August 12th, back to Bamako

What a long day!

I was at the bus station at 4:15am. There were already a ton of people there. Pretty much the only people awake in the town were us.

Such a ridiculous thing to take off at 5am when the bus has to stop at 5:30am for the first prayer. Departing at 6am would make so much more sense. Sometimes I tend to forget I am in the country/continent where logic is a foreign concept. Oh well...

And so for once the bus departed on time. Who knew this was possible in this country?! Lol

The bus was full. Not a single seat empty/ not single window either, and no AC nor ventilation. It was going to be a long ride for sure. 10 hours is the average for the Mopti-Bamako leg. Aiiiii!!!!!  The seats were so uncomfortable.

The worst part as is usually the case in every bus ride, people were eating like pigs. Instead of keeping detritus in a plastic bag like we do in the West, they just spit everything out on the floor in the aisle of the bus. I am dead serious. Everything. And often, they don't even actually spit, but rather drule things out of their mouths and onto the floor. The most disgusting animal behavior I have ever seen on my travels thus far. I just don't understand how such eating habit can still exist nowadays. As if cavemen still existed. By the end of the ride, the whole floor of the bus was no cleaner than the floor of a garbage dumping site. Even with sandals I was reluctant to putting my feet on the floor.

The ride was terribly long. I just wanted to arrive, take a good shower and go eat the yummy ground beef sandwich near the big boulevard. Lol I just wanted to arrive.

At last we did arrive. It was good to be back in Bamako. I had my marks. I knew my way around, sort of. Interesting how my first weeks in Bamako didn't go so well. I didn't actually enjoy my time here when I first arrived in Mali. And now I am happy to be back here. Strange...

Anyhow, once at the mission catholique, I saw the nuns again. We both were happy to see each other. Little Adama with his cute smile was here too.

I took a good shower, washed some clothes, and we headed out to eat the yummy sandwiches at last.

Long day but and early night.

Exhaustion took over. Am already in bed...and will be dreaming about Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco and Brazil, I know it.

Sweet dreams...