Friday, March 23, 2018

A Belated Souvenir from Mali

In 2011, during the earliest days of the second MariesWorldTour, I went overland from the northern tip of West Africa all the way to Kinshasa. Mali was particularly challenging, and I was exhausted the day I dragged myself into Djenne Djenno Hotel, which was the real name, but the locals called it Hotel Sophie.

Sophie was the owner. The hotel was outstanding, truly remarkable, made from traditional materials, featuring nightly music, great food, a number of local projects, and delicious peanut butter made in the kitchen. Sadly, Sophie'd had to close the hotel last year and had left Mali for London.

But she has an Etsy store. 

And when I got my new sofa, I decided it needed a mudcloth. I went on Etsy looking for a Mali mudcloth, and found Sophie's shop. I was thrilled to get a mudcloth from someone I'd met (she didn't remember me—I only stayed one night), from something I had a personal connection to.

Here is the mudcloth on my sofa. I had planned on trying it out as a curtain in Jersey City, but I think it's destined to stay right here.