Cotonou, Benin Travel Blogs

A LONG, detailed account of tro-tros and more
Jan 2, 2004 (2 photos)

... beach ball can. From there, we crossed back over into French-speaking Togo and caught a taxi back to Cotonou, Benin, where our trip had begun a week before. ----- Angela, Melissa, Cristy, and I left Cotonou ...

Camp GLOW and more
Aug 30, 2004 (1 photos)

... The week that my dad was there was packed full of activities. We had a whirlwind tour of Benin! They visited Parakou, N'Dali, Abomey, Lokossa, Ouidah, Ganvié, and Cotonou. In N'Dali, I watched my parents try to pound yams (photos forthcoming), and I saw ...

A quick note
Oct 8, 2003

Something that made me smile and laugh out loud today: I was on a zemidjan riding through the streets in Cotonou when a very distinguished looking, white goat passed me. He had a very nice goatee and two long horns that curled back like little buns on ...

Cotonou
Mar 21, 2003

Hi Guys, You can read our update from Cotonou in our entry from Niamey, Niger entitled 'Togo and Benin to Niger'. Cheers, K & S

Bush Taxi
Jul 31, 2005

... hurt her feelings since the food had obviously been traveling for a while. I had discovered that they were on their way to Cotonou for med check ups for Canadian visas because her husband had been there since 1995 and even though they'd been approved and ...

First night at Paul VI
Sep 28, 2003

... runs throughout the country. It is basically a two lane dirt road. Once off the airplane, we are greeted by current volunteers from Benin. We are shuttled in Land Rovers to Jean Paul VI. It is a Catholic church/convent in the heart of Benin. At this ...

dfqd
Jan 26, 2006

... cramped taxi back to Cotonou after that, and collapsed in bed until 2. Now there's something I didn't explain - when I got to Cotonou, I took a motorcycle taxi and asked him to take me to the "Pension des Familles", the cheapest hotel in my Lonely Planet ...

Golfe de Benin
Sep 30, 2003

... is beginning to get much better. This is surprisingly unsual but I have time and access to post another entry. I am currently in Cotonou and will leave this city on Thursday to travel to a town called Azove about three hours away. Sorry if there are ...

new goodies!
Jul 22, 2006

... have to say, however, that life after staging in pre-service learning is much more of a blur. Upon our arrival into Cotonou, we were greeted by some Peace Corps higher-ups who took care of getting us through customs and immigration. Then, there was ...

Togo!
Jan 21, 2009

On the beach in Togo

Off to Azove!!!
Oct 2, 2003

... away. I plan to take a bush taxi with some other volunteers every sunday to check my emails and post another entry. Being in Cotonou and having access to the Peace Corps headquaters has spoiled me but c'est la vie! I really encourage you guys to send ...

Benin (Eng+Pt)
Feb 12, 2009 (10 photos)

... family. But he just wouldn't let me go and once more I was blown away by this African tenderness.  On the Benin side, a quick introduction about my travel method immediately gathered me some sympathy, the immigration officer rushed to get me a nice, ...

Gha-To-Nin, ça c'est fait
Nov 22, 2008 (3 photos)

... la frontière du Bénin en payant des bakchiches, moi en présentant mes papiers en règles. Quelques difficultées sur la route, crevaison... Bref, à Cotonou, il n'a nulle part ou aller, et moi non plus car la personne qui devait me loger "fait la morte"!! On ...

zemi, zemi
Jul 25, 2006

... language) for zemi driver. While you're doing this, you must make sure that you are summoning a legitimate zemi driver. In Cotonou, they will be wearing a yellow shirt with some numbers printed on the back. The color varies from city to city and town ...

Farewells to Benin
Nov 18, 2005

... world and ourselves. We picked up our friend Michelle on the way down and loaded up her things. Then we arrived in Cotonou that evening. Michelle and us all shared stories of our saying goodbye. Michelle's village thought so much of her to make ...

