We have made it to Djenné, home to the world’s largest mud bricked building. It was a relatively short drive from Sévaré and then just a short ferry to arrive in the town. The ferry was particularly entertaining because a few of the vendor kids knew some English. It surprised us while we were crossing the river and the little girls came up and exclaimed “Hey mister! You give me cadeau!”
Bobby was successful in bartering. He traded 2 candies or bon-bons for a little car made from old tin cans. She came down from a steep price of 10 bon-bons. It was quite the deal. David accidentally stole a little wooden mask from one of the kids, they were thrusting it into his hands and bargaining with themselves. They just forgot to claim it back. Another kid tried to get a walking stick that was a gift from our Dogon guide to David and said “Hey mister, you give me this stick, it is good for me!” and we tried to shame him by saying “but you are a young, strong boy and he is an old man and needs it to walk”. He didn’t care so much.
The cadeau girls
We also met a Dutch family that we shared a campsite with. They are traveling with their two year old son and four year old daughter. They will drive all the way around Africa with them and get their daughter back home to the Netherlands in time for kindergarten.
The Great Mosque of Djenné was very impressive, of course. We couldn’t afford the ridiculous bribe to get inside through the back door so we just settled on enjoying the views from the plaza.
