Notes From Different Spots

Mara Bagga Yorro / animal body parts market in Bamako, Mali

2011-06-06T19:51:00.009+02:00

In traditional beliefs animal body parts hold powers which can be used for healing, divinations or other magical practices involving bribing or otherwise pleasing entities from another world.

Ian Edwards from Department of Anthropology at University of Oregon describes his fieldwork in Mali in his blog Adventures in Bamako. It features very interesting photos Mr. Edwards took during his research on wildlife market in Bamako.

These photos were taken by me in Bamako at Mara Bagga Yorro, an illigal animal body parts or "fetish" market, admittedly marked on a map in the Rough Guide West Africa, but definitely not waiting there purely for a tourist gaze. There are many ingredients available. Among others:

skulls of birds, dried chameleons, cola nuts and shells

porcupine spikes, horns and herbs

heads of rodents and other small mammals

crocodiles and lizards

Djigibombo in Dogon Country: places of worship

2011-05-31T21:54:00.001+02:00

As sated in a country profile by Library of Congress, 90% of Mali's society is Muslim, 9% maintains traditional beliefs and 1% of Malians are Christians. Here are temples, all three of them located within Djigibombo, one of Dogon villages. It's a good example of how Christians, Muslims and Animists may coexist together in one area.

Animist temple

Mosque

Christian church

Banners in Lower Height, San Francisco

2011-05-27T10:26:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Upper Playground, "leader in a contemporary art movement", and Lower Height Merchants Association this San Francisco neighbourhood became an open air gallery showing works by 47 artists.

See more banneres here.

Means of Transportation in Taroudant

2011-05-06T19:31:00.007+02:00

Taroudant is a relatively small city located south of the High Atlas mountain range. Surrounded by a vast plain, it's known for its remarkable city walls and is gaining more and more interest among some tourists as an alternative to Marrakesh.

Bus Station.

Grand Taxi.

Motorcycle.

Rabinow's Reflections on Tea in Morocco

2011-04-30T14:21:00.000+02:00

Tea and sugar have a tyrannical and almost obsessive centrality in Morocco. Its preparation and consumption are daily rituals of generosity and exchange, but it is also economically a heavy load to bear. Who pays for how much of the tea and sugar, who owes whom from the other day or last week, and the quality of the ingredients are all constant themes of everyday life. (...) One gets the impression that tea must be one of the oldest and most stable of Moroccan staples, but this is not the case. (...) Actually, tea was introduced into Morocco by the English in the eighteenth century, and it's use did not become widespread until the nineteenth."

Paul Rabinow, Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco, University of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London 2007, p. 35.

Aerial Las Vegas

2011-04-26T20:02:00.002+02:00

The Strip

Desert Vegetation

Living Quarters

Transiting Romania

2011-04-23T12:31:00.003+02:00

A few years back I was on my way to Istanbul. I took an overland route from Poland via Ukraine and Romania, where I landed up in Bucharest at 5 a.m. having only a vague idea of what had to be done. I caught a trolleybus going towards the main train station. I had no ticket, no time to buy it, no language skills, I just didn't bother.

Bucharest, Romania

'How unlucky can I get being in this city for the first time in my life especially at 5 in the morning?!' I got unlucky of course, three gentlemen showed up as soon as we reached second stop. I tried 'I am a tourist' routine but it wasn't of much help. I gave the men some money, green banknote immediately put them in a good mood and they were even nice enough to show me the way to the train station after we all left the bus. They had a good catch eraly in the morning, I guess they went for a drink, but of course I might be wrong.

Bucharest, Romania

Anyways, I had a lot of time to kill before departure of Bosfor Express headed directly to Istanbul, so I wandered in the vicinity of the station taking pictures.


Bucharest, Romania

Signifying 'The Exotic'

2011-04-20T07:02:00.004+02:00

In her essay "On Photography" Susan Sontag wrote:

camera's rendering of reality must always hide more than it discloses."

One can get deceived if images belonging to only one context (such as travel photographs, often focused on cultural differences which I call signs of "The Exotic") are main source of information on a subject (such as Morocco). There are other possible visual representations of the very same place(s). Every image is an interpretation and as such, it can't be more correct (in terms of it's relationship to the objective reality) than any other.

Alleys of Goods in Essaouira

2011-04-18T20:57:00.005+02:00

Fes - entrance into the medina

2011-04-15T22:41:00.005+02:00

Picture taken from the tower right behind Bab Bu Julud, the blue gate which is the main entrance into the medina of Old Fes (Fes al-Bali).

Fes tanneries

2010-09-24T11:22:00.006+02:00

Chaouwara open air tannery is located on the eastern edge of the medina (Fes al-Bali). It's one of iconic tourist sights in Morocco but also an ecological threat. Leather cuttings, dyes and garbage make it to the Sebou river which carries not only wastes from the tannereies, but also untreated water from the city. Not all of the wastes make it out of the city.

Work in the open air tanneries is hard because of the smell and conditions. Among other things, workers have to immerse in water mixed with pigeon droppings (collected from the rooftops). They earn between 2 and 5 $ a day. Chaouwara is one of the three tanneries located within the medina where traditional methods and ingredients such as quicklime, pigeon droppings and tree bark are being used.

Overall, there are 58 tanneries in Fes, most of them located in the industrial parts of the city. Use of modern chemicals such as sulphate, formic acid and chrome in industrial tanneries allows to dye leather in 2 days instead of 2 months. The are plans to transform honeycomb-like tanneries into gardens, green recreational areas for visitors and residents alike. Probably it's a matter of time before traditional tanneries will become a thing of the past.

Street Lamps in Fes (فاس)

2010-09-14T16:25:00.004+02:00

Street Lamps in Chaouen (شفشاون)

2010-09-13T17:40:00.008+02:00

Santa Barbara Palmscapes

2010-08-25T10:20:00.002+02:00

Walled Medina of Essaouira (السويرة)

2010-07-29T12:07:00.004+02:00

Cooking Dinner in Mali

2010-07-21T10:05:00.001+02:00

Embalese de los Barrios de Luna

2010-07-16T11:55:00.004+02:00

In the Streets of Bamako

2010-07-13T14:14:00.005+02:00

Political Accents

2010-07-09T14:49:00.001+02:00

Venice Beach, Los Angeles

2010-05-17T20:38:00.011+02:00

Hoover Dam

2010-05-17T20:23:00.004+02:00

Into the Ameln Valley

2010-05-05T13:57:00.029+02:00

Fes Cementery

2010-04-27T11:40:00.011+02:00

Panorama of Chapeau de Napoleon

2010-04-26T12:26:00.005+02:00

The Painted Rocks

2010-04-26T12:11:00.009+02:00

In the Dogon Country (Mali)

2010-04-24T09:54:00.010+02:00

Around Tafraoute in Anti-Atlas

2010-03-13T18:41:00.001+01:00

Harbour in Essaouira

2010-03-08T22:09:00.007+01:00

Everyday Life in Mali

2010-03-07T10:50:00.000+01:00

Minarets of Istanbul

2010-03-01T12:30:00.000+01:00

Donkey Cola

2010-03-01T11:18:00.000+01:00

"To Morocco" Part 2 of 4 - MARRAKESH

2010-02-01T13:45:00.002+01:00

In the Dogon Country: Skulls and Magic

2010-01-12T21:12:00.000+01:00

"To Morocco" Part 1 of 4 - FES

2010-01-01T11:07:00.002+01:00