I started today at 4:30 a.m. I walked from the house to the clinic so I could shoot the sun rising on the mural, much to the chagrin of our guardian Salif. He was shocked to see me up so early and very concerned that I was walking alone. When I saw him this evening, he thanked God that I was ok.

It was a wonderful walk. There was hardly anyone on the street. I even saw two dogs playing. I guess they just lay down all day in the heat and have their fun at night.

I also had a wonderful coincidence happen to me on the walk. Last night before I went to bed I was listening to U2 Rattle and Hum for the first time in a long time. I listened to most of the album before bed. However, I didn’t get to the last track “All I Want Is You.” This morning as I descended the hill into the village I thought I heard that song off in the distance. I said, “You’re crazy!” I figured I was listening to the album last night so I just made it up in my head. There is very little American music here. One place we eat at occasionally plays some American hip hop and R&B.

My assumption was wrong though. The song was playing from a radio about 50 yards in front of me. It grew louder and louder as I approached. It was an inspiring twist of fate telling me that I am about to finish what I started. That song playing just before sunrise as I walked on the empty streets of Bamako was like a bread crumb left for me saying, “Hey Dan, you’re doing the right thing by coming to Africa, way to go.” It felt great. Thanks Bono.

The morning was great. It was cool to watch Sikoro come alive. The sunrise was beautiful.

After painting and shooting we went to the market. Ugh.

Walking into the Bamako grand marche (big market) is like walking into the Internet. As soon as you say, “I’m looking for a soccer jersey,” there are 10 dudes around you telling you they have soccer jerseys and to follow them. Or they may tell you their brother is on his way with the jersey. 50 percent of the time what they show you resembles what you want.

It’s a lot like a google search. Also while you are looking for stuff you want, people try to sell you stuff you don’t want. A guy followed us around for 20 minutes today trying to sell us a couple of small koras (guitar looking instruments), a double sided knife that has a hidden sheath and a bunch of other crap. When I told him, the kora was too big he offered to sell me two. It was frustrating.

The bartering is pretty fun. I got the price I was looking for on everything. I taught Teresa a couple lessons. She was opening with the price we actually wanted to pay. That’s a no no. If the first price you say doesn’t make their jaw drop you haven’t gone low enough.

After getting the stuff we went for we meandered a bit and that was a mistake. We got stuck in this unbelievably long, tight labyrinth of endless market. We were constantly accosted by people wanting to sell us stuff or find us stuff. It was annoying. We finally made it out and into a taxi. 

We spent the evening eating dinner with our German friend, Moritz, and the Malian photographer I’ve written about, Amadou Keita. 

After dinner, Moritz translated as I interviewed Amado for 1 hour and 40 minutes. It was long but really fun and enlightening. I will write more of the interview later this week or after I’m home along with some video.

This has been my longest day. I’ve been going at it for 19 hours and I still have to clean the camera. I do that every night religously to keep dust out of its internal workings.

One last thing. I figured out how the Foosball tables all over town work. They cost 10 CFA to play, which is approximately 2 cents. I played against a Sikoro teenager today. He opened up a big lead on me, but I had some major obstacles to overcome. The handle on my scorers kept coming off every time I wound up to score. Once I got the hang of the table we had a great game, but in the end I definitely lost. I scored the last 3 goals though.

Photos from today (sorry, they’re a bit donkey heavy)