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Apologies for the two week lag in posting!  

Life hasn't been particularly exciting or notable as of late.  I think as we cross that 6 month threshold of our time here, life begins to seem a bit normal and perhaps even a bit uninspired.  The excitement in our lives is having to turn to life back in the States and horribly tedious tasks such as plane tickets, housing, transportation, jobs...things that fill blogs with nothing but familiar ennui.

Marshall has reached a plateau in his walking, a good sign as with most stages of his, he gets to a point where we decide its never going to happen just to be surprised when it actually does.

Ian is a bit hot and burned out these days.  A true Karamogo now, he is having to work more than observe and the humidity really makes that more uncomfortable than usual.

As for me, I have to keep shifting my thoughts from what to do while here to what do do when back home.  I am keeping up with a wiggly and into everything child who makes it challenging to get the most basic tasks done and getting out of the house when I have so much that needs to be done here becomes near impossible some days.  But I love being a mom and I love this child, so I take it all in stride and do what I can when I can.

We've started a couple of new rituals around our house that albeit are a bit boring and mundane to some are things that make me all warm and fuzzy inside, all family love-ish.  We're listing to a weekly radio show together and we've started reading books to each other.  Its cozy, its cerebral and its entertaining.  I like that its something that Marshall is being exposed to.

As life has been feeling a bit mundane, Mother's Day and our stimulus check were good excuses for a bit of a get away.  We just returned yesterday from 3 days and 2 nights at the Hotel Amite, the super fancy hotel here in Bamako.  We had English TV, yummy French food room service and extra cold air conditioning.  I will try to post our spectacular view of the river sometime soon as it was one of my favorite things about the place.  Marshall had firsts of taking bubble baths in the big tub, eating dinner at a fancy restaurant(he made us proud), and going swimming.  It was a dreamy getaway and today, we are feeling a bit refreshed and ready to take on the next 3 months.

10 months...

As of today we can say 2 things significant about Marshall's life so far. First, he has now spent more of his life outside the womb than inside...that 3 extra weeks made it about a 10 month gestation. Also, as of today specifically, he's spent more time in Mali than he did in the states.

Marshall is more and more amazing everyday and we laugh more and more with him as he grows and discovers everything around him. As you can see, the walking is progressing nicely, we expect him to do it sans chair any day now...granted I think we've been saying that for about 2 months.

Lets be honest here...

We're Obama supporters in this household.  And, we're not liking what we're reading about Hilary Clinton these days.  In fact we've never been big fans.

From the moment talks of her being a presidential candidate started, I cringed.  Not because of Hilary herself, but she is a terribly polarizing figure in the states.  Talk to any Republican, event those unhappy with GW or McCain, she is not liked.  There are too many bad jokes still circulating from her husband's days in office, like it or not.  I want the Democratic party to have a chance in November, and in my opinion, she is not the way to do that.

And I'll admit, we've in some ways just blindly jumped on the "Hope Train" wanting some kind of change and currently seeing Obama as one of the only choices with promise of that.  We weren't this way from the beginning.  I was actually a bit excited by Chris Dodd's candidacy for a bit.  He is the first Returned Peace Corps Volunteer to run for president and has an impressive foreign policy record.

That brings up an important point that experience living abroad is a huge factor for us in this household.  I think foreign policy is the #1 issue in this campaign not only because of the war, China, Tibet, Darfur or any other trendy issue, but because we are increasingly interconnected to the rest of the world and our domestic issues often complicated by international sub issues, or distracted by trying to keep those that continue to dislike us at bay.

Can someone who spent a few years as a kid in Indonesia make all the difference?  Probably not single handedly, but I have more faith in him than someone who didn't.  As do others on the world stage as we see international media here being incredibly embracing of Obama and the ideas he carries with him.

But our love is not blind.  I think his health care plan is weak.  Like it or not, as well, he still has to play the DC game.  He is promise, but not the messiah. 

In addition, we find Hilary's campaign tactics unsettling, to say the least.  I also really feel strongly about 20 years of power being in the hands of but 2 families.  And I'm not sure how I feel about her stance on Israel.  I've even had moments where I think she's rigged the election.  The international stage makes it seem like she can't be nearly as popular as the votes are reflecting.  

