Money

Mali is a cash-only economy. Credit cards and checks are not accepted (except at major hotels & a few businesses). ATMs are scattered through out the city but they only take Visa! As for traveler’s checks, don't bother...

Bills are in denominations of 10,000, 5000, 1000 and 500. Coins are in denominations of 500, 100, 50, 25, 10 and 5. The lone problem is that the ATMs only dispense 10,000 and 5,000, which a majority of people here don't have change to break. We try to exchange these at the supermarket.

The CFA Franc was created on December 26, 1945. Mali left the CFA franc zone in 1962 and established its own currency, the Malian franc (Mfr), at par with CFA franc and its own central bank. However, smuggling and speculation rapidly undermined the new Malian franc forcing it to revert in 1967. It is said that all Francs are minted in Paris.


Although Central African CFA francs and West African CFA francs have the same monetary value against other currencies, West African CFA coins and banknotes are not accepted in countries using Central African CFA francs, and vice versa.

The current exchange rate for $1 USD = 470 CFA Francs. When figuring out the exchange we use the "500-to-1" rule. It is very uncommon for people to use 10 or 5 CFA they just drop the number and round. We have seen only a few 5 or 10 CFA coins since our arrival.

The Anniversary Cake

We got it at the local bakery. The frosting was thick like butter and made up 90% of the cake, but it sure tasted good! (white cake inside)

Candy Bars

“One of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn’t belong.” Do you remember those Sesame Street lyrics? We started to count the number of different Kit Kat's they have here, but lost count...

Where there is rain in Africa...there are kids!

When it rains...it brings out the neighborhood. Some children are bathed and some like these just like to get muddy! I know what your thinking, is that a white karate suit? Yep! I bet his mom is proud! What started as a few kids (as you can see), ballooned into several doing tricks for the camera.

Our Roof

What are they doing on our roof? What was a large pile of bamboo has turned into this (left picture)! The other side of the building (right picture) has what we thought was a collapsed roof from a sunporch/deck area; however, we realized this is not true. The bamboo poles are 'wired' to cement blocks. Your guess is as good as ours!