We have had a couple of power outages in the last few days. I think there might be some sort of oil crisis here—I hear they were rationing gasoline in Bandiagara, so maybe that has something to do with the power outages? In any case, hopefully oil doesn’t dry up completely in the next year, leaving me stranded over here lest I want to take a steam ship home.
I had one more scorpion sighting last night, in the doorway of the AC room. Again, I called for Seydou, and he crushed it, and I was paranoid for the next few hours. That’s just how it goes. But funny how things that can actually hurt you (scorpions, mosquitoes) put other things that are just gross (spiders) in perspective. Here, I’ll shake the hand of any spider that wants to eat malaria-ridden mosquitoes.
Yesterday we had a bit of a dust/rain storm, as they happen here. If you go up on the roof, you can see them brewing in the west—a big brown wall of dust that advances with a strong wind and lightning, leaving rain in its wake. Apparently we haven’t had too bad of a storm yet. There are times, apparently, where the sky turns red or black and you can’t even see 2 feet in front of you. Crazy.
Douentza is a fun little town. Well, there’s nothing to do, per se, but at least there are shops where you can get cold drinks and there’s electricity and internet. It’s also quite pretty, surrounded by cliffs. If you go up on our roof, you look out over a sea of mud brick houses and neem trees to the big cliffs jutting up not so far off.
Abbie comes home tomorrow from the bush; it will be very good to see her, having gone almost three weeks apart. Jeff should be back either tomorrow or Monday, and then Kirill on Tuesday, and our whole little clan is back together again to celebrate the 4th. After that, I think the plan is to go up to Gasa (spelling?) to hunt down some elephants. That will most definitely rock.
Oh, and now mail just became easier! Here's a blast from the past: my "address" is simply
Mlle Laura McPherson
Région de Mopti, Cercle de Douentza
Mali
That's it. And they'll just hold stuff for me at the post office. If only we could do that in the US: Laura McPherson, Los Angeles, USA. Yeah right.
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2 comments:
Jacinta is also very afraid of scorpions, although where you find them in her part of Africa is sortof predictable -- old piles of wood, i.e., dark, damp places. Not just out in the open, like you're apparently finding the buggers. When I visit my aunt and uncle in Arizona, they always tell us not to leave our shoes just sitting out on the floor, and if we do, to shake them out before putting them on. I guess that could be good advice for Mali, too. I agree -- scorpions are way creepier than malaria-eating spiders, although apparently there are some really dangerous spiders out here in the LA area. OTOH, they're not nearly as deathly as the sorority chicks driving their Range Rovers on the 405, while chatting on their cell phones.
I should add, along with everyone else, that I'm really enjoying reading your blog, Laura. I just got back from an interview in Manchester, UK, and on the way out there, I read a book called The Ponds of Kalambayi , a memoir of a Peace Corps volunteer's experience in Zaire in the 1980s. I read the book cover-to-cover on the flight (I can't even read a paper on Bantu tone with such attention), and I find your posts equally compelling. Say hi to Abbie and Jeff for me. All signs are currently pointing to me taking a one-year (maybe two-year) position at Indiana, so there's a good chance I'll see Abbie when she gets back!
I'm glad your whole group is getting back together. It'll probably feel really good to see all of them again. And yay for simple addresses. I sent you something a little while ago. Idk if you got it or not. This will definitely be an easier address to write to though.
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