I'm still in Douentza. To be honest, I am afraid to go back to village in this heat. At least here I can find cold water, drinks and ice. It was 117 degrees in the sun yesterday, and 102 degrees in the shade. This is only the beginning of the hot season. I was told to wait for the sandstorms, which bring a "powdered doughnut" effect. Apparently, you sit and sweat all day. Then a breeze comes to cool you off. But this breeze should not be welcomed, as it hails the beginning of a major sand storm. Your sticky, sweaty body is the perfect recepticle for all that flying sand. Hence, the "powdered doughnut" effect. I will go back to village today where I will find myself surrounded by rocks that collect heat and don't let it escape. I'm not sure if it's some sort of a heat hostage situation. What do the mountains have to gain from it? It's even hot at night now. There really is no reprieve from this heat during the hot season. I lay in my tent in a half sleep, sweating, praying a cool wind will pass by. It does, occasionally. The rains will be here in a few months, so I have something to look forward to. I haven't seen rain since September. When it finally returns, I promise to sit outside in the rain for as long as it falls.

I haven't been getting a lot of exercise lately and I put a few pounds back on when I was in Bamako. As I was greeting the guys from my village yesterday in Douentza, they were impressed with the little belly I acquired. They said, "You look so healthy and fat! You must have eaten such good food! Was there meat? Salad? Pasta? Rice? Did you drink coffee and eat bread EVERY day???" And then they proceeded to rub my belly and push in with their fingers. Needless say, it was wierd. But everything here is wierd, so I take it all in stride. I started to work out this week, too. I don't have any wieghts to lift, so I've made due with what I've got. Rocks! I searched around and found some rocks that seem to be evenly wieghted, and they're working out all right. Lots of pushups, situps and rock lifts. Hopefully the village guys won't push in my belly after a few weeks.

Talk about bed head! I woke up very surprised this morning.

What are you looking at? Fikru and I have been bored and trying to entertain ourselves in this heat. So, here we are being all bad ass and what not.

Look at all this sand in Douentza just waiting to be whipped up in a storm!

These women are outside my house everyday making oil for their hair. They start a small fire under the rock and press seeds and leaves over it to extract the oil. They massage it into their braided hair in order to keep the hair tight and close to their heads.

The oil goes into the plastic jar.