Hey Everyone!
I just got back from Benin a couple of days ago, and thought I'd give a report...or rather right a book. It's long I know. But I've got to record this stuff somewhere!
I was there visiting my sister, Lynne, and her cute family. They are there as she does research on her dissertation, researching a precolonial palace.
It's not an adventure without some risk and uncertainty. Here are some of the unexpected turns that got our adrenalin going.
The Accidental Bribing
Before my trip began and I was getting my vaccines, the doctor told me that although my yellow fever card had a note that it expired in 2008, it was really good until 2017. It turns out that the last nurse wrote down the expiration date on the bottle, not when the vaccine wore off internally. Anyway, unfortunately this last doctor didn't correct the card, and I trusted that everything would be fine. Oops.
When the medical staff in Benin asked for my card, we argued about the situation for about 10 minutes with a huge language barrier. All I could tell, is that they assumed I needed a shot and wasn't going to let me go without one. So I finally threw up my arms and said, "Fine, give me the shot. How much does it cost?" Blank stare and long pause. "Like, $10?" The two staff members looked at each other and said. "Oui, $10." I was then taken to a small, dingy, office where I signed a new yellow fever card and gave them my $10. She was taking a while. "Are you going to give me a shot?" I motioned. "Non. Your country. Au revoir." Doh! I'm part of the system! They tricked me. Oh well.
When the medical staff in Benin asked for my card, we argued about the situation for about 10 minutes with a huge language barrier. All I could tell, is that they assumed I needed a shot and wasn't going to let me go without one. So I finally threw up my arms and said, "Fine, give me the shot. How much does it cost?" Blank stare and long pause. "Like, $10?" The two staff members looked at each other and said. "Oui, $10." I was then taken to a small, dingy, office where I signed a new yellow fever card and gave them my $10. She was taking a while. "Are you going to give me a shot?" I motioned. "Non. Your country. Au revoir." Doh! I'm part of the system! They tricked me. Oh well.
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
My big brother Kevin and I were suppose to meet on our third and final leg of the trip, flying from Ethiopia to Benin. My flight arrived about an hour late, so I thought for sure he'd be there waiting for me. According to all of the airport staff, his flight had already arrived. That was so not true. After a few minutes of concerned searching for him, I felt assurance from the Spirit that he was fine, but that didn't stop me from searching for him for a while. It turns out Ethiopian Airlines did some bad planning and he missed the connecting flight by a half an hour and was stuck in Ethiopia for 2 days.
When we finally got to the airport to pick him up 2 days late, the luggage people temporarily "lost" his stuff and it took him an hour and half to make it out of the airport. By this point in the trip, I had already experienced about 3 instances of corruption, so my imagination kept going back to some hostage kidnapping situation.
When we finally got to the airport to pick him up 2 days late, the luggage people temporarily "lost" his stuff and it took him an hour and half to make it out of the airport. By this point in the trip, I had already experienced about 3 instances of corruption, so my imagination kept going back to some hostage kidnapping situation.
This is how happy we were to see each other.
Phony Police Attempted Mugging
My first night in Benin, we ate at a tasty Chwarma Restaurant and began our walk back to the hotel. It was dark, and a man in a partially tucked in police shirt introduced himself as a police officer and demanded to see identification. I didn't know what was happening so I kept walking a bit with the kids and Lynne while Brian chatted for a minute. It turns out, as we kept walking he said, "Do you want me to shoot?? When Brian told him that he didn't have ID with him, the man started searching Brian's pockets. He grabbed his wallet. Brian grabbed it back. This went on for a few minutes, and since Lynne could tell a little better than me what was happening. She approached the situation and said, "This is not o.k. We've got to get away from this guy." Meanwhile, Liam (who is 8) went up to the "police" and pushed him away. That kid has guts. We walked away and the guy zipped up a jacket to hide his fake police shirt, and rode away on his motorcycle. Weird! His lack of aggression, was a huge blessing. But it was still enough to shake us up a bit.
Real Police Hijacked our Taxi
While Kevin was still in Ethiopia, the rest of us were in a packed taxi driving from Cotonou to Porto Novo. We were stopped at a police check.
Sorry, for the bad quality. But this was the taxi, before the check.
Our last experience with the "police" already made us a little weary. This is what happened from my non-french speaking perspective. The police told the driver to get out. Then he told Brian and a very large woman to get out of the front seat. The woman argued, fiercely. She was outraged. He then told a woman to get out of the second row and placed the driver there. He pulled a bystander off the street to sit in the driver's seat...unfortunately he couldn't drive well....and sat himself in the passenger seat. And we were off.
There we were, driving away without 3 passengers including Brian! Lynne and I were stuck in the back with the kids and couldn't get out. Lynne said something like, "Monsieur! We can't leave without my husband! He has the money for the taxi driver!" No one responded. She kept saying Monsieur, monsieur!" So, I joined in. And feeling a little helpless not knowing any other French, I said it LOUD. Like, shouted it from the top of my lungs. Then Lynne did, and so did Liam. The police didn't turn around, or explain. He just rapidly wrapped the shoulder strap of his gun around his hand tightly, and held his large gun up a bit, enough for everyone in the car to get a good look. Not exactly comforting.
Fortunately we only drove for another minute to the police station where the taxi driver was told to get out, and while they started to chat....the rest of us got out of the car quietly, and inconspicuously got outside of the police gates as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Brian met us there, and we were off. It may have not been as bad as it felt. The driver didn't have his licence, so the police took him to the station. But I think they could have taken the 10 seconds to explain to the rest of us that we weren't being held hostage.
