Well this blog seems to take a while to open so have had a hard time trying to update it!
I will start from when we left London. We had a great night out with the girls and their partners, was just unfortunate that i was sick. The next day Greg and i got on our cheap Ryanair flight to Tours in the Loire Valley, on arrival we picked up our rental car which was more like a bus than a car! It was an 8 seater with extra room for luggage! Was a bit of a mission to drive but we got used to it. As soon as we drove out of the airport we were lost, i was supposed to be in charge of directions but had us driving in the wrong direction for about an hour!! 4 hours later, we had made it to the BnB we were staying at which is only 25km from the airport! For the rest of the time in France i drove and Greg was in charge of directions, that worked much better!!
We had a really nice time, the BnB was beautiful right out in the countryside, we spent a bit of time in the nearest village, Cormery, where there was a beautiful restaurant with amazing food where we ate a couple of nights. We managed to visit one Chateau at Chenonceaux, and we didnt even get lost trying to find it! Was a nice relaxing couple of days and i got over my cold which was good!
We had one night in Paris before flying to Mali, ended up trying to navigate the metro at rush hour, had an awful meal outside Gare du Nord train station while waiting for the crowds to pass, finally caught our train to the stop nearest our hotel out by the airport. When we got there we didnt know where to go and it was cold and raining, so we went into the nearest bar to see if we could call a taxi, they said no, but one of the men at the bar offered to drive us, we had a drink while we waited for him to finish his pint and chatted to the other people at the bar, there were only about 6 of them and they were all pretty drunk, one of them brought greg and i a glass of champagne each, another gave me a keyring of a french rugby player. They were highly amused that Greg was from Australia and i was from New Zealand and we were not in Paris for the world cup. Eventually got to our hotel which was pretty average and the automatic checkin didnt work so luckily there was a security guard around to let us in!
Next day we were up early to CDG Airport and checking in for our flight to Bamako. We didnt realise until we were on the plane that our flight went via Ouagadougou, so that was interesting flying in there, landing was a bit dodgy, the landscape looked like mars from the air, everything was red!
On arrival at Bamako airport, they didnt even check to see if we had visas or yellow fever certificates, so we changed some Euros to CFAs and got in a taxi to our hotel. The ride from the airport to the hotel was pretty amazing, every single thing is different, it is like being on another planet. There was just so much to look at, it was quite overwhelming, i just couldnt look at enough things out the window, it was amazing! We got dropped off at the hotel, well it wasnt really a hotel, it was a Catholic mission house with rooms for tourists, it was very basic but all we needed and it was cheap and safe. We left our bags there and went for a walk outside, we were immediately approached by a guide who wanted us to go and see his sisters bar, we werent that keen, but said we would have a quick look then go ecause we wanted the internet, he spoke english unlike most people here. We ended up at some sort of cultural centre we people were playing african drums, they were really good and they got me up dancing which im sure was as much entertainment for them as their drum playing was for us! That evening we had dinner at a restaurant across from the mission, the food was basic but good, but this guide wouldnt leave us alone, he got quite annoying. The next day we got up early and got a taxi to the Burkina Faso embassy so i could get my visa which they issue in a day, this annoying guide kept on popping up everywhere, like when we got in the taxi all of a sudden he appeared and said 'make sure you check the price before you get in' by that point we were really sick of him so greg told him to get lost and we never saw him again. We had a nice lunch in a part of town called the Hippodrome, booked gregs flight from Timbuktu to Bamako for when he leaves, picked up my passport with visa then had dinner and an early night. It is so hot here, the temperature is in the upper 30s and you just sweat all the time!
The next day, Thursday 20th, we got a bus to Segou, getting on the bus was an experience, they jammed as many people as possible in there and most of the seats were broken. It was nice to leave the chaos and craziness of Bamako behind.
Segou is a nice small town on the Niger river, the hotel we stayed at was really nice, a little expensive for my tastes but after that bus journey we decided we could do with a treat.
