The water has started to recede- it never reached the high water mark of last year. The rains are nearly over, thankfully, and we are getting ready for the new season, which starts in about three weeks time. Lots of work and lots of difficulties here, putting the hotel into shape after the ravages of the storms and the rain. But all these problems shrink into nothing when I take Max and the carriage for an early evening ride into Djenne, and see the town shimmer in an unearthly beauty, as if painted on a Chinese vase...