And I'll shamefully admit it, we've had moments at particular dirty points in the campaign where we've said we'd vote for John McCain, antique, conservative and against many of our ideals and all, simply to not see her in office.  I've accused her supporters of being a bunch of thoughtless bandwagon women supporting her simply because she is a woman. 

But this morning, early this morning as Marshall decided to pull an all nighter for some reason, I read this great article on salon.com that put me in my place a bit.  As a woman, I have to admit, there is this little piece of me that feels a bit guilty for turning on a female candidate, but at the same time, I will not vote for a woman just because she is a woman.  Regardless, there is something a bit unsettling about how a female with ambition is still seen with such contempt.  I admit, I get caught up in it as well, using words I shouldn't use when she acts in a way I disapprove of and that I should be ashamed of using in front of my still innocent 10 month old son.  

I hope you take a look at the piece and think about what a female candidate really means and if she is really being given a fair shake, like her or not.  Perhaps this is a common discussion in the states, but its new to me here, and one of the first ones out of many thats actually made me pause and reflect on my stance and what I'll do in any instance.

Firsts these past 2 weeks

There seem to have been a lot of them, so thought I would share:

• Ice cream taste.  Didn't like it.  I'm not sure he's mine...
• Riding in the grocery cart child seat thing.  LOVED IT.  Frowned for about 2 seconds before we started moving around and then I think he thought he was in a parade waving and chatting with everyone.  I swear he's going to be a politician
• Sitting in a high chair.  Thank God.  And Mimi for sending the portable thing our way.  He loves it.
• Making himself laugh.  Great great skill.
• Tomato.  Was scared of it at first.  Cried when he saw it on his tray, but after expressing his discomfort with it for a while, he decided to give it a go.
• Standing on his own for a while being aware of it.
• Drinking out of a straw.

"Well, I am the Karamogo..."

We have this joke, well, perhaps its more mine, around our house, about how Ian is supposedly the only one somehow that can have insights about people or culture because, well, he "is the anthropologist." This is often said when we have differing insights about something regarding said people or cultures and is intended to remind me of his expert status.  Right...So to add to his supposed to "stop my comments in their tracks" book of phrases, he can now call himself a Karamogo as well.  Karamogo(which is Kara's full name by the way) is a master of some kind, in this instance, of the sands/divination/marrabaga.  It literally translates to teacher. 

So he's spent the past month being taught the sands and, of course our little over acheiver, mastered them in no time.  Kara had been hinting that Ian's initiation would be coming soon and earlier this week it did.  Think of it like graduating from medical school.  He still has a residency to go...Regardless, this is a big deal and we're all really proud of him.

Anyway, all sorts of things had to happen to finalize his position such as, sand readings, trips to the outskirts of town.  Here are Ian, Kara, and a goat on the final day of initiation

At the end of this day, Ian came home with 3 impressive fetishes, a marked up egg that he still needs to eat hard boiled and whole, a bag of sugar that represents "goodness" that we all have to taste from, and a hindquarter of the above goat.  

I debated what to do with the leg o' goat and thought that I should just take it to our local smoker to cook it up for me, but after a little research online, decided to do it myself.  So, turns out, according to my foodie websites, that goat is making a comeback Stateside.  Its being sold for $10 a pound at farmers markets and is being touted as a low calorie, low fat meat.  I found all sorts of recipes from tasty jerked leg of goat, to Mexican goat stews, to even a Molto Mario recipe that involved mint and lemons that sounded pretty tasty.  

Unfortunately, most of these required a grill with a certain level of control I could not achieve (or didn't have the patience to) or a key ingredient that I couldn't get or properly replace.  So here is what I did with it and I think it turned out pretty tasty.  Marshall did to.  

Roasted BBQ goat leg

1 hindquarter of goat, bone in

2T minced garlic

1/2 c white vinegar

1/2 c bottled BBQ sauce (or homemade, I just used some Jack Daniel's Spicy Original Sauce that we got at the commisary)

Mix garlic, vinegar and BBQ sauce together and marinate goat in this mixture overnight.  Heat oven to 350 and roast lightly covered with foil for 1.5 hours.  Uncover for last 10 minutes of cooking.  I flipped it half way through as well.

It turned out good, albeit a bit overdone(I cooked for 2 hours thinking it needed it...), but really tender and flavorful, almost like something you'd find at a roadside BBQ place.  I highly recommend picking up some goat if you can find some.

