I slept well at the Via-Via. I went to bed early and woke up early ready to listen to some music. At about 10am, I got breakfast--included at the Via-Via Hotels. just like in Senegal, a baguette with butter and jam. They give you hot water and a tea bag and a tube of Nescafe instant. I ate breakfast and watched the lizards or geckos doing their thing. There are a lot in the restaurant. They move fast, then stop still. After a while they do some pushups, then stay still for a while. I saw one bigger lizard--maybe a little over six inches in length go after a grasshopper about 1.5 inches long. The grasshopper escaped.
When it was all done, I decided to take a tour of Sévaré and find the post office where the bâches to Mopti leave from. From the Via Via, it's a bit of a hike. But I finally made it to the crossroads. People kept asking me if I wanted a taxi. Nope, just exploring Sévaré. I saw the post office with all the vans and pickups waiting to take people to Mopti. I went further. As I approached a military installation, the armed guard pointed at me and then swept his arm across to the other side of the street. I crossed the street and went a ways on. Finally, it was obvious I was at the end of the town and I came back.
I showered and went to the cafe of the Via Via. I got a small beer and a 1.5 liter bottle of water. I drank the beer and the water. Having had the 1.5 liters of water, I was ready to lug my baggage to the post office to get a bâche to Mopti. I was cool despite the heat. I got out a bit and a couple guys stopped me. They didn't want to give me a taxi ride, but a moto-taxi ride just to the post office. I got them down to CFA 500. A dollar. Probably high, but worth it. So I moto-taxied to the post office and arrived fresh. I was one of the last ones in the van. For CFA 225 (US$0.45), I got a seat in the front and was in Mopti after the 12km journey. The guy who sold me the ticket tried to convince me to be hire him as a guide, but I declined.
When I got to Mopti, a guy started following me to my hotel. I told him I knew where I was going. I did nothing that would make him think he deserved any money. I didn't want a repeat of the Paco situation on my first day in Dakar. Finally I got to the Hôtel Y Pas De Problem (The No Problem Hotel). I got a fan room for CFA 10000 (US$20). The guy waited for me. I was going to try to buy him off for CFA 300. All he did was follow me. But he had a different plan.
He wanted to organize an entire tour of Timbuktu, the Dogon country, everything. I told him the only thing I was interested in was a ticket on a boat to Timbuktu. Finally I got him agree to only that and we settled on CFA 5000 if he would help me get a boat ticket for the next day. His name is Mamadou Sikasso? (it was a name of a city, but I can't remember exactly.) We headed down to the big boats. He found one headed to Timbuktu the next day. I was actually kind of glad that he found me, because I would have no idea how to go about doing this. For me, the Comanav would have been the only option. So we found this boat and boarded.
OK, this boat is definitely NOT the type of boat I want to spend 3 days on. But, this IS the kind of boat that plies the River Niger. So I ain't got no choice if I want to leave tomorrow. The entire boat--about 30 meters long, was filled with bags of rice. The "kitchen" was in the middle--a short area about 2 meters wide with some charcoal grills. They pointed in the direction of the "bathroom". I didn't see anything resembling a bathroom, but I'll find out soon enough (and it won't be pretty). The passenger area is up on the end of the boat on the roof. We negotiated hard and he came down to no lower than CFA 22500 (US$45). Well, I would be on it for 2 nights--so it is cheap hotel pricing. But not as low as I wanted. It leaves Tuesday at 2pm and arrives Thursday at 6am--supposedly. It's basically a cargo vessel taking a few tons of rice to Timbuktu, so I'm sure the schedule is pretty much on.
As we left, Mamadou and I arranged to meet the next day to provision me. So we'll do that tomorrow at 8am. Then, I'll be ready to head to Timbuktu and hopefully arrive bright and early Thursday morning. A few days there, and then it's to Gao by boat if I can take another 3 day river journey. We'll see.
Anyway, now I'm in the Y Pas De Problem. I had a beer and chatted with the locals at the bar. I'm having a good French day. A very good French day. It's wonderful. This morning, listening to the TV at the Via-Via, I almost (but not quite) could keep up with the French news. I just got out of the swimming pool, too. The water is warm and not refreshing at all. Oh well. There are a lot of white people here, but so far no Americans. I guess white people everywhere want to go to Timbuktu.
September 22, 2008 17:45 Mali local time
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