(recovered:) brazilian soap operas, but no toilet paper

{i wrote this right after the bull one, but all of a sudden a desert dust storm blew out all the power in the neighborhood. i ran home to beat the rain, and subsequently was covered with a thick layer of dust... anyhow here's what the blog recovered in its entirity... i think it cuts off but that's just as well because i had already talked enough.}

it's tempting to spend a lot of time summarizing the overwhelmingly stupid plots of the soap operas that even the poorest of people here are obsessed with... dubbed into french from portugese, even though plenty of people don't even speak great french here... but other more exciting things have happened, and i told you i'd write about the traffic...

whether paved or not, the streets here are clogged with an almost constant stream of motorcycles, microbuses, mercedes, and pedestrians -- listed here in order of their prominence. (goats, short-haired sheep, mules, chickens and cows are also everywhere, but they don't really fit into my little analysis here so much as they serve as an interesting and often hilarious background.) motorcycles are the main mode of transportation, and although it is not recommended i have frequented the back seat of my brother's moto as it is the only way he gets from point ¤ to point ç. most people have them because they are cost-efficient, which is the same reason everyone drives old bulky mercedes coups -- they run on diesel, which is cheaper. the microbuses are all painted green and are called sutaramas -- the primary form of public transportation between and among the various neighborhoods of bamako. despite these vehicles' varying sizes, shapes and security, the point of this explanation is to express how similar everyone is to the pedestrian mentality -- the face-to-face interaction of street-walkers -- despite the apparent insanity of the driving style. at first, all drivers seem reckless and intimidating, and as a pedestrian it seems like you are always about to be hit by some kind of pollution/dust machine. but as i got a better sense of the friendly communication between strangers, i began to realize that the cacophony of horns and hand-wavings was more calculated than it appeared to be. as opposed to the hateful beeps from the closed/tinted windows of american SUV's, the horns here are used more often as a way of greeting someone you know on the street or to let another driver know that you are coming into the intersection. i have seen no left-turn arrows here, which means that all left turns must be negotiated by sticking your nose into oncoming traffic and waving at people to let you through. somehow there is a very harmonious understanding of the would-be rules around here, all of which seem to revolve around the idea that if you let people get through because they need to, then others will allow you the same discretion later. all of this, like everything else here, depends upon whether you greet people properly... a hand out the window and a little tap of the horn signifies one of about a zillion different things, but then again we also learned that the words for "bird," "stomach," and "inside" are basically the same word.