As for our Karamogo, he's already dropped the phrase when being picked on for not doing something as if he was above it.  Jokingly, of course...right...?

Zoo

Last week we made a family outing we'd been trying to get to for a while.  We went to the zoo.  Yes, Bamako has a zoo.  It was a required field trip of ours when we were in the Peace Corps.  Although we remembered it as a depressing place, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Marshall respond to some crazy animals.  

It was a great time.  Marshall really liked seeing the animals, well, we all did, as depressing as it was...you can just tell the animals aren't getting enough to eat and some of them are in cages too small.  But at the same time, I give Mali credit for investing in it.  There were parents and children there learning and interacting, and isn't that what the zoo is really all about?

Not pictured here is a relatively new fish and reptile house we saw.  It was actually really nice by local standards.  We received a private tour by their keeper.  Ian showed off his knowledge.  They exchanged phone numbers and I'm sure will soon be besties.  Here are some highlights.  Apologies for there only being one family shot. 

A small antelope thing, perhaps a bush buck?  

So American zoos give these animals African names.  African zoos give them Western names.  This is Leo.

A Jackal looking frighteningly like our dog Flynt.

The lion enclosure.  The white specs you see are picked clean bones of thier last few meals.  Turns out the zoo is where Bamako's donkey's go to die.

A curious and endearing warthog

One of two monkeys tied to trees to interact more with the public.  Marshall had a ball with these guys.  He screamed at them, they screamed back.  He waved his arms with glee.

So, according to a plaque on the wall of the snack bar, the signs were all done by a high school graphic design class.  Here is the manatee that is no longer there...

Marshall's other favorite animal(besides the monkey) he saw.  He really responded to this porcupine.

The first animal Marshall saw at the zoo is one he sees everyday, a donkey.  They are used as filler, it seems, for enclosures since left empty by other animals.

Maribou stork.  Ugly bird.

The butt of a chimp that was posturing at us.  Marshall thought it was funny to be mooned.

Crocodiles or "Bama", the root of the name of Bamako because they are in the river that cuts through town.

So two funny things about the signage here...first, the sign on the left is asking that you please respect the fencing as all the animals are dangerous, including the domesticated goats it seems.  The one on the right is asking that you do not give the animals your cigarettes.

Creepy hyenas

Hot and cranky leopards

Yeah...so, no there are no dinosaurs still in Africa in case you were wondering...Mali's not Jurassic Park.  But here we are walking out of the zoo and down towards the museum to find a taxi to take us home.  Ian stops dead in his tracks and lets out a bad word and we see this...all alone and with out explanation....we walk up a little further to catch a glimpse inside the gates and find...

...this...which is all built into the natural surroundings.  a couple of teenage boys walking down the street come up behind us and Ian asks what this is.  One of them says that these are Sunjdata's people...right....so there were cave men and dinosaurs still in Mali in the 13th century?

As we get closer to the museum(which is redone as of 2003, BEAUTIFUL on the outside and the definite place of our next family outing), we finally see a sign on the front of a gate leading in.  Turns out it is the "Jardin de Prehistorie" or the Prehistoric Garden.  We're looking forward to checking it out.

Some things that are just great about this country

A couple of girls from a wealthy neighbor family just stopped by to say hi on their way home from school. 14 to 16-ish. They played with Marshall for a bit and then we were in the kitchen getting him some water and they saw the huge pile of dishes I'd let go for the past couple of days. They asked where the sponge was and I said, no stop and they said, "Ok, later then." I said no, I would get it, happy to just have some people watching Marshall for a bit so I could get a few things I set out to do done today. This blog being one of them, the dishes being another. They go back to watching Marshall, I start some laundry and go into wash dishes. Marshall starts to cry. I go to him and before I know it, they are both in the kitchen watching the dishes. I can't stop them. They look at me like I'm crazy when I try to. Marshall starts to fuss a bit and they come to get him from me. So now, here I am, getting the blog written and quite frankly not to sure what to do with myself...It is nice to not have to be doing the dishes, though...

I took a couple of pictures and gave them some pens, I think they will be coming by more often and thats just fine with me...

Anything but Marshall

I really like Marshall's name.  We were unlike many parents when choosing a name.  The boy's name was the easiest and we had it chosen 3 months into my pregnancy.  The girl's name, not too much harder(Soryn Raia, not to give it away if there is ever a sister in his future), but just took a wee bit longer, like a week.

