Bamako - Day 245

Date: April 20th, 2010
Distance: None
Country: Mali
Song of the Day: Run-Around - Blues Traveler

Another wasted day. I spent all morning finding the embassy for Burkina Faso. You think that would be easy to find. A neighboring country. Nobody seemed to really know where it was though. I kept getting the run around. Or maybe they just don't realize there are embassies for different countries. I got told it was close by at one point, but it turned out, that was the embassy for Togo. When I did get to the embassy, they were closing for the day. It turns out to get a visa you have to drop off the application in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon. Turns out, I was too late. Urgh. Tomorrow.

The charm of the city has also worn off on me. I was amazed when I got here because it has electricity and running water. Modern building and stores. Now I am seeing it is also dirty and smelly like most of the cities in west Africa. It has sewer/storm drains that are badly covered. Dirt streets covered in trash and awash in rattling cars and motos. It is more civilized, but the longer I stay here the more I realize it just isn't home.

So I came back to the mission and got my bike put together. That was the one good part of the day. It felt good to replace the worn drive train. My bike sounds much happier now. I can't wait to get back on the road.

For dinner I went out to meet up with a girl I met on couch surfing. She was meeting up with the couple of friends to watch a soccer game (Milan vs. Barcelona). I had a great time. It was a lot of fun talking with everyone about why they were in Bamako and what they were doing. It was a fun evening.

-Dravis