Djenne

         As I entered Djenne I immediately noticed their Sundanese architecture style. Most of their buildings were about two stories high with flat rooftops. I could see the color of the brown reddish sun-baked bricks the houses were built of. The facades of the houses were decorated with clusters of Borassus palm projected from the walls. Piping was placed along the side of the rooftops to avoid from damaging the walls. It’s amazing to believe that almost all of the adobe buildings here are replastered about every other year just to keep them in condition. Most of the average rainfall causes damage to the adobe buildings some are even destroyed and then fully rebuilt. I arrived at my first destination for the night, hotel Chez Baba, where i’ll be staying while i’m in Djenne. With a 4 star review I hope I will be pleased during my time staying in the Chez Baba. 

            I’ve awoken and am ready for my first full adventurous day in Djenne. First up on the list is to visit the great mosque of Djenne.As I arrived I was immediately amazed by the considerable size of the mosque. I recognized the arrangement of the spiky wood sticking out of the mosque. The wood in this case helps further support the structure and also allows for  platforms and a climbing area to aid in plastering and keeping the mosque in stable condition.

Right outside of the mosque was a decent size market. Hearing the mixture of languages with different animals and seeing the crowd walking underneath the heat of the hot sun was crazy. There were so many different makeshift little shops consisting of livestock, fishing, and agriculture based items. The variety of food in Djenne was not very large. They rely a lot on yearly flooding and rainfall of the Niger and Bani rivers. They definitely pull through with what they have a accomplish a successful enough economy. I’m glad to be one of about ten thousand that visit every year. I enjoyed getting to learn and understand a different culture and style somewhere else in the world.

 

 

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