Third time lucky?

 The above is the check point before arriving at the airport of Timbuktu. This morning I crossed it again, with some hopes that I might get to Bamako and enjoy that  lovely evening at Eva's, albeit a day delayed. Alas, no. We are still at the mercy of the Harmattan...so for the the second night my driver from Djenne is standing by in Bamako to take me 'home' to Djenne. Tomorrow morning there is a UN plane scheduled, so , who knows? Will I be on it? If not, there is going to be no room at the inn for me, and this is the only place to stay in Timbuktu...

When Amadou the driver took me back to the Auberge du Desert again there was a pick up standing by the hotel full of Tuareg fighters all in turbans and  with kalashnikovs . They looked just like the pick ups one sees on the Mali news site Malijet when they cover various incidents in the North,  and indeed when Amadou  saw them he said: 'Voila l'MNLA!' . But of course they are not called that anymore- these people we saw are some of the factions who are now called the CMA, and they  have signed the peace accord. They are having a meeting here at the Auberge with a large number of Malian  government people this weekend who have requisitioned the hotel. Nevertheless they did look rather scary, and I decided to lay low and not take a picture of them.  Only managed a bad snapshot of some of their leaders who  they were guarding, which does not do justice to their rather splendid outfits:

So tomorrow I MUST leave, whatever happens...
I am feeling very sad not to have been able to be present at the cataract  operations in Djenne, the 6th edition, sponsored again by my cousin Pelle and his wife Nanni. They are held at the hospital where my Keita worked, and they are now are held in his memory- 100 people will receive their sight back.  That is something!