Anyway, I'm trying hard to use it more because it seems like we very rarely call him by his name.  To Malians, he's Kimberie, Kimbu, Kimby or Kiberlie, for his proper name.  He's also called Djarra Ce(Djarra is his last name, Ce means man), Djarra Ce Nin(little Djarra man), Djarra Den Nin(Den is child, so little Djarra child), simply Djarra or even Kelly, which is my Malian last name.  Sometimes its just Den.  Oh, and with Kara and the gang, he's Warable, or pattus monkey.

Ian gives everything nicknames.  I am often amazed at what he can nickname/shorten or otherwise lingo-ize.  Its an endearing trait.  I, on the other hand, made a vow pre-child (I could write a book on these vows I made that have been quickly broken...)that he would not be called silly names or talked to in baby talk voices.  

Yeah...so the baby talk vow went out the window, as did the nicknames.  Here are some of Ian and I's favorites...most to least popular.

Monkey(Ian's favorite)

Bug

Lovebug(my favorite)

Bugaboo

Monkey Doo

Boo Bug Doo

Honey

Sweetie

Monkey Doodle

Love

Little One

Honeybug

Cutie

Snugglebug

Grumpalupagous (when he's cranky)

Sigh.  It looks even more cheesy when I write them all out.  But such is the love we have for this dear boy.  And at least we're not calling him Marsh.  Its the only thing I don't like about his name.  Its a horrible shortening of it...icky.  Please don't call him that unless he asks you to.

Mango vs. Banana

Banana 0

Mango  2

Final Score

More Mango Love...

I'm just gonna taste it...

Dad, stay away from the mango

What?

Seriously, Dad, stay away...I'm not afraid to hurt you

Mango drunk

Mango Madness

Its the peak of mango season around here and as you can see from above, we are literally swimming in the juicy wonderful fruit.  If you have never been lucky enough to eat a mango at the peak of season in a place where they grow(I'm sorry, but the grocery store mangos in the states are a sad substitute), you must put it on your life list.  Its comparable, although quite different, to a peach at the height of season.  They come in all different shapes, sizes and colors around here.  I saw a green and red one the other day that was the size of a human head.  The most typical here in Bamako, though, is the small yellow kidney mango, best eaten by rubbing it soft, nipping off an end and drinking up the juice.  Ian came home with manguru nin the other day, literally translated to little mangos, although I think its referring more to the small seed because there is a ridiculous amount of heavenly flesh.

We've started a bit of a routine around here.  We eat the outside bits closest to the flesh and then leave some meat on the seed for Marshall to gleefully suck dry.  He enters another dimension when he's eating them.  He's not to be disturbed.

I've been thinking about new ways to take advantage of mangos in my cooking.  Here is something we've had the past couple of nights that was super tasty and that can easily me made with Ameriki mangos or even subbed with peaches.  It also takes advantage of the avocados that are now in season around here.  I'm truly in heaven...this, in particular, will be hard to give up.

Pulled pork in Mango bbq sauce on bread with avocado

Serves 2

1 loaf crusty French bread

1 soft large avocado

1/2lb pulled pork or sliced pork tenderloin(I marinated mine in mango juice 24 hours before cooking it.  A good smoked pulled pork though would be best.  We had to boil ours...seriously...so sad)

Mango bbq sauce

1 T light olive oil

1/4 c minced onions

1 t minced hot pepper

1 1/2 T minced garlic

1/3 c white vinegar

1 c really soft minced mango or mango mixed with mango nectar or peaches or other combos of the two...

1 T sugar...if doing this with a mango bought in the states, make it 2 T

1/2 t hot dijon mustard

Heat oil over medium high heat.  Cook onions and pepper  in it for 3 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Degalze the pan with vinegar and bring to a boil, cook down a bit, maybe a minute or two.  Add mango/peach/whatever, sugar and mustard.  Bring to a boil again and simmer until everything is really soft and smooth.

Turn off heat and mix pork into sauce.  Break 2 6-8" pieces off the bread and open up.  Smash 1/2 of avocado into each evenly, top with pork and fold closed.  Enjoy!  If I was really motivated, I would serve with some yummy plantain chips.

