mali 7: timbuktu
alex and i woke up early to wander the town before the desert heat. the hotel at which we were staying - desert paradise, or something - was literally on the edge of town, before the brick buildings disappeared and a slim band of tuareg skin tents separated us from a practical infinite desert to the north. at this border, a monument, commemorating the cease fire between tuareg rebels and the malian government, called the flame of peace - at this site, they burned 3000 firearms - those that survived were cast into the cement as a reminder.
alex gets fitted for a turban - from this point onward, he would constantly be considered muslim, which lent us great credibility!
i'm not sure which of these slogans is better: "timbuktu, city of 333 saints"? or "timbuktu the mysterious"? we spent a good deal of time trying to figure out just exactly what was the mystery of timbuktu - eventually solving that the mystery was, why does anyone come to timbuktu, this dusty town on the edge of the desert, full of thieving tuaregs? no - actually, i think those are precisely the reasons.
this night we were going to ride camels out into the desert and spent the night at a tuareg encampment, and so had to complete our day of sightseeing by 4pm, at which time we would meet our tuareg guides. this is when things started to get really cool.
posted by Jon @ 17:45
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