The Beginning

I know it has taken me a while to get started on my newer edition of the blog, and for that I hope you can all forgive me. Before getting started i needed to find some sort of inspiration, something interesting to write about, both for me and whoever may end up reading this.

Ever since moving to Bamako, I've realized that there really isn't much to write about except Bamako. Therefore, in the next six months that is exactly what I will be doing—writing about my observations on the transportation, streets, economy, government, planning, restaurants, markets, and just life in general here in Mali's busy capital. My thoughts have been brewing ever since moving from the reposeful village to the toilsome city. Most of my thinking has been done while walking the streets uncomfortably in the midday sun, or watching the life of the city pass by from the window of a taxi, and even while moving from ice cold air conditioned offices of well-to-do Malians back to the scorching air of hot season to eat lunch on the side of the road.

I already have planned two 'bleries' (blog-series) for you to look forward to, that will each cover a sub-topic in a broader topic. One will be called 'Transpoortation' where I will reflect on the different modes of transport and how they interact with each other. The other (which I don't have a name for yet) will broadly cover aspects of city planning from infrastructure to architecture.

At minimum I will post once per week (and feel free to send me scalding e-mails if I don't keep that promise), and I would appreciate any comments, thoughts, or contradictions you have.


Next up on Bamako Breakdown, 'The Streets of Bamako'.