Sikasso, you're the bomb.com!

I ni ce! (Hello in Bambara)

Sorry that I waited so long to write and then wrote a novels-worth of information. Haha… ENJOY!

First of all, you can all be reassured… my confidence in dancing has been restored. The night after ‘African boites are super intimidating’, while going out with some classmates, I remembered that although we can’t dance well… at least we are all in the same boat, figuratively. It’s not about the grace or technical level of your dancing but the spirit you have while doing it. To compliment my reestablished love of dancing, the very next night I had yet another opportunity to showcase my overly ‘white’ dance skills…
If you haven’t figured it out yet, Africans LOVE to dance. I would say their love and ability to dance is more of a defining characteristic than the color of anyone’s skin. On the night of their Independence, September 22, my street had a rather large block party a few minutes from my house. The party basically consisted of all of the neighborhood families circling themselves up with a DJ and huge bright lights, in the middle of a dirt street, to dance and party the night away. An emcee stood in the center of the circle and called out different age groups of kids to dance to different songs. Wanting to experience all that we could, a handful of my classmates and I attended the function with each other and a few members of our family. Because my friends and I glow in the dark, due to the light nature of our skin, we were immediately noticed. Not only did we receive front row seats, chairs included, for the event, but we were also summoned into the center of the dance circle. As I am sure you can imagine the crowd went absolutely wild. What could be better for a young group of Africans, who learned to dance before they could walk, then to watch a group of white kids try and awkwardly dance for their entertainment? Nothing, is the answer for which you are looking. So, we laughingly make our way out to the center of the circle… the music starts… and the song is none other than “Gasolina”—a favorite of mine from high school. Needless to say, we collectively ‘left it all out on the dance floor’ and showed them that although we cannot dance well, we can adopt their attitude of ‘live life to the fullest and love every minute of it.’ Overall the night was an inspirational tribute to the movement of our bodies and a celebration of our universal love and appreciation of music. And much to my surprise, what I thought was a one-time occurrence for their Independence Day celebration, is actually a regular occurrence in my neighborhood… maybe by the time I get back, I’ll be a dancing pro! Watch out “So You Think You Can Dance”… here I come!

Flash forward a few days to this past weekend.
My class and I traveled to a different city for a mini-vacation to escape our normal lives in Bamako. We drove 6 hours in crowded, non-air conditioned vans over the bumpiest roads I have ever seen—a comical tribute to Mali’s lack of infrastructure and France’s blatant disregard for ‘responsible colonialism’ (an oxymoron in and of itself). We left school early Friday morning and arrived in Sikasso, the city of our weekend get-away, around 2pm. After enjoying a quick lunch, we got a much needed surprise… we were going to the POOL!
To capture our excitement, revert back to your memories of your early childhood and that first day of summer when you and all of your friends headed to the neighborhood pool. Youdid your first big cannon ball into the cool, refreshing water… and as you pull your head out of the water and take a big gasping breath of warm summer air, all you can think is “life is good.” Nothing feels better on hot, sweaty, bugbitten skin than chlorinated pool water. After the pool, we went back to our hotel to find our dinner tables had been placed outside, under the stars. My class and I enjoyed a romantic dinner under the stars accompanied by some of the best food we have experienced on our entire trip thus far.
After going to bed completely satisfied, we woke up early the next morning and I completed an achievement I did not think was possible for myself… a THIRD hike! We drove a distance out from the city to a place with huge, rock-like, mountainous structures. To scale up the side of the rock formations, there were long ladders we had to climb up and over to get past the more dangerous cliff areas. The large rock formations consisted not only of steep cliffs, but also large caves which served as living quarters and prayer areas for local Muslim men. The view from the top was breathtaking and worth the scary hike up and then back down the side of the cliffs and small mountain side. Once on top of the rocks, we could see forever… the African landscape is a beautiful site from any location but the bird’s eye view definitely ‘adds a little something extra’ to its overall impact and beauty. The small shrubbery or bush was vibrant green in contrast to the reddish dirt. We could see large herds of moving cattle and small collections of huts scattered throughout the countryside. It was a site that you would never have the opportunity to witness in Bamako. After the hike, we saw a few more of Sikasso’s ‘high-lights’ including their version of China’s great wall and the tomb of Tata, a beloved past ruler of the area.
Although I thought the morning hike could not be trumped, I was happily proven wrong. After lunch and a quick rest, we went to see a cascade, or waterfall. Sikasso’s temperature was overall better and cooler than Bamako’s to begin with because it is located in a different part of the country, but the rush of the water from the waterfall added to an even cooler and extremely refreshing feeling. We walked around the top and then to the base of it, and even stopped to pose for several pictures as I am sure you have seen from my previous post. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to touch, let alone play, in the water because we are ‘fragile’ as they like to say… but witnessing its beauty was enough of a treat. After another romantic, outdoor dinner with everyone, a few of my friends and I headed to the roof of our hotel where we stationed ourselves for the rest of the night. We stayed up there listening to music, talking, and enjoying the incredibly cool weather under a full blanket of glowing stars.
The next morning we left bright and early to return to Bamako and although the ride was overall uneventful, one somewhat interesting thing happened… I had to pee outside in the African bush. Because they don’t have Quicktrips on every corner here, let alone any sort of bathroom-like structure, halfway though our ride home my van had to stop to take a restroom break. We all wadded through tall grasses into a clearing, scattered away into our own little corners of animal-less peace and did our business rural Africa style. My great aunt used to forewarn me about situations like that when I was young, encouraging me to ALWAYS use the bathroom before I got in the car… another life lesson learned, I am never too old or smart or cool to listen to the wise advice of my Great Aunt Wanda.

I made it back to my host family safe and sound, but not very well rested. It was a long and tiring weekend but one that was desperately needed. The weekend away was the perfect escape my entire class and I needed from Bamako and the stressful daily grind of school, our host families, and every other challenge that gets thrown our way every day.

A lot of people have asked for it so I am going to go ahead and post my address on here, that way I don’t have to message every single person individually:

Sarah Pontier
c/o Modibo Coulibaly
Baco Dijikotoni- ACI- Sud
Rue 732 Porte 54
Bamako
Mali

I’ll try and post funny stories later this week before I leave for my rural visit stay next week.
If you can’t tell, everything is still going great here and I can’t believe I have been here for over a month… it seems like such a long time, but in the same breath… it still kind of feels like I just got here.

Everyone is still doing a great job of keeping me updated! Great job  and thanks!
I love and miss you all.

Love, Sarah