Mali, as you know, has three troubles: sorcerers, roads and whores. In search of interesting content, what kind of door you can not open. And all for you, dear reader!
I would like to share with you some thoughts on Africa. Let it be me, otherwise they will tell you all the nonsense in the gateway.
1. Work
The people in Africa are really lazy. This is not an exaggeration. It would seem, clean up the shit under your nose and live like a person. But no. The majority of the population prefers to sit blankly under a palm tree. I don't know why this is happening. Probably, the climate played a cruel joke. Remember the fable about the dragonfly and the ant. Now imagine that there is no winter. That is, you can kick dicks all year round, and you won't get anything for it. You will find your water and banana, and if you don’t find it, the kind Europeans will send it. I don’t just need to write tearful stories about hopelessness and exploitation. I remember reading a very interesting book, how Japan was recovering after the war. As in the ruins of cities destroyed by war, people collected garbage and made radios, and then founded Sony. Despite the humiliation of defeat in the war, the collapsed economy and hopelessness. We worked 24 hours a day, and the small archipelago today is one of the leading economies in the world. After that, all the stories about fate and external factors look unconvincing. I do not believe.
2. Everything is the same
I have been to all African countries except Malawi. And I can say with confidence that all of Africa is, in principle, exactly the same. There are a few exceptions. I'll make a reservation right away, I now call everything sub-Saharan Africa. Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco - this is not Africa. So the exceptions are:
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- South Africa. The whitest of the African countries. In Cape Town, in principle, civilization, if you do not go beyond the white areas.
- Kenya and Tanzania were able to raise service to an adequate level, develop tourism and safari. But a step to the left, a step to the right - and there will be an ass.
- Congo and Somalia - a negative example, quite an ass. That is, more ass than in other countries. The Congo is a very aggressive people; in Somalia, there is simply chaos, chaos, permanent civil war.
- Eritrea is a former Italian colony, a very closed and interesting country.
- Equatorial Guinea - a lot of dough, its own atmosphere.
- Sudan (not to be confused with South Sudan) - African North Korea.
Well, that's all. The rest is all the same. Don't thank you for saving you tons of time.
3. Security
Africa is unnecessarily demonized. Three countries where I hired security: Nigeria, Somalia and Mali (Timbuktu). Otherwise, Africa is no more dangerous than Russia. Probably even safer. Drop your prejudices. Rather, a black one will grab a pussy on the outskirts of Omsk than a white one - in the slums of Cameroon. The attitude towards whites is more than loyal. At most, they will try to raise money for money, but if you traveled to Sochi, then African breeders will seem to you inexperienced horses compared to Armenian taxi drivers. You can only be afraid of Islamists and fanatics, but they are very local lawless, so study the ways of their migration.
The only thing to remember is elections. Elections are an ass. Every second election is a danger of coup and riots. So make sure there are no elections in the country you are going to, and then everything will be ok.
I drove from Morocco to Gabon (to the equator!). At first I was worried that they would rob us and extort money. I even hid the cash in a compartment under the battery so that it would not be found if they were robbed! But after driving 17 countries, I can say that the only problem of divorce was in Morocco (and we remember that this is not really Africa)! So leave your prejudices behind. The people in Africa are kind, friendly and positive.
Interesting? I will continue in the next posts if you have a reaction in the comments. In the meantime, let's take a look at Mali one last time. It's time for me to fly to Angola!
01. In the morning we go to look at the shamans. Do not think badly of me, just when I saw dried monkeys on the market, I could not deny myself the pleasure of studying the issue.
02. Shamans live in a village under a beautiful mountain 50 km from Bamako.
03. A village is like a village: clay houses, everything is very primitive.
04. Civilization gave the aborigines not skyscrapers, but plastic rubbish. Sometimes you think that it would be better if progress did not come to Africa - it would be much cleaner.
05. House of the chief shaman. Here the reader may have a question: “How so ?! Where does this beauty come from? It's simple: the President of Mali gave the chief shaman a dough to build a house. The shaman did not remain in debt. He hung everywhere portraits of the national leader and campaigns among his flock to vote for him.
06. Around the house srach, the house itself is gradually falling apart.
07. Agitation for the president and, in fact, the main shaman (and his assistant) in person.
08. Yes, they look like scourges. Unwashed, unkempt, in some rags.
09. Looking at them, it is difficult to contain laughter. It seems that the shamans considered my skepticism, and then the chief brought out the dried head of some goat. Like, look, I'm real, what are you laughing at? Oh, yes, he also has a badge … A-ha-ha-ha, the shaman's badge! Yes, we have every guard in "Ashan" can conjure with this approach. You take a dead rat in the back room, put the bag on yourself - and go!
10. Actually, magic happens here. The reader must understand that various corpses of the local fauna take part in the rituals, and corpses tend to decompose and stink. Fortunately, the photos do not convey the smell, but trust me, it smells like hell here. The topic is simple: you need to sacrifice some animal, and then the wish will come true. And, of course, give a dough to the shaman. In principle, the process can be simplified to the second point, but it will not be so effective.
