Remember that serendipity I was talking about? Well, it got even stranger.

Our very last night, after we had done early check-in at Air France, but before we had to be at the airport, we ate dinner at the Bla Bla with some friends. At one point we stepped out to the street to chat with friends. Who should pass by but Ibrahim -- the taxi driver who escorted me around Bamako on my very first visit in May 2003! I hadn't seen him in two and a half years.

And finally, at the airport there was a large group of Russians. Who should be on the tarmac managing their departure but my friend Andrei, an economic officer from the Russian Embassy, who I'd tutored in English for a few months. We shook hands, said goodbye, and boarded the plane.

It was as if I had to see every person I'd connected with in Mali before I was allowed to leave. Only fitting for a place that puts so much weight on personal ties.