Sunday night



We’ve spent the last two days walking around Bamako’s various neighborhoods to get a feel for the city and to figure out where we want to live. The Niger river flows right through Bamako and people living on either side all think their side is best. Originally Badaladougou , an area across the river appealed to us, but everyone we speak to has told us that we should live on the same side of the river as our workplaces. Apparently traffic on the bridge during rush hour is insane.


Imagine that! The lion has his own security guard. The "lion keeper" has his little spot where he can make his tea and keep on eye on the big cat. And it just all smells soooo bad!


We’ve done a ton of walking and have narrowed it down to a few quartiers. We’ve got a “coxer” who will begin looking for us tomorrow. A coxer is a non-formal real estate agent of some sort. We’ll keep you posted on our efforts in finding a living space.



Walking through the streets of Bamako, we came across a group of women dying fabrics (pagnes) which will then be sold in the markets. Once the fabrics are dyed, they need to be ironed. This is actually done with a hammer. The fabrics are beaten flat! Picture of this to follow soon.

This morning we had planned to go to the museum but ended up slightly further up the hill at the zoo. What a depressing and stinky place!! The only uplifting thing about it was seeing fathers with their 10-15 children strolling around the grounds.