There we were, driving away without 3 passengers including Brian! Lynne and I were stuck in the back with the kids and couldn't get out. Lynne said something like, "Monsieur! We can't leave without my husband! He has the money for the taxi driver!" No one responded. She kept saying Monsieur, monsieur!" So, I joined in. And feeling a little helpless not knowing any other French, I said it LOUD. Like, shouted it from the top of my lungs. Then Lynne did, and so did Liam. The police didn't turn around, or explain. He just rapidly wrapped the shoulder strap of his gun around his hand tightly, and held his large gun up a bit, enough for everyone in the car to get a good look. Not exactly comforting.
Fortunately we only drove for another minute to the police station where the taxi driver was told to get out, and while they started to chat....the rest of us got out of the car quietly, and inconspicuously got outside of the police gates as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Brian met us there, and we were off. It may have not been as bad as it felt. The driver didn't have his licence, so the police took him to the station. But I think they could have taken the 10 seconds to explain to the rest of us that we weren't being held hostage.
Attack of the Small Antelope
The village where Larsens live, Abomey, has a little hotel with some fenced animals including this really cool Bushbuck. This picture was taken by Kevin.
This one was taken by me. It's upside down. I was standing on the bottom ledge of a stick fence and thought I turned my flash off just to be safe. My suspicions were confirmed. Bushbucks do NOT like flashes. These are his hooves flying at me right before he rammed my leg through the fence. I barely had enough time to think, "Hmmm, where did he go?" before I fell back a bit.
It didn't really hurt, but he did leave these to symmetrical horn bruises.
It looks cooler in person. :)
O.k. with all of the drama aside, Benin is a dream! It doesn't seem to be dealing with the amounts of poverty I saw in Namibia (let alone the post apartheid divisions), or the post colonial decay and civil war aftermath I saw in Mozambique. I was surprised at how bustling the cities were, and how peaceful the towns felt.
Our first stop was Ganvie, an island stilt village. Some people call it the Venice of Africa.
If you're going to get your camera out, be prepared to share it.
The next morning we visited Obama Beach. The water felt great, and was shallow enough for the kids to go out pretty far.
It would have been more fun to have Anthony there.
Cotonou has a beautiful Botanical Garden
My cute nephews swinging on the swing-less swing set.
Porto Novo has an amazing agricultural school, where students can attend for free.
We stayed there for a couple of nights.
Chickens
Papaya
Palaces and Temples
So, most of us probably don't associate the word "palace" with Western Africa, but historically Benin has had loads of Kingdoms, each with their own palace(s). We visited a few of them, including the one Lynne has been studying.
It started to rain/flood during the tour. We weren't allowed to take pictures in most of Lynne's palace, but this is one of the gigantic courtyards.
I never considered the African side of the slave trade much. Cannons like this were traded for 15 strong men, or 21 strong women. People still look back at the slave trading kings with respect though, because people say they only traded prisoners of war, the enemy, not his own people. Unfortunately, all the incentives from Europeans encouraged a lot of war. I guess we could call it the Military Slave Complex.
There was one especially sacred part of the palace where we were told that were would need to remove our shoes, bow low to enter the room, and would have to remain outside if we were menstruating There was a long pause...and eveyone started to look at me. "Oh! I'm fine. We're good to go." I don't know how Lynne got off the hook so easily.
Another Palace
Temples like this are dotted throughout Abomey. There are large compounds where about 200 members of a family live. And outside the compound walls, there is a small place of worship.
A funeral tradition.
This is one of the Vodun gods that people build in places of potential contention. He's the god of peace.
Views from the Taxi
Black market gas like this is sold everywhere. A tube is placed in the large bottle, and the person "pumping," starts sucking the gas up the tube, and then fills the smaller bottle once the flow begins. I saw one guy accidentally get some of the gas in his mouth and spit it out.
Fill 'er up!
Transporting chickens to the market. Every time the car stopped, there were dozens of heads bobbing in unison.
This is how we got around most of the time. The motorcycle taxis are called Zims.
Can you tell who's bananas were rejected?
U&U's look strangely familiar, but taste more like soap then chocolate.
Funeral Parade. Jazzy, happy, improvised music.
Yes. That is a coffin.
This was a flooded rode we drove through on our 5 hour drive to Abomey.
I think they're making coal here.
My international graffiti fetish. In Benin Graffiti is legal if it's done on corrugated steel.
Fast food delivered through our window. Boiled peanuts and hominy-like corn. Yum!
Hanging out in Abomey
I couldn't get enough of the hand painted signs and murals.
Lynne's research assistant
Lynne's closest Beninese friend. Diane, made us an amazing dinner. I still need to get the recipe (hint hint Lynne).
Hanging out at the Larsen home
It took most of us to catch a mouse our first night there.
Liam's Popsicle stick game. Man, those kids are getting creative.
Mmmm. French influence.
Mangoes for our nightly bedtime snack. They range from 2-10 cents and are deeelicious! I'm salivating just remembering them.
The Larsens were incredible hosts. It was an amazing experience being in Benin, but if I had to choose my favorite moments, sitting around and talking with Lynne, Brian, and Kevin would be at the top. I feel blessed to be related to such fun, fascinating people. If it weren't for all of my cute guys waiting for me at home, I would have wanted to extend my stay. Next adventure will have to include Anthony....and we'll wait a few more years for the boys.
