Segou - Walking Around Town

Walking around Segou, we were able to witness daily life there - from seeing the pots from the village being sold at the market to the fishermen laying nets in the water to the gardening plots carefully laid out on the banks of the river. The kids bought motorcycles made out of recycled cans from a vendor across from our hotel and they spent their free time running the bikes through the dirt outside the hotel room.

Segou - Visit to Pottery Village

Visting the pottery village just down the river from Segou was a real treat. It was the first time I had been to a Malian village. The villagers were extremely welcoming - they showed us into their living spaces, they demonstrated how they make the various pots, from preparing the clay by the river to shaping it to firing it, and the children delighted in acting as our tour guides.

Segou - Boat ride

From Sikasso, we travelled to Segou, a town to the east of Bamako that sits along the riverbank. One of the highlights of Segou was taking a boat ride (pirogue) to Kalabougou, a pottery village about 45 minutes down the river. The boat ride was filled with memories in and of itself - sipping the traditional 3 cups of tea, watching cattle cross the river just in front of the boat, and of course watching the boys delight in how close they could lean over the side of the boat without actually falling in. The serving of tea is a ritual with lots of elaborate pouring back and forth from a distance that produces foam. Tuaregs describe the three cups of tea as the first cup being "strong as death," the second as "mild like life" and the third as "sweet as love." I enjoyed all three cups, with the last of course being my favorite. The kids liked the middle one the most, declaring the last one to be too sweet.