03:26

Its three thirty in the morning and I'm sitting here waiting for them to start the checking in procedures for my flight back to Ouaga. Tired and a little disoriented, haven't slept in 24hrs, and this trip has been a physically demanding one - or I'm just getting too old for this shit.

Bamako, Mali and a new experience. Its said that if you haven't seen Bamako's night life, then you have not really seen Mali. So this time, since I had to be at the airport early anyway I decided to do just that.

Route 216 AKA Rue Bla Bla is by day just another street connecting two parallel ones. But at night, after 10 pm this road comes alive as the bars and restaurants that litter it light up. The road derives its name from a Bamako institution - the Bla Blah Bar which is quite hip by African standards! Le Terrance is a few doors away, and up stair a bar restaurant. Lovely place, great ambiance and music I could related to - Staying Alive seemed most popular this evening. The crowd here looks to be relatively well heeled, at XOF 1500 for a small beer, well the same one on the road costs 600 - 800.

Rue Bla Bla was also the River Bla Bla for a hour or so today after a thunder storm.



Africa has some incredibly good looking women, and the nicest thing about them is attitude really, open and willing to strike up a conversation with even a nerd like me. This evening I met an exceptionally sweet one, Ethiopian/ Cote d'Ivoire parentage.... something about her, something intangible but so apparent about her, a sweetness, a demeanor that was both gentle and bold. I have to confess that I'm having trouble forgetting her!

Another hour or so before check in, two hours for the flight to take off - I'm tired, and truth be said a little depressed.

I just remembered that the last time I sat here I did so convinced that I would not survive the flight... irrational, no basis to that at all, but I felt it strongly that day.

I was supposed to make this trip last month, but was told to put it off so that a company VIP could accompany me. I did and then subsequently told that he is too busy this month, that if I wanted to I could go ahead.

Well I got here and managed to make the crucial meeting I wanted. Alas, just a week ago the people I wanted to see had signed an agreement with a competitor and were no longer open to any new offers.

This, if it had come through was worth something in the range of a million dollars to me... and lost now due to a factor beyond my control, annoyed, pissed, demoralized - many things I am usually not.

I need some sleep and food too, beer on an empty stomach sucks and the last meal I had was about 14hrs ago.... the last beer i had was three, figures eh?

Ah, she was sweet