Some Things Are Different In Mali

Here's a bunch of random thoughts/observations I've had over the past few weeks.

Hazards of Traveling to Work
I was going out to the fields the other day to help one of my neighbors harvest his rice. We rode out together in his cow cart (village version of carpooling). Now normally in the US the typical hazard associated with going to work is a car accident of some sort. Not as much so in village. No... the big risk is getting cow diarrhea all over your foot when you let your legs dangle over the front of the cart... right behind the cow... Fortunately I anticipated this risk and kept my legs up. My neighbor was not as lucky.

Garden Frustrations
Most people here do not have gardens. Why? Because the idea of a flower garden is a rather silly notion when all your time is taken up toiling away in the fields or doing other manual labor all day. Plus there are no sprinkler systems for watering plants. The village version: a rope, a bucket, and a well. Veggie gardens are an equally futile endeavor as the biological equivalent of a lawn mower, manifested in the form of a herd of goats, is ever present and devours anything in its path.

Unconventional Tourists
I rode my bike 17 km to the market recently. On the way I was stopped by a French couple in a Land Rover camper (yes, camper), trying to find their way to Djenne, a major tourist attraction in Mali that's a short 150 km from my village... straight through the bush on roads cut through fields by cow carts. A short time after the French couple I came across three white guys on motorcycles fully decked out in gear. It appeared that they were going across Mali "the back way" with motorcycles.

Utilities
Some people in village inquired about my habit of cooking for myself everyday. They wanted to know how I did this. I said I used a gas tank. Then I told them that in the US people don't buy tanks of gas... it gets piped straight into the house for cooking AND heating. They found this incredible, especially the part about heating one's house. Then I explained that water goes straight to everyone's house as well. Villagers conclusion: America is a good place.

Inflation
Today I was in Segou for the annual music festival. I was with some other PCVs and on our way into the festival grounds we bought some food from a girl near the festival entrance. After a few hours we went back to the same stand to buy the exact same food item. This time the girl's mother was there and the price had doubled... that's what I call sudden inflation. Curiously, our appetites were quelled with the adjustment in price.

Deja Vu
While at the music festival I sat down at a pavilion with a few other people for a while to soak in the atmosphere of the festival. About every 3 minutes another vendor would approach our table trying to sell something. Post cards. A shoe shine. Leather goods. Knives. Some would even come back later trying to sell the exact same stuff. I wonder if many foreigners end up buying things after the second attempt...

Advertising Strategy
My friends and I also noticed some advertisements for a particular brand of beer while at the pavilion where we were seated. There were signs plastered all over the place. They would have been impossible to avoid. We were intrigued because we had never heard of this brand of beer before, so asked if we could have some to try. Ironically they didn't sell that particular beer. They just had lots of ads for it, but sold something else.