On assignment in Mali, I escaped Bamako for some hiking through Dogon Country, a collection of Dogon villages set along a vast escarpment. These are Dogon kiddos with a Dogon door. Dogon people in each Dogon village all have the same Dogon last name. The Dogon are famous for their Dogon spiritual beliefs and Dogon traditional way of life. Doggone it, aren't you glad I didn't say Dogon again?
Visiting Dogon Country sorta feels like a field trip to ancient ruins of a lost civilization, like Mesa Verde or Petra. Except for one thing -- people still live there. Rock-and-mud huts cling to the cliffside and millet fields cover the plains below. Before the Dogon, mysterious Tellem people lived in caves carved high into the cliff. The Dogon believe the Tellem were little people with magical flying powers. How else could they reach such inaccessible places? Scientists say the wetter environment of the time may have provided natural ladders in the form of vines hanging from the cliff above. Pssh, to heck with science. Flying little people are so much cooler.
The toguna is where old Dogon men hang out and bask in their hard-earned superiority. Every village has one and it's also where decisions are made and conflicts resolved. That's why it's so low to the ground. If you get pissed off in an argument and try to stand up, you will regret it. That's called smart design.
On the way to and from Mali, I pit-stopped in Guinea. Kankan is the brownest town on earth. Everything is tinted various shades of brown. Some of it is dust and sand from the Sahel, but the rest just seems like a bad habit. You become your surroundings after a while, I guess.
For some reason, much of my extended family calls me Grant Bob. In Guinea, 'Grand Bob' charges cell phones for a living. And he's apparently a buff bodybuilder.
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