Battle of the giants

Of course, there are many challenges for a tourist in a country like Mali. Potholed roads, muddy streets, well, let`s call it a general lack of infrastructure. People don`t really use street names, and don`t know how to read a street plan, which makes it hard to ask people the way. Because prices are not fixed, you will spend endless time and energy discussing the price of your taxi ride, souvenir, or anything more expensive than a banana. Well, you could even negotiate about the price of a banana, but I don`t bother. As a nice little extra, your light skin will make it hard to walk the streets unnoticed, which means you will always attract attention, also the unwanted sort. Streets in the inner city are extremely crowded, and taxis and minibuses will seriously run you over if you don`t get out of their way in time. And then, there are all the diseases and infections you could pick up. Problems with your digestion are guaranteed. And if you don`t get ill from bad hygiene, malaria, or dehydration, you could alternatively get sick of all the car fumes, food smells, smells of things rotten and disposed, the open sewages, etcetera. You`ll need a strong stomach around here.

But the greatest challenge of all that I have had to face yet, is an intellectual one. This is due to Soumano. This guy is well-informed, well-educated, has studied in France and has done an internship at the United Nations. I liked him immediately, but after we had exchanged niceties for a few days, the battle began. Soumano and I love to discuss with eachother about practically everything. We`ll discuss politics, of course. Development aid. Ideologies. The future of Mali. Relationships and marriage. Religion. Death penalty. Gender roles. We will fight about everything; it`s man vs. woman, socialist vs. liberal, Muslim vs. atheist, Africa vs. Europe, responsible father vs. free spirit. We are harsh on eachother. "You`re too much of an idealist", he`ll say. "We`re not allowed to kill animals, or criminals, you don`t even want us to hurt plants", he`ll say. "You deny responsibility for you own actions, you`re own thoughts even, by always referring to your god", I`ll tell him.

This is the true reason why I travel, I thought, sitting opposite Soumano, and enjoying a little pause before the next round of our battle of the giants began. I travel in order to find the most interesting of people, who are different from me in almost every aspect, but who share the same urge to exchange ideas, insights and feelings with other people.

Even when the initial charm of lack of time-management and efficiency has worn off, when the physical discomfort makes you feel tired and weak, when you start realising that "adventurous" is often the same as plain "dangerous and foolish", and deprivation of the luxuries you`re used too starts getting to you, even then, I can be perfectly happy anywhere in the world, as long as there are interesting people around to talk to.