I'm so happy that peach season will be peaking when we are set to get back to Oregon.  There is going to be some serious withdrawl around  here.  We even like the dried ones here that we've vowed to line our luggage with on the way home.

Go enjoy a mango today!

Has it really been 9 months?

Sniff, Sniff.  He's so grown up, he'd rather go party with his friends on his birthday than hang out with mom and dad!

Ian and I shake our heads at this...in some ways it seems Marshall has been with us forever, in others, it seems like yesterday that we were cleaning his belly button and spending all day in bed feeding and napping.

So at 9 months, Marshall is capable of eating seven bananas a day.  Some days it seems like all he wants to eat, but I think he likes them most because he is quite capable of feeding them to himself(and our clothes, the floor, the couch...).  He has started making new noises that kind of sound like his own personal Slavic language, lots of glottal sounds that we can't quite replicate unless we have something sticky in our throats.  He loves his bath and there is no better Marshall than the one at around 8pm, just fresh out of his bath wrapped in his towel.  He laughs and throws his arms up in the air with glee.  

Marshall is also into everything, still.  Just when we think we've corralled him in with safe toys and such, we find him with something in his hand/mouth that might have us turned into CPS in the states.  Keeps us on our toes for sure.  He really likes my cell phone, a plastic ladle and the plastic casing from packages of batteries.  And pretty much anything he shouldn't have.

We're asked by many of you who read this blog if he is always as happy as he seems in his pictures.  The answer is generally, and remarkably, yes!  One disclaimer though, Marshall typically smiles so big at the camera because he thinks the blinking light on front and from the flash are really cool, so by association, when the camera comes out, he lights up.  That being said, maybe once a week do we get a baby who is upset that cannot be consoled and that is typically for a short period of time when he's wanting two things at once: to eat and sleep, to play and sleep...and he doesn't really like his diaper being changed for some reason(I think because it involves staying still for a minute).  But overall, give him food when he's hungry, a nap when he's tired and a toy or a silly face when he' playful and he'll give lots of smiles, laughs and Slavic pronouncements of love until the cows come home.

We are expecting walking anytime and he's crawling with his belly off the ground.  He loves it when you get on the floor and crawl with him.  He automatically laughs and says something important in Slavic and leads you to his next destination.  He's secure, confident, happy and healthy and that makes us so proud to realize that we've done a decent job these first nine months.  Only 17 years and 3 months more to go, right?

Things sticking in my head these days...

A really cute little neighbor girl who just got a western style weave put in her hair has been walking around proudly showing it off. The other day, I told her how pretty her hair was. She looked at me and proudly said, "Mesh-y flie." Its mesh!

Jeff told us this story one night after he went out exploring Bamako. A French man approached him asking for clarification on some English words and they started to chat a bit. The French man said that Malians speak French like the Germans, they just refuse how to speak it properly...had no idea...

The Sampler

Sorry for the delay in posts and not so meaty ones as of late.  I was having to catch up on a bunch of emails I was behind on.  Apologies to everyone who I hadn't written back to in a while, especially those from 2006...I'm posting between that project and actually getting my thank you cards done for baby gifts.  To all who gifted who are reading this, yes, my mother DID teach me better and I am SO embarrassed they are not done yet.  Please know that I do think about each and everyone of you and your generosity each time I use something I was given.

So I called this the sampler as this will be a hodgepodge sampling of some of the things that we've been up to, I've been thinking about, that have happened in our life recently.  Hope you enjoy!

First, its raining right now.  After 7 years in Oregon, I forgot what a good real rainstorm was like. In Oregon its just flat out wet.  Here there's thunder, a temporary sheet of water from the sky, heat lightening, that great smell and a general relief of coolness that comes over everything.  Its the first rain since we first got here.  The kids were all out in the street dancing a couple of minutes ago.  It was great.  You can just feel this sense of calm over everything right now.  It was really getting pretty hot and a cool refreshing rain was just what was needed.

Marshall is growing up so fast.  I've been a bit sad about how quickly he's growing up.  As exciting as it is to see him learn and grow, I'm realizing he'll never be a baby again.  I guess such is the curse of parenthood.  I actually asked Ian the other day when he would think it was creepy if I was still breastfeeding.  Here its normal to feed kids until they are 3.  The WHO recommends 2.  I somehow think this will keep him a baby...call it hormones.  Here are some pictures of him today showing off his ability to drink from his sippy cup and standing.  

