Respectfully backing out the way we came

It's 2pm and we are back in Sevare.  Not too bad time-wise.  At the half-way point from Bandiagara we needed to walk over a bridge that was falling apart, carrying our luggage.  Afterwards they actually wanted more money to reboard the journey that we had already paid for.  It can be frustrating.  But it's such a joy to add in the tiny creature comforts as we go along now.  I am SO looking forward to getting back to the Sisters of Charity tomorrow for a day or two.  Following that visit we have scored a ride with them in their truck all the way to Bamako (that long 8 hour journey) which I am very thankful for.  It seems perfectly  timed that they are going to Bamako the same day as us to pick up a fellow Sister at the airport on Thursday.   Miracles abound.

It's strange how we spent one week mostly with women at the Mission... and it was GREAT.  Lots of laughter, safety, cleanliness, and NO staring or begging.  Then we spent a week moving throughout the Dogon villages and we were over 90% of the time in the company of men and boys of all ages.  There, all of the women were elsewhere caring for the home, their children, carrying the water, and cooking.  They were also working with the men in the crop fields using handhewn tools fashioned in the village by the blacksmith.  There were no women even transiently near the campements (their word for a place that visitors can sleep and eat).  Although, on one dark evening a group of women did arrive to share in a dance celebration, in honor of our visit.  After doing all that work during the day they still created time to come and dance and sing.  Several of them had their infants strapped to their backs to make the dancing even more of a hoot!!  But in general, encampment work is for men only; and I'm sure this has been created over the years as a variation of the village way-of-life caused by tourism.  How different it must have seemed when the outside visitors first arrived...  speaking differently, looking differently, buying up their most prized artifacts with all that money, often just for a souvenir. 

Arriving in a village our guide would immediately take us to this "campement" and sit us down for a rest.   And so the idleness begins... just sitting.  Siesta time.  Being constantly observed by the lounging men and boys, sort of like a zoo animal.  The children are looking for any kind of hand-out,  the adolescents are sometimes fun and try to practise the tiny bit of English they know, the young men puff their chests and lay about... ordering the younger boys around; as I'm sure they were treated not too long ago.   The men are kind, respectful, take your food order, and then commense trying to convince you to buy something from their shop.  They all craft different Dogon artifacts... because that is what we like to buy. 

This is how it was each afternoon after an awesome walk.  And then we would walk again around 4ish to another village to have dinner and spend the night.  Meeting people along the way was fantastic.  Mamadou, our guide, is Dogon and could answer nearly every question I could think of.  There is just SO much for me to share about the Dogon, it's quite an undertaking.

Cliffs of Bandiagara (Land of the Dogon)

The land is very rocky here and the homes are mostly built of rock with a mud roof.  The villages are scattered along a cliff that is just magnificent.  The people either live along the plateau (often with a beautiful vista over the plain),  nestled within the lower regions of the cliff itself, or located along the plain.  The plain is much easier for crops to grow and water to be found compared to the primarily rock plateau.   The region reminds me a lot of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.  This is reason enough why so many people come to visit.  The walking was easy when we weren't climbing or descending the cliff.  Next time I'll try to begin telling you more about the people...