We made it to Timbuktu!!On Thursday morning we checked out of Macs Refuge and caught a taxi to the Bank to get some money out, that was no straight forward task, it was a real typical African bank where there are lots of customers lazing around waiting patiently, hardly any staff, lots of fans on and not much happening - I said to Greg, if you walked into a bank like this in New Zealand to get some money out, you would turn around and walk straight back out, you wouldn't even let them see your visa card - but we happily handed over our passports and credit cards and an hour and a half later we had our money.In the process we met a man who spoke English and he told us about a boat going to Timbuktu that afternoon, we said we were going to go on the Comanav ferry, but that was going to be really expensive so we were quite tempted by his price for a Pinasse.Pinasses go up and down the Niger river constantly, you can take a public one which is crammed full of people, or a cargo one which is full of cargo and some people, they are long boats, like a giant canoe, with a cover for shade and a motor and a kitchen.We decided to have a look at the boats and if they looked ok we would take one instead of the ferry because it was so much cheaper.We looked at the public pinasse and weren't too keen on it, but the cargo one looked alright.We decided to go with that one, but we needed to buy a thin mattress and blanket so it wouldn't be too uncomfortable sleeping on the bags of millet.That was a mission getting those things and the guy we met from the bank was telling us to hurry cause the boat was leaving at 1pm, well we made it on to the boat by about quarter past and met some American girls who had got on at 8am because they had been told it would be leaving at 9am!!Luckily we didn't have to wait too much longer and the boat left at about 2pm.It was beautiful being on the water, it was a bit cooler and where we sat on the bags of millet we were at the same level as the water so could put our feet over the side if we wanted to.So we got all settled with our mattress and found comfy positions to lie in, this would be our bed for the next two nights and where we sat for the entire trip.As it is Ramadan here no one ate during the day, but when it got dark they made a basic rice dish that was quite nice for dinner.We set up our mosquito net and settled in for the night feeling slightly gross after being so hot and sweaty and dusty and not having a shower, I was put off using river water after realising that people do their business in it - they use the river for everything, as a toilet, to wash themselves and their clothes in, to go for a swim in and even to drink from!!Greg ventured to the toilet at the back of the boat after dinner and came back extremely traumatised, I had given him my head torch to wear but to get to the back of the boat was a mission in itself let alone actually going to the toilet!!And it was dark so that made it all the more difficult.He was convinced he had gone to the wrong place because where he went was surely not the toilet, I decided to hang on until morning and go in the daylight.To get there you had to navigate your way over bags of millet and the people sleeping and lying on them, jump over the galley that was the kitchen where a man was throwing water over the side that had collected in the boat, then you had to climb over a huge pile of watermelons and then you reached the engine, the only way to get across was to climb up a ladder on to the roof of the boat, walk across the roof then come down the ladder when you had passed the engine, then another big jump from a wooden plank to a round metal pipe over splashing water below, where there was a curtain for privacy, then you had to jump down about a metre and a half onto the sloping wood of the very end of the boat where there was a small square hole into the river.You had to do you business in the hole, with water from the river splashing up at you, then try and get back up onto the metal pipe which I found really hard cause it was quite high!Then you had to do the whole thing over again to get back, so by the time you got back to our mattress you needed to just sit down and have a minute to get over the ordeal.Greg said he felt like Macgyver after his attempt - im not surprised, it was hard enough in the daylight, it must have been such a mission in the dark!So I didn't go the whole rest of the day and waited until it was dark then went over the side of the boat, which was still quite a mission but not as bad!During our full day on the boat it was excruciatingly hot, you couldn't do anything but lie in the shade and hope to catch a bit of a breeze!As the sun went down it got cooler and was much more pleasant.The second night on the boat felt pretty gross, 2 days without a shower and covered in all sorts of crap, plus Greg and I had to both fit on the one single mattress under the mosquito net which made it extra hot, on the first night I couldn't stay under the net, it was too hot, but I ended up with some guys feet in my face and some gross sticky black stuff in my hair so I stayed under it the second night.We got to the port for Timbuktu this morning and shared a taxi with the American girls to Hotel Bouctou, having a shower and washing my hair was the greatest feeling in the world!The hotel is really nice, right on the edge of the Sahara desert, so we had breakfast on the balcony looking out over the desert, the room is basic but the price is pretty good and the location is great.We saw a bit of the town as we drove here, there were some beautiful old buildings and the streets are full of sand from the desert and there are lots of Tuareg people.Luckily there is internet right next door to the hotel so we haven't had to venture far, it is mid morning now and it is starting to get too hot to do anything so after this we will have a siesta until mid afternoon when it cools down a bit.That seems to be the way of life here, its just too hot to do anything during the middle of the day!Greg flys out of the airport here on Thursday to Bamako then straight back to London to start his new job next Monday so we have 5 days here.I don't think we need that long but at least it will be nice to relax for a bit, it feels like we have been really busy ever since we arrived here trying to fit everything in before Gregs flight, but we have managed to do everything we wanted to which is great.While we are here, we will go on a camel safari one night into the desert and stay at a Tuareg encampment, and there are some interesting mosques here that I would like to visit, also you can see the explorers houses.The history here is really amazing, before the 20th century, 43 Europeans attempted to come to Timbuktu, out of them only 4 made it, and only 1 returned alive.Its not surprising, they wouldn't have been able to fly into Bamako like we did, they would have had to come overland the whole way from the coast, the distances here are so vast and the heat is just unbelievable, they must have really wanted to come here!!

It is funny to think we are here now, I cant wait to explore the town later on!Im definitely looking forward to a nap first though, sleeping on the boat was not very comfortable, despite the mattress I think it is impossible to get comfortable sleeping on bags of millet, but it was definitely a very African experience, also we saw some absolutely amazing sunrises and sunsets, and the beautiful full moon, also some impressive lightning storms in the distance.Got some great photos so will try and put them on the blog today.Well that's all for now, will try and update again before Thursday.

Take care xx