Bamako Living
	Bamako is the capital of Mali, and it is where I have lived since Oct 2006. Its population is about 1.2 million, or 10% of the total population of Mali. I live on the third floor of an apartment building located on a main (paved) road. The main roads are paved. Nearly all roads off of the main roads remain dirt. Open sewers are the norm. It is important to watch where you are walking at all times so as not to fall in one of them, or trip over the many rocks that seem to be randomly located. My apartment has two bedrooms, one of which was used as a living room by my predecessor. I never use this room, so I have stacked the furniture in a corner and covered it so as to minimize dust/dirt buildup. The room I use almost exclusively is my bedroom/office. It has an Internet connection because there is a cybercafé located on the first floor, and they ran a line to my apartment. The is $24/month for a relatively high speed (for Mali) connection, which is relatively unreliable. My rent is $200/month. Electricity costs about $12/month, but all I have is a few lights, my little radio, and the computer. I do not have a television or refrigerator. There is a front room/dining area where I have breakfast most mornings. Breakfast is usually bananas, oranges, and cereal.  The bananas & oranges are grown locally. There are many street vendors of prepared food. I shy away from most of them for 2 reasons. One, there are often small stones mixed in with the rice, which is a staple. Also, the sanitation at most of the street vendors may be suspect, and there are many parasites and diseases that can be had. I used the kitchen as little as possible. I do not like to cook, so I rarely do (if you consider boiling an egg as cooking). I do heat water for tea twice a week, and buy fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers at the local market each Sunday morning. Before I each them, I need to wash them with soap & water, and then let them soak in a Clorox solution for 10 minutes to kill any nasty things. I recently found a gym for $10/month. I go there Saturday mornings, after which I stop by the French Cultural Center to drop off the previous DVDs and borrow 2 more. They have a library there. They also show movies, and my friend Tim and I attend once or twice a week. Compared to Markala, my previous small village, Bamako is more expensive to live in and much dirtier. However there are many more cultural activities and most importantly there is much more work suitable for me. And work is the primary reason I am here. You can see assorted pictures here.