non-menstruating women. I also visited the infamous Dune Rose which is this gorgeous sand dune a couple of kilometers from Gao ville.

The view from Sarah’s roof of the pirogues on the Niger river at sunset.

Sarah and Sara.

Tomb of the Askias.

Me, standing at the Tomb. Okay, so Malians can’t really hold camera’s straight.

Traveling nomad on his trek across the Dune. There is a series that go all the way to Timbuktu. I wonder where he’s going.

Gorgeous black sand on the Dune.

Me at the Dune Rose.

Sarah and Sara and our friend, Chaka.