Bogolon Fini

Bogolon fini is their mudcloth, in Bambara. We had the most interesting visit at the factory in Segou. The cloth is made of their own cotton (grown in Mali), and dyed (Basilon cloth) with pigments from local leaves or bark. The colors are rich and fascinating - ranging from ochre to mustard to indigo and anything inbetween.

We had the opportunity to make our own mudcloth designs. This is done by painting 'mud' onto the cotton fabric. The mud dyes the area black, so all kinds of shapes and messages are communicated in these cloths.

Tres jolie!

Back in the US

Hello again... well that was an adventure getting back. It was a long but interesting drive back to Bamako. Olive (nurse who's been in Mali for 30 years - speaks Bambara and French fluently... and started out in the villages) shared her stories and answered all our questions. We just couldn't stump her!

I'll share the mudcloth visit in my next blog.

Bill and I thought things were going well when we checked our luggage in downtown, prior to 5pm... only then to find out our 11:45pm flight was delayed, then cancelled. Turned out to be a mechanical issue and a part needed to be flown in the next day. So we had another full day in Bamako. We had a quiet/relaxing day with Keith and Olive taking good care of us. Further delays finally got us out by 3am. Bill and I raced to our connecting flight in Paris and were literally the last folks on. We were so thankful to be on that flight. Bill worked the next day.

We're back and trying to adjust to this time and weather - can you say jetlag supreme!