Monday, June 29, 2015

Mali


This morning at 1.20 the greenhouse air of Mali’s rainy season enveloped me as I stepped onto the wet tarmac at Bamako’ Senou airport after two eventful and happy months in Europe. It is not my favourite time of year here, and it was almost with regret that I left a beautiful sunny London which was finally getting into the swing of summer…But  Keita was waiting for me at the airport and today we have run around doing essential shopping and arranging of things to get ready for tomorrow morning and the journey north to Djenné. We had lunch at ‘our’ restaurant in Bamako which has no name: we just call it ‘La Senegalaise’, because it is run by a Senegalese lady who produces great home coookin’. Every time I go I cannot refrain from straightening  the picture on the wall...

 
 more soon from Djenné where Hotel Djenné Djenno is opening again on the first of July after the annual closing for staff holidays in June. Always a little apprehensive when I go back: what will I find?

2 Comments:

Blogger David said...

That means the picture always goes crooked no matter how many times you adjust it? A detail worthy of Fawlty Towers (albeit that is not Basilia's domain). Keen to know how the Hotel Djenne Djenno is faring.

11:43 AM  
Blogger toubab said...

Yes, indeed David. Quite Fawlty Tower-esque. What I failed to mention was that this time a whole lot of crumpled up paper fell out from behind the picture when I touched it (it must have been put there by the establishment in an attempt to straighten the picture) and instead of straightening it up I made the whole thing a lot worse and when we left - Keita (hugely embarrassed) dragged me off (giggling)while the thing was hanging at a precarious angle...
And yes, David, there will be news from Djenné soon, but just now I am swamped in the mammoth task of cranking the whole system up again: hotel, library, studio..menagerie...

4:28 PM  

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