"The Last..."
Aug 1, 2005

... students dressed in brilliant white, sitting listening to their bellowing tutor. The sand was soft and the big buildings of Cotonou in the hazy distance seemed strange after seeing nothing but lush trees and lumpy peanut fields and huts with unhurried ...

New Pictures from Benin and our Travels in France
Jul 11, 2004

Hey everyone, We just finished putting captions on pictures Eric has developed for us so check it out and let us know if this site is working for everyone. Thanks and we'll write again soon, Jason and Rebecca The link should be: http:// ...

First Thoughts on Benin
Sep 28, 2003

... And hopefully a game of beach soccer will insue. So the plan is to spend the rest of the week (until next thursday) here in cotonou at the convent and then we're off to our training sites. Rebecca and I will be living in the same site together but I'll ...

Culture Shock!!!!
Dec 24, 2006 (7 photos)

... landlord's SUV.  Franck and the landlord talked while we finished breakfast.   Our first stop was the marché in Cotonou. Jen has turned into quite a wise shopper.  She bargains by negotiating a price, they say "no", she walks away, ...

We're Cookin'
Oct 16, 2005 (4 photos)

Visiting Teresa in Cotonou. We made salads...and had access to diet soda.

Happy Birthday Meredith!
Oct 1, 2005 (1 photos)

For breakfast, I met Meredith and two other Volunteers at a bakery/café called Gerb d'Or. I took a zemi there. It was my first time traveling by zemi solo...without other Volunteers with me. My driver didn't exactly know where the bakery was though, and ...

Le Petit Miguelito
Apr 22, 2006 (4 photos)

We went to a concert of many "popular" artists....at least they are very popular within Benin. Le Petit Miguelito debuted his first CD. It seems he is very popular here and extremely famous (like the Beatles). I had the "luck" to talk to him before the ...

Waiting...
Sep 29, 2005

... scrambled eggs to our dinner menu as well. 9-30-05 First Salsa Experience 7:30 - woke and packed stuff to go to Cotonou 9:30 - took a walk to visit people along the main road. Tried to find Augustine's house, but couldn't find it by myself. ...

Drumming, Road Accident,THAI FOOD!
Jan 25, 2006

... Burkina and Benin. Trip had some nice scenery - it was good to see lots of green again after the SuperSahelian landscape! Got to Cotonou last night, and just walked around a bit...went to Ghanaian embassy this morning to do my visa - and on the way, I ...

oooh, fanmilk
Jul 24, 2006

... very promising and all the volunteers absolutely love it here in Benin. Afterword, we went to the office and had a little tour of Cotonou. A driver took us on a car tour of the city and dropped us off down by the beach where we worked our way back to ...

Easter Weekend
Apr 15, 2006 (7 photos)

After the All-Vol Conference the US Ambassador Wayne Neille (spelling??) invited usu to his home for a cookout and swim.

All-Vol Conference
Apr 14, 2006 (3 photos)

All of the PCVs in Benin got together for a few days in Cotonou.

Interview between Eric and Jason
Apr 1, 2004

... ? How much have you worked with them so far? JasonS1976 (12:28:38 PM): This is all kind of new because Benin just switched to locally elected officals as opposed to government appointed positions so things are still new but the new mayor is really nice, ...

Zemidjan Training
Jul 12, 2005 (6 photos)

... noir (contains the yam skin). I had the rouge kind. This food is eaten ALL the time by Beninoise. Today is our last day in Cotonou...so sad to leave here....NOT. It is sad in a way though, because all 46 of us are here, and tomorrow we get broken up ...

Yet another coutry flies by
May 24, 2009 (2 photos)

... of Africa like Togo and Benin mean lots of border crossings as there is not too much to see and experience. Now we are in Benin, which seems to be a cleaner version of Togo. Voodoo is a big thing in Benin and we made a journey by pirogue to a voodoo ...