I'm finally back. It's good to be home, although not to be back to work. I'm dreading going tomorrow.
So my mom and aunt marked the first of hopefully many state-side visits. It was a blast. Honestly, I was a bit worried that the entire affair would be difficult and not go well at all. I mean, let's face it: Benin isn't yet a developed nation. (Obviously... that's why we're here!) As such it's not quite 100% tourist friendly yet, somethings are just hard to do. Transportation for example. Zemidjans (motorcycle taxis) are the most practical and cheap, but not everyone is quite up to the exciting ride a zemi promises. Thankfully my aunt and mom were more than up to the challenge, and we got around quickly and easily. I also had misgivings about my language skills, knowledge of the country, fear of making them sick with food... In short pretty much every misgiving that they probably had coming here.
It all went well though, practically everything flowed like clockwork, which is pretty much miraculous considering our location. We started out where most visitors to Benin start; Cotonou. Since they flew in on a Friday night, I came down that day from Parakou and checked us in to the Hotel du Lac. I did some grocery shopping, hung out, and lamented that I had forgotten my swimsuit. That though turned out to not be a problem, as there was free internet in their business center. I was quite surprised, but thrilled.
The flight was to come in at 8pm, but it was near on 10 by the time we were out of the airport and on towards the room (by way of the airport shuttle, courtesy of the hotel). We had a late snack/dinner of pizza and beer. Probably not quite what they had imagined their first meal in Benin would be like.
The next day was the day for fulfilling a mission; fabric shopping. Cotonou is the land of all that is sell-able, so naturally the market is the biggest in Benin. I was excited because I hadn't actually yet visited the Marché Dantokpa. Oh wow, it was insane. We didn't even see 10% of it, and probably only made it through 25% of the people selling fabric. Still though, we did okay. That was the main activity for the day, but it was certainly a good, albeit probably overwhelming, introduction to Benin.
My plan was to really get out of Cotonou as fast as humanly possible. Not that Cotonou is a bad place, it just isn't really representative of the country as a whole. Cotonou is a magical place, a place with jazz concerts, playstations, DSL, imported wines, and air conditioning. Things that for the most part don't exist anywhere else in Benin. While, I was fine with taking the bus up... in manner of comfort and ability to stop and see things it was somewhat lacking. So, we rented out a bush taxi and made our way up slowly, stopping in Bohicon for pineapple and Beninese Tostitos (this odd corn based rings, made locally and sold off of peoples heads). Our final destination for the day was the infamous Marché Kilomobo, my tchuke-in' home. We wandered around a bit, stopped at the best booths and met some friends.
The next days in Parakou were passed by with meetings of people, going out to dinners, walking around, being prepared a delicious meal of lentil burgers and fries by the Para-crew, and all around seeing what this crazy town is all about. It was good times. Post-Parakou we thought it would be fun to head down to Carrie's post. She lives in a unique area, off the main road by quite a bit... but is the main market town for the area. As such she gets quite a diverse group of people coming in, and as such a cool atmosphere. We walked around a bit, greeted her "Papa" and made stir-fry for dinner.
We got a taxi for the next day to head out and visit the good old host family in Azové. It was a quiet couple of days spent there. Lost of playing with the kids, and a lot of watching the Africa Cup. You couldn't turn on the TV without seeing it (that may have a lot to do with the fact that there is only one channel... but yeah). It was fun, and I think pretty much the epitome of a truly African experience. I mean, it doesn't get more authentic than being a house guest.
Sunday it was time to escape Africa for a little while, so we made a sudden transition to Casa del Papa in Ouidah. Casa del Papa is like heaven on earth. That said, when we first got there it was really overwhelming for me. There were tons of white people for one, and for two there was white kids. It's weird, being here you see white people occasionally that you don't know... you stare, but you aren't really that surprised. The thing is though that they are all adults, you don't see kids hardly at all. So, seeing white kids was weird. I sort of forgot that they existed. But, Sunday night everyone left, and we were very likely the only people staying in the hotel.
Oh, and in what style we were staying. The beach side rooms are literally on the beach. You open your door, and you walk down the steps and you're there. You're touching sand. You walk maybe 100 yards and you're swimming in the ocean. Oh, and the food. Each room comes with a complimentary breakfast for the paying occupants. You think "oh, complimentary breakfast... cool; croissants and juice". Oh no, you're wrong. You think you're right when you sit down and they lay out a plate of croissants and bring you a glass of orange juice. You're wrong though. Next they ask if you want tea or coffee (as in NOT Nescafé!) and bring out a plate of breads. Pound-cake, raisin-nut bread and standard white (which could be toasted on request). "Oh, that's nice" you think to yourself, but Casa del Papa isn't done yet. Next they bring a big plate of fresh fruit; watermelon, pineapple, papaya. THEN they bring out a plate with yogurts, jams and butter. Then finally, the grand finale: "would you like some eggs with bacon?". I think I almost cried. Yes, I'm not afraid to admit it. Bacon is heaven, free bacon is indescribable.
The dinners were just as good, potatoes au gratin, steak with roquefort sauce, lamb curry. All wonderful.
We did actually escape from the island (Casa del Papa is about 6K from Ouidah) for one day and see the sites. Temple of Pythons, Sacred Forest, the museum, the old slave trail and the Door of No Return.
At this point it was hard to believe that there wasn't much time remaining. We headed back to Cotonou, stopped in the floating village of Ganvié (which was VERY touristy, but interesting nonetheless).
All in all the trip was well passed, tons of delicious food, local clothes being made, visits to museums and generally an at times touristy, and other times not at all melange of a trip.
Oh, check the gallery!
