So I'm in love with Mali now!! And Mali loves me! Here I am a super model \ celebrity!! I walk through villages and the people flock to me! I am surrounded by children and the old ladies all pet me and tell me how beautiful I am. One even wanted me to bless one of the babies or something! Its amazing! My self-esteem has never been so high!! I am the ideal Malian woman apparently! LOL! And I've also learned I would make a great second wife. The first wife is chosen by the man's family and he doesn't really love her. She has to work hard and have lots of babies. The man then marries his second wife because she is really beautiful and she doesn't have to work hard and he likes her best. That's perfect for me! I like to be liked best and I don't want to work. Our guide (who seems to be looking for a second wife) was telling us all about Dogon men who have Dogon first wives and European wives for their second wives. These European wives come around 2-3 months a year and bring money and presents for the first wife and her children and the first wife does all the cooking and cleaning and work. Sounds amazing!!! Apparently I have 2 suitors already lined up because both the guide and the owner of the hotel here are looking for second wives and I got massages from both - and they were really sad I didn't want more massages after dinner. Ahh - it would be a hard life here in Mali!
But also - its gorgeous here! I didn't really describe it in my last post because I was too busy talking about the goats. But the walking is gorgeous. The Dogon Country is along a huge escarpment. So yesterday and today we spent most of our time at the top - so we had amazing views (it was also quite a bit of walking up and down the rocks in the heat...but I won't complain too much). The sky is so blue against the reddish brown of the rocks and the bits of green trees and then the vivid green of the onion (the main veg grown here) - its amazing! And the people are so colorful - gorgeous clothes and so so so friendly. Like I said - the children love me (I even had them fighting over who would hold my hand). I have some pics of them all sitting around me. So cute!! They are kinda full of snot and dirty so I have to sterilize my hands before I eat anything - but awwww...they are cute. And then the women are amazing!! They work so hard (a Dogon wife would be the best kind apparently). They carry everything on their heads - like big tubs of water - and don't spill a drop. Today we walked down this narrow rocky super steep path. I could barely walk down myself and had to hold on the whole way to balance myself on the rocks and I didn't have a backpack or anything. And then these women came and they were balancing like 20 kilos on their heads of stuff they were going to sell at the markets and had babies strapped to their backs! And they walked down the mountain with no problems. They all laughed at me and told me they would teach me how to carry stuff :P
But that's it - I have to sleep now because we have breakfast at 6am. We were only gonna do a half day tomorrow but now we'll do a full day and spend one more night in Dogon Country because its so amazing. So tomorrow we have like 23km to walk! So we need to start before it gets too hot!! Walking after lunch today - we waited to start until 3:00 but it was still boiling hot!! But we didn't start walking properly until like 9am, which is bad. So tomorrow we start walking at 6:30!! WOW!!!
Now I'm going to sleep. I'm on a little mat on the roof of the hotel. There is a full moon and heaps of stars. Its a perfect night!!
But also - its gorgeous here! I didn't really describe it in my last post because I was too busy talking about the goats. But the walking is gorgeous. The Dogon Country is along a huge escarpment. So yesterday and today we spent most of our time at the top - so we had amazing views (it was also quite a bit of walking up and down the rocks in the heat...but I won't complain too much). The sky is so blue against the reddish brown of the rocks and the bits of green trees and then the vivid green of the onion (the main veg grown here) - its amazing! And the people are so colorful - gorgeous clothes and so so so friendly. Like I said - the children love me (I even had them fighting over who would hold my hand). I have some pics of them all sitting around me. So cute!! They are kinda full of snot and dirty so I have to sterilize my hands before I eat anything - but awwww...they are cute. And then the women are amazing!! They work so hard (a Dogon wife would be the best kind apparently). They carry everything on their heads - like big tubs of water - and don't spill a drop. Today we walked down this narrow rocky super steep path. I could barely walk down myself and had to hold on the whole way to balance myself on the rocks and I didn't have a backpack or anything. And then these women came and they were balancing like 20 kilos on their heads of stuff they were going to sell at the markets and had babies strapped to their backs! And they walked down the mountain with no problems. They all laughed at me and told me they would teach me how to carry stuff :P
But that's it - I have to sleep now because we have breakfast at 6am. We were only gonna do a half day tomorrow but now we'll do a full day and spend one more night in Dogon Country because its so amazing. So tomorrow we have like 23km to walk! So we need to start before it gets too hot!! Walking after lunch today - we waited to start until 3:00 but it was still boiling hot!! But we didn't start walking properly until like 9am, which is bad. So tomorrow we start walking at 6:30!! WOW!!!
Now I'm going to sleep. I'm on a little mat on the roof of the hotel. There is a full moon and heaps of stars. Its a perfect night!!
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