After our day in Djenne we talked about plans for the next day (Jan 20 -- will drive to Sevare for money, pick up a couple passengers, go to Kori Monde to visit a garden and have lunch, then head to Bandiagara for supper with Timothy, our contact there), ate dinner (black-eye pea soup, fish and potatoes, banana fritters, and a yummy ginger drink), then talked about our personal observations on the day. Here's a summary:
Exciting
Expected more hassling
People are friendly
Nice to have contact with the family at the mud cloth place
City is cleaner than we thought it would be
Interaction with the artisans (especially working the cotton) was nice
Enjoyed wandering through the town to see things most tourists wouldn't see
Great experience to do mud cloths
Can't imagine carrying heavy buckets on our heads regularly
Didn't anticipate ancient books
Odd to see people sweeping dirt streets
Enjoyed seeing the boys writing on the wooden tablets at the Koranic schools
Strange to see animals walking around cities, loose
Children coming to you and asking for (particularly) water bottles is odd (apparently, a lot of the tourists will give them water bottles when they are done with them. Ours are all re-usable ones, but they don't really distinguish between them and the clear plastic .5 liter ones others carry around)
Tourists are usually in Djenne on Monday when the big market day is (we didn't see this)
Enjoyment from those who'd been here before seeing those of us who were new reacting to the experience
The chicken served at lunch was "normal" sized, rather than the overly plump-breasted ones we see at our groceries
Oranges aren't that artificial bright orange color that ours are (except for satsuma season in Louisiana!) -- they are more green -- "natural" colored
My observations on our hotel:
Beautiful gardens -- the woman that runs it is Dutch and the Dutch are know for their gardening
The fabric on the chairs in the restaurant are prints from past celebrations (like the Obama print)
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