Day 51: Christmas Day Goat fest

Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Sat 25 Dec 2010 15:28
Day 51: Saturday 25 December 2010. The Sleeping Camel, Bamako, Mali. N12 37.525 W007 59.278 Distance driven 0 km
 
This really is an unusual Christmas!  At 0700 I walked in the early morning cool air to the local patisserie for delicious croissants and pain chocolat, then got to work on the Land Rover to replace the defective fuel vent hose that Nene Overland had fitted.  Fortunately, Ibrahim the Sleeping Camel's driver had found a piece of proper fuel hose of the correct size in the market last night, so all I had to do was fit it.  It was a bit of a thrutch but I managed it without too much trouble. 
 
Then we had present opening around the 500 mm Christmas Tree! The 24 Oasis overlanders had invited Jenny and I to share their Christmas. Each person had contributed a "secret present" of maximum value 5 Euros.  These were placed around the tree and the 26 names put in a hat. The system was that a name was drawn and that person then chose a present and opened it. The next person then chose a present and had the option of choosing one of the already opened presents or opening the one he/she had just picked up.  If he/she chose an already opened one, then the one just picked up was opened by the person from whom the opened present had been taken.  And so on. One of the first presents was a case of beer and this changed hands about 20 times!  I ended up with a water pistol type machine gun and Jenny ended up with a wig - see the photos on Jenny's blog site.
 
There had been rumours of roast pig but this morning they wheeled in a young goat that had been alive and kicking yesterday. A few local guys prepared it, filled the insides with couscous, sewed it up with steel wire, built a roasting station of concrete building blocks, lit a fire of local wood having spurned the overlanders supply as being inappropriate and it is now roasting away smelling very appetising. One of the guys is making sausages from the goat's intestines - not sure about that one! Much beer is being consumed by the overland crew waiting in great anticipation. By the time the goat is ready there are going to be a lot of hungry people.
 
 
         
Christmas morning
Secret presents
Under the Land Rover
 
Jenny's wig
24 Overlanders
Nearly ready
George W chasing Osama