Djenne Outing

Thursday 24 December Xmas Eve
Breakfast at Macs is an affair - fresh fruit salad, muesli, french toast, pancakes, syrups etc with full table service all presided over by Mac himself. 3 canadians studying in Ghana are there at breakfast - Sarah was recovering from Malaria & Diego had stop taking his prophylactics 5 weeks earlier, just because. So of course the table converstaion centred on Malaria, the prevention of & cures etc. They had plans to visit Djenné today  & I asked if I could join then - sure... 2 hrs there, 2 hrs back... We leave @ 9.30am hmmm
Djenné is on the inland Niger Delta & it's history is closely linked with that of Timbuktu. when much of the trans-Saharan trade in salt, gold and slaves that moved in and out of Timbuktu passed through Djenné. The town is famous for its distinctive mud-brick Great Mosque, designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988 & is the largest mud brick building in the world. I had planned on travelling there to stay for a couple of nights to see its popular market, but considering the opportunity is presenting itself, I would see Djenné without the hustle & bustle as its only my 3rd day here in Africa.
We are picked up by a lovely young Malian who is happy just to take foreigners sight seeing in his country, without payment (unusual!). His car does seem a little down at heel, but it toddles along for a while, before puttering out in a small village. We emerge form this car and are immediately the centre of attention for the impoverished kids here. Some are horrified and back off, others clamour for photo, photo. A little while later we pile back in the car to travel another 40 kms before comeing to another halt. Hmm now I begin to sense a pattern here. Are you? 3 hours later we arrive at the ferry to Djenne, where we are pounced upon by souvenir sellers - remember its a very slow year for Mali tourism this year due to the many travel warnings being put out by govenments (the Malians blame the French!) I know the drill - don't touch it, and never ask its price if you don't want it - you'll be in for the long haul otherwise trying to shake off a persistant vendor..
We are offered a guide - I don't think we need one,but is the Canadians' trip and if they really want one I'll contirbute. Our driver tells the Canadians that they won't really need one & next thing he is being harangued by the local vendors/guides for his advice. During this performance the ferry leaves without us and apparently will return when there are at least 2 cars to transport. We settle in to wait for another tourist, who are in short supply. We finally get to Djenné at 2pm for lunch, and calculate that we have a couple of hours to have a look around allowing for the 3 hour return trip to Sevare in time for dinner @ Macs, at 7pm. We order lunch - the specialty of tion-tion (dried onions, tomatoes & chicken & rice). Nearly an hour later it's served by which time we've all had a good look around and been harangued by desperate locals looking for ANY tourists to sell to. But our driver has received good advice for his car and gives us the thumbs up - we'll be right to get back. Good news, we think.
Soon enough its 4pm and we toddle back to the river back where there is a line up of 4wds and for whatever reason our driver decides to beat everyone to the punch and lurches foreard to 'push in' to get on the ferry first. Of course, halfway up the planks, the car stalls in the water and we slowly sink back into the water. We are non too keen to get out tof the car, so in amongst the yeling the ferry crew try to push the car back. However our driver has other ideas (I'm beginning to doubt his thinking powers really) and starts trying to accelerate up the planks again to get on board, successfully soaking the ferry crew who want to push him out of the way... Not good. We don't want to get out of the car, in the water, so everyone has no option but to push the car back to the riverbank to let the us out and the 4wds on the ferry. On the bank, someone indicates a 4wd to get into, to get on the ferry. Then everyone is on board, and then a bloke is in my face - cadeau, cadeau (gift, gift). I have no idea what he is on about but slowly I get it - he wants money for letting us in his 4wd & on to the ferry!! NO WAY The canadians try reasoning with him - surely there is a line where you do something for payment & then you can do something for good will? No he didn't understand that! In the end I give him a tip - work hard & love your mother, get it translated to french. He is VERY unhappy and we are mighty annoyed with touts/souvenir sellers etc. 
We are soon on the road heading back to Sevare and soon enough the temp gauge is up and we are stopping again. And again. And again. We make it to the highway with no hope of the car going again - he forgot to fill the radiator with water! He arranges for a tow, and the Canadians are beside themselves trying to contact Mack to let him know we'll be late for dinner. I can't understand the urgency myself but they keep trying for reception - mind you we are in the middle of nowhere.. Towing a kaput car. And then of course the rope breaks several time. And then it becomes apparent we are going seriously off road - to avoid the road block/police because towing a car at night is not legal? With the headlights off, because we do not want to be detected! He is driving with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a tiny torch to see the way! But we soon see the back of the power station, we've made it and 12 hours later we're back for xmas eve @ Macks. He had our dinner ready for us - its Chinese food tonight to the tune of xmas carols. I m beginning to understand that Mack has created an eccentric world of his own out here. With full table service for meals, a strict way of doing tasks on time & holding forth at his table of international strangers !