Dionfacourou: The voyage there

The Friday before we left, Kara sacrificed a chicken to assure us, what the sands were predicting, a good voyage.  Ian and I held to this hope as we awoke at 4:30 the next morning so we could meet Kara and M at the bus station at 6 am.  We go out to the main street about 2 blocks from out house at 5:30 to catch a cab, but in 10 minutes only see one moto pass.  Ian calls Kara to let him know we might be late as we are still waiting for a cab.  He obviously wakes him up.

We get to the station at 6 am, on the nose.  Bamako is still rising and the crowd is minimal.  The station we are at is basically and alleyway behind the nicest hotel in town.  We are relieved to see actual buses, always a step up from the converted trucks of all sizes with nothing but wooden benches inside. 

Ian calls Kara again to tell him we made it and where we are sitting.  He's woken him up again.  We sit and wait and fend off the luggage lock vendors and children who have stopped to stare at us.  We wait for at least an hour.

Kara and M arrive just in time for us to get on the bus.  We get a great seat in the back next to one of the few window openings.  Kara has brought some bread and the cooked remains of the chicken that was killed the day before.  He is quite proud of being so thoughtful and offers it excitedly to us once we hit the road.  

The sacrifice was worth it as the voyage, did, in fact, go without a hitch.  We stopped in Kita for a quick break, which ,for Kara, meant a stop at the bar to down a liter of wine, and ditching M to do it.  There were a couple of rough detours, but overall, smooth sailing.  Marshall handled it all with such grace and was passed around the back at one point so that all could appreciate his peaceful happiness of the day.  We arrived around 2pm.