Kill the Insects

Our apologies to all you PETI (People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects) people out there – those are not our words! I took them from our recent purchase of Casa Jardin bug spray, and quite a can it is! Several pictures are included for your viewing pleasure. We have had quite a time over the past week with the mosquitoes. They have especially had their way with Faith and Zach. Since our purchase of Casa Jardin and a few other repellant-type items, things are going better. Of course, the timing coincides with the beginning of the harmattan winds blowing down across the Sahara, carrying much dust with it. We have been told this is just the beginning, as it is currently only a light dusting each day. The good news is that we have already noticed it being a little cooler. From what I have read on line, there is so much dust in the air that it blocks some of the sun and thus its heat – good times! By late December, many Malians will be wearing parkas and caps and will hover around small fires to make it through the chilly nights!!! It gets down into the low 60's. ALERT: we did not pack for this chilly weather, so we might need you to send some gloves and scarves, sizes forthcoming J

In other news, we had fun on Wednesday morning. We took a taxi downtown to the National Museum of Mali. We tried to make small talk to the driver - that lasted about 15 seconds. We were driving a long and he pops in a cassette and through his speaker croons Tracy Chapman! We had a good day – not brave enough to eat from the roadside restaurants yet, but hopefully one day soon. We were able to hail a taxi home – that was an interesting ride – the taxi drivers are much braver than we are and I found myself pushing my imaginary brakes and bracing myself – especially with Faith riding in the front on Ron's lap. So much for safety standards. No safety lectures, please! Here are some pictures from the day.

Here is a model of the "sotramas" – the famous green buses that cram as many as 10-15 people into them, with no doors. And, yes they have that much on top of them -minus the tarp! We will have the opportunity to "enjoy" this experience while we are here!

We met a fun guard in the Prehistoric section of the museum – he wanted us to take his picture with every attraction. He was a great guy and we participated in some interesting charades as we talked with him.