Ibis Cotonou

... ones in America, but close enough. One of the Americans I was eating with ran into her Beninese aunt at the restaurant, so the aunt bought us all a drink. What a kind gesture!

There are tons of street venders. Selling random (yet useful) items on the street is a way of life for many. I would love to take a picture of the streets, but there are laws against taking pictures of ...

... A chaque fois une queue immense. Il
paraît qu’il faut être patient en Afrique et surtout ne pas être
pressés !!
Il y a une heure de moins ici qu’en France. Quand il est midi en France, il est 11h au Bénin.
Nos
premières impressions sur la route : les Africains portent des
vêtements amples et colorés. (cf photos) Ils parlent fort. Dans les
voitures les ceintures ne sont pas obligatoires. Ils circulent beaucoup
en moto et ne portent ...

... or countries - Cote d'Ivoire, Burundi, Congo - and that means I have less time in the year to visit our established congregations). Then I spoke on the topic of repentance. After services I set up my laptop and showed the video of the youth camps we organized in Togo and Cameroon last, year. Several young people from Cotonou attended the camp in Togo. They were very happy, and seemed a little stunned to ...

... and shot caused the population to rebel. The guard and citizens fought back and Paris, in a sense, declared it's independence from France(!). The Commune lasted about two months and was finally crushed by the central government. Some 20,000 "communards" as they were called, were summarily executed by their fellow French. Not the happiest chapter in French history. I walked around to the Place du Tertre, famous for its artists: painters and ...

Over the last two days we held our screening days in Cotonou. An estimated total of over 2,500 people showed up to be screened for surgery. Of that, we were able to schedule surgeries for over 500. Taking part in the screening was an amazing experience. The line started forming on Wednesday and we sent our first crew out to the site at 3 am on Thursday. I arrived at 6 AM to work with the security team.  My job was to notify the guard at the front of the ...

... room (my duffle bag was literally half the size of me).  My room was pitch black when I arrived and I was unsure if I was in the right spot or not.  The room has ten beds, meaning I have 9 roommates and so it was also a struggle to figure out which bed was mine when all my roommates were sleeping!  My bed is a top bunk and room is definitely at a premium.  I can't sit up fully and moving is not all that easy.  So - it's going to be an experience!

... fosse. Vi sozinho a lingua de areia de 100 m de largura e alguns km de cumprimento que e banhada no lado direito pelo imenso Atlantico e do lado esqu**do por um rio, criando uma paisagem surreal, corroborada pelos enormes coqueiros p**feitamente desalinhados ao longo da costa do rio. O bar do rapaz, Simon, tambem e de um extremo bom gosto, sem manias nem pretensoes, feito essencialmente de madeira e bamboo, bem ornamentado com plantas decorativas, jardim e ...

... de véhicules. En particulier celles des nombreux camions qui se rendent au port. Je n'ai pas eu le courage de faire l'expérience des Zems (c'est ainsi que l'on appelle les ''moto taxis'' à Cotonou), peut-être une autre fois. Mais beaucoup de touristes se sont laissé prendre au jeu et ont eu la piqûre pour ce moyen de déplacement très commode.

... of the afternoon in the pool. Me not getting out till around 7ish. That night Oliver and I sat in reception with the Lonely Planet trying to figure out what we were going to do. Jay joined and gave us some advice which was a big help. Just sooo many choices. South Africa is looking very appealing. Some of the others went off to a bar down the road. The groups of people we had passed earlier along the beach, getting louder and louder.

... taxi and into a bush taxi and we're on the road in less than 5 minutes. We had thought about calling our family before to give them a heads up but all the phone booths were closed because of the holiday and so we just showed up. What a surprised it was for them!!! They were so excited to see us and Christmas is such the perfect holiday here to spend it with family. Everyone was off and our Mama was already in the middle of cooking a great dinner when we arrive and she just ...