Buses to Bobo, Buses to Bamako

I will never cease to be amazed as to how ridiculous public transit can be in West Africa.

Case in point: the trip from Ouaga to Bamako was supposed to be 20 straight hours. The bus company immediately put me on a moped, drove me to another company's bus station and I waited longer before getting on the bus. As it pulled into Bobo near midnight, everyone got off and the driver told us we were stopping for the night and would leave the next day at 1PM. Incredible.

The ride to Bamako was taxing. We stopped many times and the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere at 2AM, arriving finally sometime after 4. I slept for the next few hours at the bus station with some French girls who were also coming for the African Social Forum.

Eventually I connected with the gil, Meghan, whose house I am crashing at for the next five days or so. She is working on a 6-month CIDA internship for the United Nations. Considering the number of people who are also staying with her from Senegal and the Gambia, it appears to be a popular thing to do these days! Joe, the other non-intern, was quite happy to see me again after over a month. So it looks like a house full of Canadian ex-pats for the next few days. Party on!