Compared to Dakar, from where I traveled to get to my job at the World Bank, the city of Bamako is the image of tranquility, with sultry temperatures and long siestas, as described so vividly by Albert Londres in Terre d’Ebène. An invaluable work for understanding the Mali of the past, and perhaps the present? There has definitely been a shift, but the country is still known for the heat and a certain languor. It depends on imports from neighboring countries for everything, particularly goods and services, “and even fashion, or ideas!” a friend sometimes notes with irony.