Mali Day 5
My ass is numb. No let me state that a bit better. My body is numb from the waist down.
We were unable to get a flight to site. That meant we had to face a 7 hour road trip to site. Dada (our local contact) had arranged a Land Cruiser for the trip. We were to start the trip at 6am and hopefully get there in time for lunch. What did not bode well was Dada arriving at 5:45 and mentioning that he needed to sort out the spare tyres as both of them were flat. We had breakfast while we waited for the process to take place.
Starting the trip, we were advised that the owner of the vehicle had come up with 4 new tyres and did we want to go over and change them out. Already running late, I tossed my hat in with lady luck and said “no worries, we use what we have”. Fortunately we did not have any issues with the tyres.
The road from Bamako to Sikaso starts off really well. Our driver had – like all drivers we use – done courses on “press accelerator flat and hold tight” The road was newly tarred and we averaged 140kmph. I was starting to wonder why the trip takes 7 hours. (refer one of my previous posts where I made the same error). Around 100km out of town the reason why the tar was good became apparent. They were refurbishing the road. The road gradually got worse until we went through Sikaso and turned off on a dirt road. Pear shaped!
The road was ack!
Driver was doing 100kmph on a dirt road and we realized he had attended the rally course as well. I was like James Bond. Shaken, not stirred.
The mine is in the middle of no where. I mean it! There is absolutely nothing around it. Nearest bank is 2 hours away. Poor site lads.
Good meetings. Gained a good idea of the job. The pub had no Captain Morgan, so I drank beer and we were asleep by 10. The accommodation is good if basic.
We left site at 12 and a further ass numbing trip back to Bamako.
Arrived at the hotel, had a stiff drink, had a meeting with the clients’ rep, had another stiff drink and hopped into a taxi to find the Indian restaurant that Celia had marked on her tourist 101 list.
French country, English people. You know the story. This poor taxi driver had no clue where we wanted to go and asked for directions from the locals while referring to the piece of paper we had. We never did find the Indian Restaurant, but did end up at a Lebanese Deli. We all had Falafal and I had a nice steak. Jeri had Pizza and Celia a Hamburger.
Good Bamako Food. *chuckle*
We made it back to the hotel for coffee and sleep.
Today I had a quick meeting with “I have a brother”, had brekkie and we are looking to see if we can do anything touristy. Our driver is late (again) and the lasses have gone to see if they can buy Jeri something else to wear rather than her 2 items of clothing that she has. The poor lass has spent the last week with one pair of Knickers. Apparently she washes them at night and dries them with the hair drier. To say she is somewhat miffed is an understatement.
Celia on the other hand has found out that she packed enough tops to allow two people to be clothed for a week. Subject of much ribbing.
We have made good contacts, achieved almost all we set out to achieve and I am looking forward to the flight back.
The one issue is once again, I have a 2 hour layover before my connecting flight from Nairobi to Joburg. What do you think the chances are of me missing the flight due to a delay from Bamako? The bookies will not take that bet methinks.
We were unable to get a flight to site. That meant we had to face a 7 hour road trip to site. Dada (our local contact) had arranged a Land Cruiser for the trip. We were to start the trip at 6am and hopefully get there in time for lunch. What did not bode well was Dada arriving at 5:45 and mentioning that he needed to sort out the spare tyres as both of them were flat. We had breakfast while we waited for the process to take place.
Starting the trip, we were advised that the owner of the vehicle had come up with 4 new tyres and did we want to go over and change them out. Already running late, I tossed my hat in with lady luck and said “no worries, we use what we have”. Fortunately we did not have any issues with the tyres.
The road from Bamako to Sikaso starts off really well. Our driver had – like all drivers we use – done courses on “press accelerator flat and hold tight” The road was newly tarred and we averaged 140kmph. I was starting to wonder why the trip takes 7 hours. (refer one of my previous posts where I made the same error). Around 100km out of town the reason why the tar was good became apparent. They were refurbishing the road. The road gradually got worse until we went through Sikaso and turned off on a dirt road. Pear shaped!
The road was ack!
Driver was doing 100kmph on a dirt road and we realized he had attended the rally course as well. I was like James Bond. Shaken, not stirred.
The mine is in the middle of no where. I mean it! There is absolutely nothing around it. Nearest bank is 2 hours away. Poor site lads.
Good meetings. Gained a good idea of the job. The pub had no Captain Morgan, so I drank beer and we were asleep by 10. The accommodation is good if basic.
We left site at 12 and a further ass numbing trip back to Bamako.
Arrived at the hotel, had a stiff drink, had a meeting with the clients’ rep, had another stiff drink and hopped into a taxi to find the Indian restaurant that Celia had marked on her tourist 101 list.
French country, English people. You know the story. This poor taxi driver had no clue where we wanted to go and asked for directions from the locals while referring to the piece of paper we had. We never did find the Indian Restaurant, but did end up at a Lebanese Deli. We all had Falafal and I had a nice steak. Jeri had Pizza and Celia a Hamburger.
Good Bamako Food. *chuckle*
We made it back to the hotel for coffee and sleep.
Today I had a quick meeting with “I have a brother”, had brekkie and we are looking to see if we can do anything touristy. Our driver is late (again) and the lasses have gone to see if they can buy Jeri something else to wear rather than her 2 items of clothing that she has. The poor lass has spent the last week with one pair of Knickers. Apparently she washes them at night and dries them with the hair drier. To say she is somewhat miffed is an understatement.
Celia on the other hand has found out that she packed enough tops to allow two people to be clothed for a week. Subject of much ribbing.
We have made good contacts, achieved almost all we set out to achieve and I am looking forward to the flight back.
The one issue is once again, I have a 2 hour layover before my connecting flight from Nairobi to Joburg. What do you think the chances are of me missing the flight due to a delay from Bamako? The bookies will not take that bet methinks.
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