Peace Corps Address

Joe's cell #
602-663-4353

Ashley's cell #
602-717-7071

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Keep truckin

Ashley and I got a chance to enjoy a pool at a hotel in our regional capital a few weeks ago - a pool on the edge of the Sahara Desert is Priceless (we paid $4 USD to swim)



Guys in our village with a homemade loom are weaving traditional fabric to sell at market
It is amazing that this is all hand produced
Hand Made in Mali
Some little kids from our village who wanted their picture taken...who could resist
These ladies also wanted their photo taken...I could only get the one on the right to smile, the other woman would not do it
These are the granary in our village - each family has there own granary which holds enough food from harvest to last them the whole year.
Traditional Dogon ladder - this is how they get on their roofs to dry grains or to do repairs before rainy season starts
Our neighbor boy bringing the family cattle back into village for the evening
My friend Umar (on the right) with his brother and his daughter - Umar is in the process of building this new house for one of his two wives. 
Ashley and Ambaybem - Ambaybem follows Ashley around village most days
A great sunset
Our good friend Ryan (a third year PC volunteer - yes that means he liked it so much he decided to stay longer than the required two years) giving a presentation outside our house on Urine Fertilization, a process of taking and peeing into a large yellow jug, letting it sit for a few days, diluting it with water and then using as a organic fertilizer (Urine is rich in nitrogen and other nutrients).  This is great because many people in our village can't afford fertilizer 


If you listen close you can hear that Ryan speaks fluent Bambara, which is a language spoken throughout Mali (the people in our village speak Donoso, but many also know Bambara and Fulani)

Sunday, April 5, 2009

TOMBOUCTOU or Timbuktu

Ashley and I along with six of our friends recently embarked on a "life goal list check off" adventure to the fabled city of Timbuktu.


"The rich king of Tombuto hath many plates and sceptres of gold, some whereof weigh 1300 pounds. ... He hath always 3000 horsemen ... (and) a great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are bountifully maintained at the king's expense."   
                                                                                                      - Leo Africanus (1512)


We rented an SUV and headed off for seven hour drive north right to the edge of the Sahara - this is our SUV on the ferry crossing the Niger River


Sankore Madrasah - built in 1581 AD 
Sankore Mosque
We stopped by to take a look at the ancient manuscripts of Timbuktu - some of them date from pre-Islamic times 

We took camels out of the city to go sleep in the dunes

The group of us on our camels...the weather was nice and it was beautiful riding our camels into the desert as the sun was setting

The five girls looking pretty cool and keeping the sand and sun out of their faces


Ashley is a natural on a camel
We arrived for the night at our Tuareg encampment where we were served a traditional meal and drank tea
The light of a new morning