Mali mayhem

We've reached Sikasso in Mali near the Burkina Faso border. The past two days have been the most challenging so far though not for the reasons we had envisaged. First Nick got a puncture in Beast 1 that was quickly repaired by a local mechanic. Then our car developed a problem with the relay which is am electronic component that does something electronic - or not in this case. This delayed us considerably and by nightfall we'd only reached halfway to Bamako to a place called Diema that had no place to stay though another mechanic made a temporary repair to this relay thingy. So we did what we vowed we wouldn't do and drove through the night towards the capital. We were 75 miles of our destination when we hit a pothole that broke our clutch. It would be unfair to name the driver since it could have happened to anyone. Besides, she was very upset. It meant we had to spend the night in the cars by the side of the road. Things got even worse when we decided to tow the damaged car to a nearby town and the other car wouldn't start. So we may not be mechanically minded but we are nothing if not resourceful. Malvena and I hitch-hiked into town, found a mechanic with an uncanny resemblance to the athlete Michael Johnson and he had fixed both cars within four hours. So we have driven to Sikasso and will cross the border tomorrow. The Malian people have been so kind and welcoming.