Benin, fascinating!

Dearest friends,

I have come to the end of my journey in Benin and it has been such an enlightening experience. Benin, much like Ghana has an educated population thqt loves to discuss politics as I have found out on at least three different bush taxi rides. Nonetheless, Benin is a unique place as a center of the slave trade, the Dahomey kings, and Voodoo.

My journey began with the small town of Ouidah. With its multitude to sights and monuments, unusually friendly people, and cobblestone streets it reminded me of historic Philadelphia. About 30 minutes after arriving we had walked nearly a kilometer with our backpacks so mine decided it was time to break. As I sat dejected next to my broken, I got a mango for consolation. Covered in the juice and hqving tied my pack back together, I was refreshed but was so happy to be greeted by a local woman who brought me water to wash off the mango juice. Ouidah is well known for the Route Des Esclaves, the 4km wlk that slaves took to the beach which is now decorated with voodoo symbols and other monuments. On the route to the ocean the slaves walked around The Tree of Forget, sorry I cant recall the exact name, but they walked around it three times to forget their homeland. Peppered with local parks I spent a lot of time sitting and hanging out. Apparently kids all the way across the world play very similar to how I did at a kid, it was nice to observe.

Abomey was the next stop, and will definitely be one of my favorite cities. Entering the village the first night I was surprised to see a procession of masked men beating drums with children following behind but not too close. Apparently this was part of a voodoo ceremony where the dead are returning back to the grave and if the children are touched by one of the masked men, they too will die. I had a unique opportunity to see the second part of the ceremony as well which consisted of a dancing free for all. Groups of some 5 people took turns dancing in front of a band. One of the things unique about the Voodoo religion is that it doesnt reject midgets or twins, but rather worships them. During the ceremony there were two female midgets who would dance as well as the swerving of their hips and subsequent falls would greatly amuse the crowd. They would pick out boys from the onlooking crowd and bring them to the center to dance on them so all the boys ran when they started dancing, but two unlucky ones got caught and were the centerpiece of the crowds enjoyment for some 15 minutes as they couldnt move while being danced on. Voodoo is a very complex religion very denigrated by Hollywood to the idea of Voodoo dolls. In actuality, Voodoo is composed of a supreme God and many lesser gods and the hr,ful voodoo dolls are actually pqrt of fetish which broke off from voodoo years ago. Voodoo and fetish are opposites. For instance if you wanted to cause harm to a person you would go to a fetish priest who would give you a prescription like the tail of a robin, skin of a hippo, head of viper, skull of crocodile and youd go to the fetish market and buy it. The priest would then take the ingredients grind them or burn them and put them inside a doll with a picture of the person. Now if you wanted to protect yourself fro, the harm the priest would cause by jabbing a needle into the doll, you carry a VOODOO doll. Voodoo is actually the counterbalance, in this case it protects you from fetish. Different than what I thought!

The next stop was Natitingou in Nothern Benin. The bus ride up nonetheless took quite a bit longer than expected because my bus didnt work so well. We would be crawling along the road passed by semi trucks competing with the goats walking along side the bus. Multiple times the bus broke down and wed get out and wait in the shade while they fixed it. At one point the bus started working as it was on top of the hill and so many of the passengers myself included ran alongside the bus to jump inside, much like Little Miss Sunshine style. Eventually the bus broke down entirely and we completed the last 200km in bush taxi which was also interesting because my driver decided he wanted to fit seven people rather than the typical six by adding a person next to him in the drivers seat.

After a 12 hour trip I finally arrived in Nati, as its called by the locals. I arranged to take a day long SAFARI in the nearby park of Pendjari. I met up with my driver at 5am and spent the day spotting baboons, antelopes, warthogs, some other species I couldnt identify. After a couple hours I was getting tired of it and frustrated because I hadnt seen any lions or elephants and I had paid enough to pet one. As we were driving along my driver turns to me and whispers, Les Elephants! Sure enough, there was a group of nine elephants trolling through the Savannah within 10 meter of the car. We just sat for a while and watched the fascinating creatures that on a one day Safari are only a slim chance to see. By then, the trip was worth it.

Theres a community of people in Northern Benin called the Somba that had resisted both the slave traders and Dahomey kings. Theyre houses are fascinating and are mainly composed of mud and rock but built in two or three levels. I stayed for a night with a Somba family and their house had two floors. The first was for cattle and chickens as well as defense mechanisms then there was a Y ladder made out of a tree branch with slivers cut out for foot holds that reached to the second level. On the second level was a small hut that you sleep in that you get into by lying on the ground and scuttling backwards until you can touch your feet to the ground by bending your waist. The whole to get in is just large enough for your shoulders. On the roof as well is large grain stores made of mud that look like teardrops with removable palm fronds as the cover. I spent the afternoon hoeing in the field with the children who do that every day after school. The kids were also a huge fan of the Uno game I brought with me which broke the ice immediately. I am sure that in just one day I played uno for 7 hours with 15 different kids!

The ride from Nati to Parakou, where I am now was a very typical Africa experience. Obviously, the car is packed with four people in the back and two people in the front seat. About two hours into the ride the car runs out of gas so our driver quickly driver to a nearby town and fills up while we wait under a tree along the road. Then were off again our trunk completely overloaded and tied closed and packed with passengers. We stop at the next village and two people in the car buy large white blobs of cheese but the sachets theyre in are not keeping out the water. So of course, the driver puts five large blobs of cheese on the hood of the car by the windsheild wipers and were off. Even though I wasnt a cheese owner I kept an eye on them to make sure they didnt fall off. Everything seemed to be in the clear until the only problem that could disturb the cheese game, the windsheild wipers started and didnt stop. I reached out my arm and grabbed a wiper to stop if from hitting two of the cheeses but it was still wiggling in my hand. We pulled over and unscrewed the wipers and were on our way. The cheese was safe and we arrived with little other trouble. C'est La Vie En Afrique!!

So next stop is Niger for the next week and a half. I will really miss Benin. Here I learned about the fascinating culture of the Tota Samba and the religion of Voodoo. I have decided that I am not really a tourist at this point. I am not staying in fancy hotels and avoiding locals, rather I am looking for culture and history. Therefore I see myself now as a Student of the World. Traveling to learn about different cultures, different ways of life, and the history of countries most Americans have never heard of.

Until next time,
Ben