Dogon Country

The next morning we woke up to showers in the open air and a breakfast of granola bars. We waited around for James Brown but didn't know if or when he was coming. We sat around and tried to communicate with the inn keeper. He seemed like a good man by the way that he treated us. James Brown showed up in his sunglasses and his flat top around an 1hr after we were supposed to meet him and told us he had hired an ox cart to drive us to Kani Komile, one of the villages in the Dogon Country. Little kids would chase afer us as we would drive through the town of mud buildings on our way out of Bankass. We passed through the savannah and then we started hitting the sands of the Sahara. Even in the desert sands there were mounds of dirt where the people had planted millet plants for their sustanance. We got to Kani Komile which was a small village under neath sheer cliffs. The top of the cliffs there was brush and at the bottom was desert. Lining the cliffs was the reason this place was on the map for tourists: clay buildings stuck to the cliffs where the recent ancestors of the towns had lived, held religious practices, buried their dead, hid from attackers, and where the people still kept millet storage. They had only moved about a generation before; James Brown's father who was the chief had grown up in the cliffs. The problem is that kids would fall down the cliffs and break bones and it was a difficult life. When we got to Kami Kumbile, James Brown didn't show up for an hour because he was coming on his motor cycle and it had broken down. We went on our own walking tour of the village. They had a huge beautiful mud mosque at the edge of a dried up lake. We later found out from James Brown that there is a division among the people between the muslims and the animists who worshiped the earth. The animisits had a holy leader that lived in a hogan all day long. On the outside of his hogan were pictorgraphs of animals and humas. The people would come to him to have their future's read and curing of diseases. The animists would also be buried in these very ornate dyed blankets and would be placed high up in the cliffs. We never figured out how they would get up there. The Dogon culture is very interesting.

While we were on our self guided tour, there was a market and the girls bought bracelettes and I bought some for my sisters. They were also selling all kinds of foods and roots and millet. One of the things that they sold was a round black ball which turned out to be tomato, onion and spices that they would put in their rice. James Brown finally showed up and he took us on our tour. He showed us where the people would be circumcized (both male and female) at the age of 5. I thought that had to be the most unclean and horrible experience of their lives. He said that the government outlawed female circumcision but that it was still practiced. We went to another town of Tele which was known for their art work. I bought a replica of the crocodile mask that the dogon people used in ceremonies. They consider the crocodile sacred becuase in their legend the crocodile helped save the people by leading them to water. In each village we had to meet the chief and we had to bring him and the elders Kola nuts. The Kola nut was used as currency and when people broke the law they had to pay in Kola nuts to the chief. However, everyone eats them as soon as they got them. I thought that they were pretty disgusting, but for them it is a rare delicacy because they don't grow anywhere close to the Dogon Country. On our way to James Brown's home town of Ende we were walking in the desert and the sky turned red. It was because of the wind and the rain stirring up the desert. We went to the chief's house while it began to pour. Waterfalls fell from the cliffs and everything glowed in the red air. We slept that night in the chiefs house after eating with the family the delicious rice made with the tomato and onion spice ball. We were pretty cold as we didn't have any blankets and only sheets. They rain had cooled the desert and it was a stark contrast to the day time blazing heat.

The next morning we went to another village. It was hot and I could tell that the girls were tired from walking. Julia had fallen behind and I had to convince James to wait for her. James let us know that the tour ended in the next town. He said that he was not going to get us back to Bankass as it was not part of the deal. Julia let him have it and James was stubborn and wouldn't budge. Finally we ended up on a bad note with James and Julia told him that she was going to tell people to watch out for him. James said that he didn't care what she did because he was always going to have business. I was disappointed that although James didn't take us back, we did have a good time and know bitter feeling of getting ripped off will always be associated with for the most part was an awesome experience. We got an ox cart to take us back to Bankass. It was a long trip (2hrs) but it was relaxing sitting in the hot sun, watching the people plant their millet to take advantage of the rain that had fallen, and I played my harmonica as the girls read and slept. We got back to the Inn, where Mohammad, the inn keeper was waiting for us. That night the girls went to bed and I hung out with Mohammad and these two guys that had come over to have African sugar tea. Janine came down and I shared some ganola bars as they shared their roasted sheep with us. Janine didn't want any so I had to eat so our friends wouldn't get offended. It was peaceful listening to the cool Malian Jams coming from this guys Iphone. It was ironic because these people didn't have cars, paved streets or even 24hr electricity, but they had fancy cell phones. We ended up telling Mohammad how we were going to Mopti next and he told us that he had another Inn there that his brother ran. He called his brother and told him to meet us. I know that it was good for his business, but it also helped us out a lot to have people we could trust and count on. We slept that night again under the sky of stars and happy to be on our matresses on the warm roof in Bankass.