Mali Photos Five...

These were women in Sevare, Mali that were just walking by us, persumably on their way home from selling in the market (only women sell in the markets and most of them have huge bowls or basins like the ones on their heads). They were all very nice and the colors and variety of their cloth was quite impressive. Also, if you notice the area around lips ofthe women has been colored black. I only saw this Mali on about half of the women. I do not know why they do it, but it looks like then have been eating charcoal. On the trek back from Tombouctou, we stopped to fix a flat tire in the middle of Dogone country. In the middle of the Sahel there are these huge rock formations that, partially do to the uniform flatness of the surronding landscape, are very not only monstrous, but also ominous.

This is actually in Mamobi, Ghana (my neighborhood in Accra). While walking around I talked to an old women and noticed that there were kittens running around that could not have been more than a few weeks old. I am a sucker for kittens so I ended up playing with them for at least half an hour.

This is an example of how they fish on The Niger River. He takes this huge net wades into the water and then throw it out in hopes of trapping the fish under the net. It is really neat to see them just as they throw the net into the river.

Andrea and Galicka under the canopy on the boat. It took Galicka a little time to warm up to me, but within a few hours her and Andrea were life long best friends. It was charming to see two people from vastly different countries and cultures, with different ages and traditions, religions, languages, and skin color to be able to connect so easily and deeply.