Ségou To Mopti (Actually Sévaré)

I decided to go to Ségou because I thought the overhead of breaking up my trip was worth breaking one long trip into two shorter ones. Of course, now I'm not so sure.

I woke up at 9ish after my OK sleep. At least there was AC. I showered, changed, and headed out to see what I could see of Ségou. Ségou has a fiar number of merchants. Most are kids. I didn't have much in the way of small money, but the kid with Bako found me pretty quick and wanted to sell me some keychains and a necklace. I agreed to take 2 necklaces for CFA 3000 (US$6). But he didn't have change. So I headed into l'Auberge for a coffee and to get some change. They gave me a CFA200 coin and 2 CFA2000 notes. They didn't have any CFA1000 notes. So I bought 3 keychains for CFA 4000 (US$8). Another guy wanted to sell me handpainted postcards. I guess I was in a generous mood since I agreed to take 2 for CFA 800. But I was out of change again, so I went back in and got a beer this time. Again, I got CFA 2000's as change. The kid had only € as change and he didn't know how much they were worth, so I gave him CFA 2000 and took 2 0.50€'s and 3 0.20€ coins. A fair deal.

The first time I went into l'Auberge, the owners noticed I had the latest Lonely Planet. They were quite interested and asked if they could see it. They were reading it while I was buying the keychains. When I came back in, they had gotten out the English to French dictionary. I helped them with "the only drawback of the decent (but unspectacular) rooms are that they a short block away". They didn't know the meaning of "drawback" and "decent". I told them it was "faute" and "assez bon". They were satisfied that the Lonely Planet said the distance between the bar/pool and the rooms was the only fault. They checked the publication date and photocopied the page with the information about their place.

The guy behind the bar told me that there is an 11am bus to Mopti and it was the only one. It was 10am. That meant I had to go pretty soon. (Dammit! I wanted to stay because l'Auberge is a WiFi space.) I downed my beer, looked at the shop of a Tuareg guy who wanted me to see his stuff, and headed off. I ran into Bako again and he showed me the way to the Bittar station. Again, I paid him CFA 2000. He is a nice guy. I guess sometimes when you travel alone, you find certain people who for some reason or another you don't mind helping a bit. Bako was one of those guys. I got a ticket to Mopti and Baki stayed with me for a while. He explained that I should buy some kola nuts because people in the desert love kola nuts. He talked all about kola nuts. A kilogram, he said, was about CFA 6000 (US$12). I didn't get any kola nuts, but I did get a bottle of water. I paid CFA 5000 and trusted the kid to return me CFA 4000. I figured in Ségou, it was a safe bet and about 10 minutes later, the kid came with my CFA 4000.

At 12:30, the bus left. They take your name in case there are too many people--they call out names and the leftovers don't get on, but there weren't too many and I got a seat near the rear. The bus was stopping fairly often. About half the stops were gendarmerie checkpoints where the merchants come on and sell stuff. They were selling something I thought might be some sort of cheese, but I realized it was melon. At one point, the bus took off with 2 merchants on board and didn't stop for about 1 km. So the merchants had to walk back. Hardly worth it for a root and a melon bag. But I guess to them a walk in the hot sun is worth selling a 2 foot long root of some sort. It was pretty funny and everyone in the bus was laughing that 2 merchants turned into accidental stowaways.

It was hot and the sun was not always on the same side of the bus. But about halfway through, from San, the AC was on. It wasn't a refreshing AC, but it was better than no AC. Also from San, the bus sort of turns into a local bus with lot's of stops and people getting on and off.
At about 6pm, we arrived at Sévaré. I was under the impression that it would go to Mopti, but it doesn't actually go to Mopti--just the neighboring hub of Sévaré. Well, it was late, so I checked my Lonely Planet and saw the the Via-Via was next door to the gre routier in Sévaré. I got my stuff and a guy asked if I wanted a cab. I said I was just going to the Via-Via. He said he knows the Via Via and would take me there for CFA 2000 (US$4). ?! It's right next door. Another guy said he'd show me the way for CFA 500. US$1. What the hell? I let him show me even though I knew I could find it myself. Along the way, he said it was crazy to charge CFA 2000 to take me here. I told the guy it was crazy to charge CFA 500 as well. ;-) I only had a CFA 2000 note so I asked for change. The "guide" tried to arrange it with the Via Via guy to give me CFA 1000 (which I got) and him CFA 1000 (which he didn't get). But he underestimated my French. I told the Via Via guy that I only owe the guy CFA 500 and I should get the other CFA 500. So he'll get his CFA 500 later when they have change. Mine will come off my bill since the Via Via system is that you pay at the end.

I got 1 large Flag (CFA 1000), 2 small Flags (CFA 500 x 2), a beef curry (without anything resembling Indian spices) for CFA 2000 and rice for CFA 500. So a nice meal for CFA 4500 or US$9. The room is probably CFA 12000 for the fan room--I didn't take the AC room.
Tomorrow I'll go to Mopti and find the Comanav schedule. Then I'll decide what I'll do. I can take the Comanav big boat or a variety of pinasse options.

It was nice to have a relatively event free trip after the flat tire/recalcitrant nut debacle last night. My next journey will be a 2 or 3 day boat ride on the Niger River, so I needed a stress-free leg.

It was interesting seeing the change in architecture on the trip. Between the Guinea border and Bamako, the round houses with conical thatched roofs were giving way to square houses with thatched roofs. On this side of Bamako, the round houses are almost gone. There was one village that had them, but it probably has some people of Guinean origin. The houses turned into square with flat roofs and pipes draining the roofs. The building material is mud brick with mud coating. Some houses were longer, but all the rooms were about 4 or 5 meters by 4 or 5 meters. The compounds were walls of mud brick--not the rattan weaved wooden palisades common in Guinea. It is hot and dry. With Ramadan, it's torture. I saw a few mud mosquées. There were also smaller mud auxiliary buildings. Perhaps kilns or ovens. Perhaps outhouses. These buildings are usually not quite cubical but shaped more like a taller version of a panatone cake box.

September 21, 2008 21:17 Mali local time