Ha! Sometimes I am a bit stubborn and proud...maybe it is bad, I don't know...it always turning out OK in the end.
I got to the bus/pick up station at 6:30am like I had been told. There was already a line up but enough tickets left.
As I walk to the ticket man, I don't even have the time to say Hello or ask the price, and the guy doesn't even say Hello himself. All I here is the price, in a mean disrespectful way. I don't like him already. Then he tells me I have to pay extra for the bag. Hmmm...and then he tells me I have to put my back on the roof. I insist and tell him I prefer to take it on my lap. It's OK for me. He just pretends he doesn't hear me and repeat his disrespectful order to out it on the roof. I insist again, and the same thing happens. I just thank him, give him his ticket back, and decide to start walking. What the hell!? If the locals allow people to treat them like dogs, up to them. I don't.
Mopti is 75km away. Hmmm...I just hope I can hitchhike a ride from someone.
After an hour of walking and barely any 4-wheelers passing by, I get concerned that maybe it was dumb of me to have decided to walk am not even sure they are used toi seeing tourists hitchhike around here.
After a couple of hours walking, a kid finally stops by on his small motorcycle. He wants gas money. Fair enough. But he wants $10! Hell no. The pick up ticket was $3. His bike would definitely not use more than 3 liters of gas. So I tell him I will not give him more than $3. He agrees. Off we go.
His bike was so small, it was the most uncomfortable ride ever. Didn't know where to put my hands to get stable. I could barely put my feet anywhere. Ufff...
At one point we got to a Police check point. They check his papers. He worked for a big NGO here. Probably another inefficient money sucking NGO. The cop looks at my passport, not even sure he could read. This check point is the exact same one I went through when I arrived by bus from Bamako with Amadou. And the cop dared telling me that I should have notified the police when I arrived and entered the Pays Dogon. Is he really that dumb? I told him that when I did enter the Pays Dogon I went through this exact check point, so the police was notified. What else was I supposed to do?! Doh?! Another retarded corrupt lazy ass of a cop trying to act smart and maybe get extra money from people.
He let us go.
The kid actually dropped me off in Sevare, where he was going. There I quickly met up with Alleye who works there during the week. It was good to see him. He helped me buy some anti biotics and get on a shared taxi to Mopti.
Arriving in Mopti was just as the guide books say: filled with annoying guides and touts. One guy helped get to a cheap hotel. My own room and bathroom for the same price I paid in the dorms in Bamako. Great! Still a bit overpriced if you ask me.
I take a good shower and a very long nap. I was so tired from the long exhausting day and from my illness.
I get out at last and am quite set on walking around town and discovering it all. It is boiling hot and pollutes outside.
Tout after tout. I just dodge them. I keep walking away, passed the big mosque, passed the old town, far away and into parts of the whole town no tourist would ever go for sure.
At some point I bump into this little 11 year old kid, Mahmood. He does not want money or gift or anything. He is just happy to communicate and even tells me about how good the French president acted against the rebels in the north. And so we chat a bit as we all a lot. Just like two friends. We walk around the whole town until we reach back the town front entrance gate.
I gave him some bananas. We say good bye. I go my way he goes his.
Mopti is surrounded by water. A lake on one side and two connecting rivers on the other. They call it the Venice of Mali. Yeah right! Not even close to that! But I guess it is a tourism strategy. Not sure how well it works though.
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