Axel & I, elderstatesmen

Our last evening in Mali and, although we’ve been invited to a community social evening at the American International School of Bamako, we chose to just hang around at Sylvaine’s and Axel’s place. Axel had suggested a visit to the national museum of Mali, or a trip to the central market, but being the uncouth, uncultured, lazy and jaded people that we are, we decided to spend our last evening with them engaging in intense vegging.

One of the highlights of the week was when Axel brought us for lunch at a small unpretentious outdoor cafe just outside Bamako. This place sits on the banks of the Niger River. We ended up sitting in the shade under a mango tree all afternoon, sipping beer and munching on alocko (fried bananas). I immensely enjoyed my afternoon philosophizing with Axel. By late afternoon, Axel and I, elder states men that we are, anchored to our chairs, our heads shielded by not only the shade of the mango tree but also by our matching SFU baseball caps, a beer in one hand and a fried banana in the other, our attention occasionally drawn to the passing pirogues floating aimlessly on the Niger thus derailing our intense conversation relating to pressing and important world issues (e.i. how stunningly cute Jennifer, the 26 year old Peace Corps volunteer who works with Sylvaine is), had just about resolved the Middle East Crisis. We were barely getting into the Afghanistan theatre of conflict, when Madeleine started feeling a bit nauseous (no, it wasn’t the beer, she is still on multiple meds). She also felt a headache coming on, so we decided to end our summit on the banks of the Niger, and return home.

Back at the villa, Madeleine took a cool shower and with a quick soak in the pool, those 50 millions malarian parasites that are still circulating in her bloodstream went back in hibernation, and she felt much better. With those meds that Madeleine is taking on a daily basis, its just a matter of time before those parasites are eradicated from her system. The worse is over for her (the first time one is hit by malaria is the worse); I, on the other hand, am holding on to my boot straps because when it’ll hit (and it will, it’s inevitable), I want to be ready.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing yoga in our bedroom, more specifically, my favorite yoga pose: fetal position in my bed, eyes tightly shut, deep unconsciousness, for an hour or so. Yoga works well with me, especially after beer and fried bananas.

We were wined and dined this morning (more like coffeed and breakfasted) by the West African Regional Director of the Education Development Centre, the American NGO that Sylvaine works for. This lady had heard that Madeleine and I were in town, and invited us for breakfast. Very interesting conversation, and it is becoming evidently clear to both of us that this is the direction that we want to go in, especially after seeing the fantastic work Sylvaine is doing. Too bad I didn’t get into this 10 years ago when I was a bit younger and had to rely less on my afternoon yoga session to get me through the day. Oh well, I don’t mind aging, as long as I don’t grow old.

Tomorrow morning we head back ‘home’ to Conakry. Not too sure what’s waiting for us there. The elections that were suppose to happen last Sunday, were again postponed. Subsequent rioting in the streets of Conakry inevitably happened, the usual tear gas and burning tires scene, 2 dead and 50 injured....not too bad of a toll considering the election anxiety presently permeating all of Guinea. Unfortunately, these elections are becoming increasingly polarized between tribal and ethnic factions. Last weekend in the southern part of Guinea, police confiscated a truckload of machetes...the word machete sends shivers up everyone’s spine with flashbacks of Rwanda, circa 1994. I for one, am not willing to ‘shake hands’ with that particular devil. Needless to say, if it ever came close to that, we would both be on that plane very quickly. However, I am very optimistic that it won’t come to that.

And that’s the kind of day it’s been...I need to repack my bags.