11. Here rituals are held.
12. Shamans proudly show how they once conquered this land from the barbarians. The chief shaman in the burned-out "Adidas" with a fake gun tells the amazing stories of the battle for the village.
His smoky assistant demonstrates how they destroyed enemies together.
And would smoke with a cigarette, I would treat everyone around.
And all sorts of questions
I would not answer all of a sudden.
- How, they say, what? - It happened differently.
- Is it difficult yet? - How when.
- Did you go on the attack many times?
- Yes, it happened sometimes.
Please don't joke about the bow, I decided not to upset the dude.
In general, this would all be fun, but these two scourges really cut the loot from gullible citizens. I would like to laugh at the stupid Malians, but then I remembered that in Russia people are still treated with homeopathy, attending the Business of Youth seminars and voting for Putin. Each nation has its own shamans.
14. In Mali, there is a special sign on the roads: there was a pi ** ets. In this particular case, on July 22, 2013, 16 people were killed and 15 were injured.
15. Electricity in villages is more of a luxury. So solar panels are saving.
16. Many children give birth, on average 7 children per woman, but not all of them live to the age of majority. Mali has an extremely high infant mortality rate (deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births). More than 100 out of 1000 children in the country die, Mali is consistently among the ten worst countries in the world for this indicator. The attitude towards children is utilitarian. Well, a baby is crawling through the mud two meters from the highway, where trucks are rushing - so what? We would have had enough of a heart attack for mommy, but then don't care. In the literal sense of the word, new ones are born. The majority of the population of Mali leads a primitive lifestyle.
17. Bar, sponsored by drunks - "Nescafe".
18. The majority of the population travels on scooters.
19. There are no rules for the transport of people and safety measures in Mali.
20. Traffic cops randomly pull out random cars and ask, "Do you want to talk about God?" Just kidding, he just wants a good way.
21. Dude on style.
22. Young trees are protected with nets.
23. Separate lanes are often made for scooters.
24. At every corner they sell gasoline for refueling scooters in bottles.
25. An amazing sign.
26. Mali has its own Zabivaka! Green hippo with a ball.
27. There are no bridges and overpasses in the country, so machines can be loaded as you like. Livestock is transported as baggage in the most unexpected places. Find the ram!
28. It would be possible to throw a lamb in the trunk, but about 5 people are already traveling there.
29. How to transport a ram on a moped? Yes Easy!
30. Just a dude with a gun goes from service.
31. Minibuses are decorated by the people as best they can. The American flag is valued the most. Everyone loves America very much and fiercely jabs at it. They say there is a lot of money and opportunities. But this is rather an unattainable dream, it is much easier to move to France, which is what many Malians do. It is impossible to calculate how many Mali residents leave for France, because many go to Ivory Coast first. Some stay there, others immediately go to the former metropolis. In the CIA Factbook a few years ago it was written that about 3 million Malians left for France and Cote d'Ivoire.
32. Doors in minibuses are not closed. And often they simply do not exist.
33. Almost all essential goods can be bought along the road.
34. Eggs, biscuits, napkins, pads, muffins. There's a lively supermarket here!
35. Local watermelons taste like cucumbers.
36. Sale of umbrellas, windshield wipers and toy pistols. Don't ask who needs toy pistols. In general, the rule here is very simple: as soon as it seemed to you that someone was selling something out of the ordinary, after 10 meters there will be another seller with an even more incredible product.
37. Glory to Ukraine!
8. The road.
39. Beauty.
40. Curbs are an endless market.
41. Beggars swarm around the rare traffic lights. Ragged kids walk around with big, always empty cans. Either no one gives them, or they quickly hide the received coins from competitors.
42. Beggars are a separate caste here, they have their own beholders, their points - everything is like ours.
43. Okay, what about women? Mali is a Muslim country, moreover, for 6 years there has been a war with Islamists who believe that the country should live according to Sharia law. But prostitution is flourishing. There is no getting away from this. Women with reduced social responsibility sit in nightclubs and bars. Clubs start at midnight, so please be patient.
44. Women pretend to work as waitresses, bartenders, or just come to have fun. But, of course, if the dress is short, it means a whore.
45. Most likely, the prostitutes will be those who stand at the exits of clubs and bars. For a white person, they charge 200 euros per hour. Then prices drop to 100.
46. Another entrance to the club. Here the contingent is more budgetary - 50 euros per night, the price includes a room in a nearby hostel.
47. In Mali, compared to the rest of black Africa, the prevalence of AIDS is not very high, it is about the level of the Urals. But there is always an opportunity to get acquainted with such diseases that you have not even heard of before. So I would not advise you to go to Mali for love. In general, it is not very clear who is filming these local whores and why. But the industry works no matter what.