OMG, best image ever I wish I could’ve captured. A 10 year old girl just ran by in front of my window. She was drenched, by herself and the definition of joy. She was laughing and flailing her arms above her head. I was never into kids that much before Marshall. Now, I think they are such a great reminder to not take life too seriously. Sigh. That just made my day!

Ok, more about Marshall. I hope he doesn’t hate me for telling this story when he grows up, but its too funny not to share. Either that, or a great example of how resourceful and bright this kid is…yeah, Marshall, that’s what it is…

A couple of days ago he was taking his afternoon dip in the bath. I was taking his being occupied as a chance to fold laundry. I took some that I had folded into the bedroom real quick and came out to see him looking down towards his belly and rubbing his hands over his chest in a curious manner. He seemed to be discovering something, so I held back and watched. A second later, he grabbed his left nipple in his fist and tried to shove it in his mouth. It was priceless. No, he was not successful…

A couple of weeks ago, I called Ian at the market and he mentioned that an American named Jeff had come and found him and was hanging out with him. He was sent to find him by a Peace Corps Volunteer that Ian has interacted with a few times. Here is Jeff that day being tormented by one of Ian’s animal part vendors. He's taking notes on the language and his experience. We’ll call this the Jeff “before” picture:



He’s biking(as in bicycle, not motorcycle) across West Africa. He had been in Mali for about 5 days, just arrived in Bamako. It was the halfway point in his journey and he had travelled almost 1500 miles from Dakar, Senegal through Guinea and Gambia. He speaks little French although everywhere he goes he tries to at least learn how to greet in the local language. This guy is a hardcore, doing it right kinda traveller. We invited him to come stay with us while he was in Bamako.

Here is Jeff, in what we'll call the "after" picture:



Quick side note: Back right corner of picture is a guy wearing an outfit made out of perhaps the most popular fabric here right now. Don't know if you can see, but its larger than life fingers floating on a speckled background. Its bizarre. We're getting some to be back, for sure. That and the deforestation fabric with bleeding tree trunks...what in the world?

Jeff hung with us in Bamako for a week while he took care of some business like getting visas for the rest of his trip, saw some live music(see previous post) and hung out with Ian at the market, eventually getting a fetish made. He was really interested in Ian's research and Kara and the boys embraced him, language barriers and all. As you can see from above, he was well integrated the day before he left.
Turns out Jeff is from Portland. Such a small world. And he's friends with a woman I did prenatal and mother baby yoga with. Also turns out that Jeff is the kind of guy we'd be friends with in the states, but we're glad we met him here and could offer him a small piece of home at the midpoint in his journey. In return, Jeff did the dishes, cooked dinner and even babysat Marshall(they really liked each other) so Ian and I could go have a lunch date. Well, and was a friend to the two of us who realized we desperately need to socialize with more Americans more often as we kinda babbled silly around him we were so happy to have someone else to talk to. We look forward catching up with him stateside and hearing about the rest of his trip in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana and Togo.

So for our super romantic date(new parents can read the sarcasm in that. still nice to be away though!) we went out to eat at this crazy place a couple of people had told me about called the Broadway Cafe. It was reported to have real American stye food as it was opened by a couple of Malians who had lived in NYC for a bit. I was wary as one woman who supposedly knows Tex-Mex food opened a restaurant here called the Appoloosa that, to give it credit, looks like Chili's on the inside, but they call chicken wrapped in pita with tomato chutney on top enchiladas. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised. We could've been in a coffee shop in Portland. The food was good and real American fare. Ian had a great cheeseburger(the ones at the other places seem made of horse on stale buns with overly sweet coleslaw on top. ick.), I had a chicken sandwich. It was a great getaway and a pleasant suprise.

Whatelse. A few days ago it was Mohammed’s birthday, a national holiday. HUGE wedding down the street from us on that day. The bride was waiting in front of the garden across from our house. She was talking excitedly and a bit annoyed on her cell phone. People around her were trying to be comforting, but seemed annoyed with her. Guess bridezillas exist everywhere.

This morning went for a walk to the top of the big market on the hill and looked down on Bamako from above, amazed at how big this place that seems so small to me really is. Still, when you take out all the big box stores and parking lots, stuff five times as many people in 2 bedroom apartments our American cities might seem smaller too.