Day 3: Marooned With Maroons

There was an odd shouting match at about 4AM and a baby wailing at 6. Combined with the uncomfortable rippled metal floor our mats were on, sleep did not come easily. Pete and Kevin slept on the roof, in spite of low temperatures and high winds. That struck me as just a bit crazy…

Sunrise over the Niger was like a reverse sunset, I realized. Coming from Ontario (and even Accra), where sunrises are rather dull in the summer, I had never seen the skies change so dramatically into bright colours in anticipation of the sun’s arrival. Every morning and evening was very special and sacred to me. Allah be praised!

I noted that we moved between the hours of 9-10AM, 12-1PM and 5-6PM. This was getting ridiculous and Joe was getting quite angry by this point. The first stop was near a collection of huts and a large tract (now dry) of rice paddies, sponsored by the Lybian government. The second time, we didn’t bother getting out for and spent the time reading and eating the usual rice and fish. Somehow, I was getting used to the taste. At least the roof of the boat was a good place to tan.

People were getting anxious. Not only were we running dangerously low on smokes (which would have made for a very tense ship), but we were losing precious travel days. We were only going to have a day or two in Timbuktu at this rate and would have to skip the planned tour of Dogon country. Bollocks. Kofi, a Ghanaian who was riding with us on business, was considering jumping ship. He wasn’t the only one…

That night I finished Life of Pi, which gave me plenty to think about for the evening. I wholeheartedly recommend it, because it opens the mind in so many ways. Even Joe, an avowed atheist, read it in Chinguetti, Mauritania (which, he claims, is the seventh-holiest city in Islam) and reported being very moved, spiritually. It’s amazing what books can do to people. I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to read so much during my travels because it has helped me to appreciate literature on a greater level and has helped fill in the long stretches of waiting and bumming around in general that has been characteristic of being in West Africa.