Traveling through the US

The Coastal Highway - Rte 1 - North of San Francisco

We haven't posted on the blog for a while because we've been pretty busy traveling...Olivier arrived in DC in early December and after a week of work, we headed out to California! We spent a few days in San Francisco - and absolutely fell in love with the city! We drove up the beautiful coastal highway, walked through Muir Woods - the redwood forest, drove through Sonoma wine country, and ate dungenous crabs in Fisherman's Wharf. We just got back in San Francisco after spending three days skiing in Lake Tahoe, during one of their first big snows! We stayed with my good friend Jenny and her boyfriend Dan in their amazing Tahoe home - just a 5 minute walk from the ski slopes! Tomorrow we will visit Alcatraz before heading to Virginia to spend Christmas with Monica's parents. I'll post a few pictures here, but will soon post them all as soon as I get a chance!

In Washington DC in front of the US Capitol Building

Beautiful fresh snow in Tahoe on the ski slopes


Golden Gate Bridge


Skiing! (Lake Tahoe in background)


Olivier snowboarding!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joyeux Fete de Dinde! We didn't get a turkey, but decided to roast some pigeons...a much smaller relative to the turkey, but same effect!

Ballade on the Fleuve Niger

Today we went out on a boat ride on the Niger River to have brunch with some friends! It was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon, and we enjoyed some amazing cheese that had arrived with Vina's dad from Paris the day before!

Our boat

Olivier on the Niger

Washing clothes in the Niger

Monica happy with the cheese

Our crocodile visit

A few Bissau photos!

I didn't get to see too much of portuguese-speaking Guinea Bissau, but spent a couple of hours checking out the city. It is a country a few years out of conflict and the city doesn't seem to have much to offer! But I still found it charming!

Street View in Bissau

I didn't see the ocean for the first few days I was there - The last day, I decided I can't visit a coastal city and not see the ocean! My lone quest (no other conference participants seemed as optimistic) for the ocean vista and glistening white beaches ended here - not quite what I had in mind! There must be nicer beaches a bit out of town!

This picture sums up the airport experience in Bissau - "Trouble Counter"..haha!

Olivier returns from Gao tomorrow! He has been seeing amazing villages set along the Niger River in desert landscapes and working hard to set up the management teams for the community radios...but unfortunately he doesn't have a digital camera with him! After the next trip up north, we will definitely have amazing pictures to share!

Des petits departs de Bamako

Olivier left on Oct. 31 to great adventures around Gao! He will be up there until November 15th...he's visiting the villages where they will be installing the radios, meeting with the governor and mayors, and even spent the night in the desert under the stars when the car broke down in the middle of nowhere! The car is fixed now and everyone is fine! I am currently in Guinea Bissau at the Annual Health Ministers meeting...unfortunately I have just been able to visit the interior of the hotel for now, but I hope to see a bit of Bissau tomorrow before leaving. Yesterday the President of Guinea Bissau attended the meeting.

Below is a picture from a Halloween Party at a US embassy official's house! A soccer player, a drag indian dancer, yours truly as a battered substitute teacher, Minnie Mouse (my friend Vina) and a Monk...(yes, he shaved his head!).

We found Petit Paradis!

Today we went on a small adventure with some friends to find PETIT PARADIS! A waterfall near Bamako that we found on Google Earth! We drove till the road stopped (after a few wrong turns) - then trekked through rivers, rocks and bush until some kids from a village started to lead us to the waterfall! And it really was a petit paradis!
Otherwise, the office has officially moved out of the house - and our house is getting painted! We are thrilled - it feels like a new house!

Searching for Petit Paradis

First Glimpse of the waterfall

Petit Paradis...


Ahhh...its nice

Versatility of motos in Africa

Ella is born!!!!!

Monica is the proud and happy Aunt of Tim and Erika's beautiful baby - Ella Aquina Carlson, born October 12...For the amazing pics of this precious addition to the family - visit Tim and Erika's blog:

http://www.teamcarlson.blogspot.com/ (link on the right too)

Erika made it through ok, and is resting up after the birth - and they are so excited about their new little girl!

Segou and beyond...

Olivier and I have been having a lot of fun lately in Bamako...Geekcorps will be reopening their office down the street which is good news for us. We had a great weekend in Segou - a beautiful town on the Niger river...we watched France play rugby with a big group of french and canadian friends, we took a pirogue trip on the Niger, and we visited the Bogolan (mud cloth) museum. I'll add a few pics!

Village we visited on our pirogue trip

A few problems on the way to Segou - blown out tire!

Sunset on the Niger

Wood anyone?

Weekend in Siby

We decided to get out of the bustle of bamako - and head to the countryside. Siby is 40km outside of Bamako - towards the Guinea border. Mr. Sekou Camera guided us on a hike in the hot sun, to see the rock arch of Siby and we enjoyed chatting with people we met around town...



Mr. Sekou Camera - our guide!


On the road again...and it was hot


The arch of Siby!

Olivier - happy to be in Siby!

Settling in Bamako!

Well, we are getting things in order here in Bamako! We thought we put up some pictures of the house...click here. There are more to come. We visited a radio stations in KATI, 15 km north of Bamako where a community radio stations is running well. Olivier got an idea of the type of radio center he will be putting together. We took a moto ride this Sunday up into the hilly area around Kati, and it was beautiful and green due to the rainy season.

Arriving in Bamako

We arrived yesterday in wet Bamako...there is a huge house (but with leaking ceilings throughout due to the rainy season), a stocked kitchen, lots of computer stuff everywhere due to Olivier's work, and a moto to be fixed up...We have some days of cleaning and de-molding ahead of us. Otherwise we are moving fast to set up everything and get the house in order. Olivier also needs to find an office building to rent. We will get some pictures up soon...

Olivier and Monica go to Bamako!

This is the beginning of the Olivier and Monica Blog...we head to Bamako tomorrow and we will use this blog to keep everyone up to date on our exciting experiences in Mali!