Segou

I just got back from a trip to Segou. It is a city south of my site by about 7 hours. I met up with Natalie, Steve, Mark and Sam, who are my friends from Kayes. We all stayed with Markham who lives in Segou.
Segou is famous for it's bougolan, which is a fabric painted with mud. There is a museum there that was really interesting. Here is Sam, Mark, Natalie, me and Markham about to learn how to make bougalon.We are learning about it from a guide (I forgot his name).
We each get to make a little bit.
You paint the fabric with mud and then clean it off with water. Here I am cleaning mine.
I have no idea how it works.
Then you put it in dye for some fun colors.
While it sits in the sun to dry, we take a tour of the facility.
It is beautiful and very interesting.
It is a working museum. They make beautiful bougalon!
We had a lot of fun.
Then there was a gift shop. :-)
Some samples of bougalon:
Natalie made a friend on the taxini ride back to Markham's:

We ate lunch at a Togolese restaurant:
The next day we spent at a hotel pool.

They had free wireless internet:









Pretty bird:
Segou was amazing!

Borko Video

Borko

Borko is a beautiful town about an hour south of me. It is home of the crocodiles, which the Dogon believe to be their ancestors. It was pretty amazing. A guy went out and whistled and 8 of them came like dogs on command.
Here is me and some of them: They got really really close!

There is a guy in a blue shirt getting water from the pond. He kept an eye on each of the crocodiles.

We bought an animal carcas to feed to them:

The local kids watching the excitement:

The guy with the stick made sure that the animals behaved.

There were 2 off in the distance fighting for some meat.

After the excitement was done, they slid back into the pond.

Tourism Formations in Douentza (aka Yes, I actually do work in Mali)

We had a formation in Douentza for the tour guides in Douentza and Hombori (another village a few hours North). Here are Ben, Shawndra and some of the guides outside of the museum in Formbori (another little village just outside of Douentza). We went for a hike.

and looked in some Dogon burials.

Back at the Mayor's office where they learned how to play Simon Says and the importance of listening to the tourist.

Ben, Shawndra and Cisse (my homologue).

The Mayor of Douentza (on the left) came and spoke for a few minutes.

Everyone with their certificates of completion after the long days of training.

Gratulerer med dagen!

Happy Norway Day! I was invited to celebrate Norway's Independance Day with the missionaries that live in Douentza.
Here we are hearing a quick history of Norway Day and why celebrating is so important. Katie then translated into English for those of us who don't speak Norwegain.

The happy group:

Then the kids had a spoon race:

Then the adults got into the fun:

We had a potato sack race. I am on the far right:

Mind you, it is over 100 degrees F:

I am getting close to the finish line:

And I finished last but I had a blast:

We had a tug of war, Douentza vs Sevare. Douentza won, of course.