Had a wander round the town, there were some great souvineer stands that i was very tempted by, had a really nice dinner at a restaurant near the hotel, i had nile perch with banana which was really good! The next day, Friday, we went to catch a bus to Mopti which should only have taken 4 hours, there were no buses so we got in a bush taxi thinking it would take about the same amount of time, well a million stops and 10 hours later we finally arrived in Mopti, we stopped sooo many times, there were frequent arguements over where people were sitting and who was getting in, they jammed as many people in there as possible, its like a mini van, our bums were unbelievably sore!! As Mali is 90% muslim, we had to stop every time during the day when they had to pray, all the men would get out, was their feet and go and pray in the mosque. We got off at Sevare which is 12km from Mopti and got a taxi to Macs Refuge which has great rooms and they serve great food there, it really is a refuge from the chaos outside! Had a big dinner and went straight to bed. Pretty much every day since we have been here at the end of the day we have just been exhausted, the heat probably has something to do with it, but just getting by here is hard work, the language barrier is quite difficult but we are learning french fast! And life is just so different, everything here is different, for example, when we got a taxi from Sevare to Mopti today to use the internet the car broke down about 5 times, one time was in the middle of an intersection with a police checkpoint just across the street, i dont think there is one car we have been in so far that hasnt broken down at least once, they are all falling to pieces with wires hanging everywhere and holes in the floor so you can see the road speeding past underneath you, and doors that you cant open from the inside and none of the speedometers or petrol gauges work. We have been here for a week now so we are getting used to the way things work here, definitly makes an interesting challenge - and i did say i wanted a challenge so i certainly got what i wanted!
Once in Mopti we finall met some other travellers, they recommended a guide for the Dogon Country, his name was Babadou i think. We met him and arranged a 3 day trek through the Dogon Country with him starting the following day. It was when we arrived in Mopti that my face really swelled up, we dont know what from, but i seriously looked like Quasimodo, all around my eyes were swollen and the sides of my face, looking in the mirror i looked like a different person, it was amazing! On Saturday when i woke up it was really bad, it was itchy too, so we called a doctor in and he came and checked me out, took my temperature, and gave me a prescription for some pills and some cream, they seemed to work cause the swelling has definitly gone down but my face is still a bit blotchy.
On Sunday we left for our trek through the Dogon Country with Babadou, it was amazing, we went right up to the Tellam houses which are the ones right up on the cliff face, we visited about 6 villages. We would get up at around 5/6am have breakfast then walk for a few hours then have lunch at another village and rest until about 3 or 4pm as it was way too hot to walk during the middle of the day, so we would just lie around in the shade and nap, then in the afternoon walk again to the village where we would spend the night. Both nights we slept on a matteress on the roof of a house under a mosquito net, it was really nice but when the roosters crowed and the muslim call to prayer rang out endlessly it was quite loud. Toilets were just squat ones and showers were half a bucket of water for the both of us to share. We stank and had swarms of flys hanging around us all the time which was quite annoying, i hate flys. Greg couldnt resist all the little children and was always tagging along behind holding the hands of about 4 kids at a time, they were very cute. The Dogon villages were amazing and so was the huge cliff, but my favorite thing was the Tellam houses that were on the cliff face, they were so amazing, you can still buy some of their old jewellery which is about 1000 years old which i couldnt believe, there were so many things i wanted to buy, in the end i brought 2 masks, both Dogon masks, one is of a woman that i brought off the chief of the village and it had been used in ceremonies before, the other represents a Fulani woman, the Fulani are a nomadic tribe across West Africa. I am very pleased with my purchases!
We got back from the Dogon yesterday so are back at Macs Refuge, today we are doing internet, i need to go to the bank and we are going to book our tickets for the ferry to Timbuktu which leaves tomorrow. Well this has been a pretty long entry but at least im up to date now! i will try and write in here again soon so i dont have to write so much, hope everyone is well, love alyssa xx

PS; this has taken me ages to write so i dont have time to upload any photos, will try and do that next time...