Hotel Doux Reves Mopti

... harbour area of Mopti. Mopti in general, and the harbour area in particular, can be overwhelming, so much so that a number of guide books suggest staying in Sevare- a nearby but much quieter village. I have no idea why they do this- the harbour area is a must-do for anyone who is looking to jump start all their six senses at once. The area is part market, part loading or unloading dock, part meeting place, part terminal, part workshop, and many other things rolled ...

... and salty and erin gets sad. but my thoughts are it either<br><br>1) makes you either appreciate the meat you eat more <br>or <br>2) vegetarian<br><br>some organizations we have discovered are great to help these families:<br><br>1) kickstart.org<br>2) motopumps to bring water from the river to rice patties<br>3) unicef<br>4) potters for peace-if this gets started in mali...

... until they're completely full. So for the next...SIX AND A HALF HOURS we sit in the bus stop. He teaches me all about the history of Djenne, informs me that Michael Jackson is dead, and mocks my (spoken...) French. It wasn't all in all a bad morning. <br><br>Oh, apart from the brief period when I left that guy to go and see what was going on, and end up sitting in this dingy little office with various middle aged men who run the taxis... and then it started to rain. So they shut ...

... was off to the town of Mopti. It will be our base while we prepare and visit the iconic town of Timbuktu in the coming days. Mopti is on the ***** riv** and also has a quite amazing mud mosque, not to mention the big business in town being tourism and boat building. <br><br>Wifi in the hotel is great, imagine, the middle of nowh**e with wifi, if fact its in most areas we visit and its usually free or included in camping fees......can't wait for Timbucktu.......

... a pretty full on workout....no soft office hands have ev** been so quickly stripped and abused. We w**e on a mission to a town called Oulatta....in the end a failed mission as we lost all sign of a road/track/goat or camel path 24 km's short, meaning we had to lie up for the day in the middle of the des**t. I decided to shave my head to help deal with the heat and have since been causing some strange looks as this white man with tattoos, a shaved noggin and a red beard ...

... Gov**nment to study medicine. They have to mast** the Russian language and cope with Russian wint**s in addition to their studies. The queue for check in started at 3am, but it took some time for it to start moving, and the 5am flight eventually took off at 7am - we w**e already on African time! ( Our hosts in Mali would sometimes ask if 9.30am meetings w**e in English time or African time!) Steve and Sue Felgate and Chris ...

... in packs of 20 unlike the measly packs of 6 in the UK), but it still wasn't having any great effect. Th**e was a lot of consultation amongst the guides - diahorrea is so common in Africa that it is not treated with all of the s******ing and immaturity of the rest of the world. They off**ed me a bunch of medications that I did not take, but we agreed I couldn't get the bus. Boubacar took me on the back of his scoot** to the man that ...

... of food, vegetables, cheese etc hoping to keep it for himself!!! Suffice to say the atmosph**e between the guests and the chef was as cool as the wind blowing upstream on the riv** (only a fool messes with Natalie's food!!!)! We did howev** make it to tombouctou, even if we did think at one point the crew would leave us stranded in a little village en route, ready for our des**t adventure (if a little tired, and cold).

... had balloons tied to his pack making him the centre of attention for all the kids, at one point being surrounded by about 20 of them singing and dancing. So cute. We reached the final village around 12ish having lost some along the way and sending Ali Baba to go find them. Sorry guys! After dining on yet more couscous and some enjoying a few quiet beers it was time to squish back into the non maxi maxi van and bump and grind our way back to Bandiagara.

... two nights. Will it rain? Will it be steaming hot? Will it be crowded with animals and snotty kids? The ov**cast weath** conditions with possible rain was not helping the sombre mood in the group. It was a similar atmosph**e to the morning of a fun**al... except for those like Amb** who decided to abort ship and head off to Canari for a day of wifi and swimming. A bit of light ent**tainment was provided with Jamie starting to pack his tent ...