Olivier and Monica in Bamako: 2008

lundi 10 novembre 2008

Voyage en France- Sept 2008

It's been such a long time since we've posted. But I really wanted to post some of the amazing pictures from our trip throughout France in September. We started in Paris, went to Bordeaux, then down to Biarritz, into the gorgeous Basque region mountains where we followed the Brebis cheese trail, then we went down to check out San Sebastien in Spain and then over to Carcassone - the amazing medieval fortress, then over to Montpellier where Olivier's parents live. Unfortunately, we found out in Montpellier after a trip to the emergency room that Olivier had malaria...Mali couldn't leave us - even for our vacation in France! :(

Monica in Bordeaux

Biarritz - Gorgeous

Oysters! in Biarritz

Cow in Basque region

Hunk of cheese we bought in someone's house in Basque country

San Sebastien!

Overlooking San Sebastien

Carcassone

lundi 11 août 2008

Siby Adventures - starring Maxime Gras

Olivier's friend Maxime is in Bamako and we decided to take a little moto adventure to Siby... We enjoyed seeing Mali covered in green once again.

Maxime and a little yellow chinese moto...

Chinese moto breaks down in the middle of nowhere and Maxime hangs on to our Moto until we find the next village!

The mechanic in the next village is on vacation. Maxime looks on as they put little yellow chinese bike into a van on its way to Siby.

Happy to be in Siby - finally

Hike to the "Arche" of Siby

Maxime a l'arche...

Le retour

Weekend Break...in Dakar and the Petit Cote

Time to relax on the beach for a few days.... Olivier spent a few difficult weeks up in the North of Mali for work. We decided to take a quick trip to relax and see the ocean.

We came across an amazing catch of swordfish...

We stayed in Somone, in a great bungalow, right on the ocean...

Our Biking Expedition along the lagoon of Somone

Back in Dakar - visit to Goree Island (Ile Goree)

Gorgeous streets on Goree

jeudi 17 juillet 2008

Visiting Ella

I couldn't resist putting up this video of my cute niece - Ella! She is almost 9 months old.

vendredi 6 juin 2008

Senegal - Tambacounda to Kafountine to Ziguinchor to Dakar to St. Louis...and back to Bamako!

Olivier flying his kite in Kafountine...

Olivier and I decided we really needed to...see the ocean! So after long debates between Guinea and Senegal, we finally decided on Senegal...we had heard so much about how beautiful the Casamance region underneath The Gambia is. So, after a long two day trip...and hours and hours on the road,...we finally arrived in Kafoutine...a beach town north of Ziguinchor.

It was so amazing to arrive...to sleep just 50 meters from the water and enjoy the sights and sounds of the ocean and a bustling fishing hub. There were hundreds of fishing boats at the port in the town and we saw some amazing piles of fish of all kinds - sting rays, hammerhead shark, grouper... We also decided to spend one day exploring the mangroves. We found some fishermen who agreed to take us to the Iles Karone... Islands that you reach through a maze of waterways. It was a two-hour boat ride to get to the village our recent acquaintance was from... The most exciting part was the return...where about an hour into the ride, as we were driving AGAINST tide, the motor blew out. We hadn't passed a single other boat the entire day...it was 5pm and getting dark...and our two young guides decided we'd "wait" for the "next boat" that should come by later!!! Olivier turned into MacGyvor instantly - pulled out his swiss arymy knife, found some random piece of metal he sawed up, took apart the boat motor piece by piece and within a 1/2 hr we had a working motor. Wow... the two Senegalais were impressed! As was I! We spent a few days in Kafoutine, and then headed to Ziguinchor - an old French colonial town that served as a major trading port for the French - it is located at the mouth of the Casamance river... which flows in from the ocean. We feel in love with the town immediately - vibrant, beautiful old buildings, river flowing through it...and people were so friendly. From Ziguinchor, we decided to take their new ferry (the previous ferry - the Joola - was the one that tragically sunk a few years ago...It had only one working motor and 2,000 passengers rather than the 500 person limit!!!). The new ferry came straight from Germany and felt brand new. We had a fun overnight ferry ride and arrived in Dakar the next morning by 7am... From Dakar we drove around the city a bit... and then headed up to St. Louis (another major French Colonial town...) and again fell in love with the city. We wanted to stay longer but alas, after two nights we had to start our drive home. Within a few hours of leaving St. Louis we reentered the SAHEL - desert-like, dry, hot, and we realized then we were really going back to Mali...

Bustling fishing port in Kafountine...

In the mangroves on the way to Ile Karone

Olivier...after he fixed the motor!

Sorting the catch..

A tortoise was caught in the net! Pretty amazing to see, happily they let the tortoise back in the ocean.

Shark meat

Breakfast near the beach...

Drying fish...

Colonial buildings in Ziguinchor

The new ferry!

Sunset in St. Louis

Street in St. Louis

Ahhh...heat and dust, we're back in the Sahel

mardi 15 avril 2008

Joyeux Anniversaire Olivier!

Happy Birthday to Olivier!

(And Happy Birthday to my wonderful mom too!)

lundi 14 avril 2008

Derniers jours a Gao...

We are finally back in Bamako after a great 2 week stay in Gao. Olivier sucessfully pulled off the radio station training with his Geekcorps Gao and Bamako teams...and we spent one night in Mopti on the way back to Bamako. 6 hour drive between Gao and Mopti was a bit tiring. And the small plane we took from Mopti got scary considering it was a VERY windy day - lets just say we were happy to land safely.

Visit to animal market in Gao - takes place every Tuesday. All the donkeys, camels, cows and goats you could ever want! We inquired on the price of camels...a bit expensive - 200,000 to 400,000 FCFA (400 to 800 dollars!)