Travel Stories

2012 Festival au Désert in Words and Photos + Update from Bamako

by phil February 3, 2012 Mali

I recapped the Festival briefly in this post. The event was over two weeks ago. A lot has changed in northern Mali (and in Bamako, you could say) since then. I will address this to an extent later in the post. I will also list some resources for you to follow. I first traveled to [...]

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In Photos: Possibly Strange Sights in West Africa

by phil October 20, 2011 Travel Stories

Taxi interior design in Bamako. Minimalist taxi interior design T-shirts in English in Francophone countries. “PMS – Putting up with Men’s Shit.” He’s not trying to be ironic. He just doesn’t know what the shirt says. I’m starting a restaurant in Abidjan with this guy and his girlfriend. Like Amadou, he is unaware of what [...]

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I Have a Plane Ticket

by phil September 27, 2011 Travel Stories

Anne-Marie and Blessing head up BCU (Banku Crushers United). I was a provisional member until word got out that I don’t actually eat Banku. In the world of dense heavy starches, I prefer fufu. Thankfully, I was not banished entirely from the girls’ company. Anne-Marie and Blessing. Reliable checkers opponents and dedicated camel drawing students. [...]

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Sound Memories

by phil September 15, 2011 Music
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I travel with a canon s90 and a flip cam. I do most of my reflection with a notepad; some amount of that writing ends up on this site. I also travel with a digital field recorder, currently an Edirol R-09. I record a bit of everything with it. Music from car stereos and gasping [...]

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Bamako to Dakar: a Tidy 35 Hours on the Okra Sauce Bus

by phil July 27, 2011 Mali
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Four hours into a 35 hour bus ride and the sky dropped an ocean on western Mali. Rivulets formed in an instant and brown water submerged a police checkpoint, normally a hub of commerce but temporarily abandoned because of the storm. My seatmate moved to the stairwell, a seat I am familiar with, when the [...]

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7 Links and a Personal Update

by phil July 6, 2011 Travel Stories

A certain Pigeon Eater nominated me to reflect on my writings as part of the 7 Links Project. The idea: dig around in the attic of your blog and dust off a few posts that deserve a second look. Or a first look, as the case may be for many of my earlier posts, written [...]

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