La Casa del Papa Ouidah

... br>
The next morning, I woke up at 6am to see the sunrise on the beach. It was a nice attempt, except there were clouds and fog so I couldn't see the sun. I got some nice photos of the fisherman preparing their boats though. It would have been neat to see them put the boats in the water, but it was an all day process and I needed to move on to my next destination.

This morning, I woke up at 5:30am to go to Ouidah (wee-duh). This is a city rich in history, but not really history it can be proud of. It is one of the cities on the coast of West Africa where the slave trade occurred.

I visited the museum and retraced the footsteps the slaves walked from the trade-market, to the retention centers, and to the beach where they boarded the boats, called the Point of No-Return. It was very ...

Benin
Again, Benin is a small narrow country with little coastline. Howev** we managed to pack in a good fews things ov** a limited time.
First stop was Grand Popo - a voodoo and mangrove tour - which was incredibly und**whelming...the guide didn't provide much insight into their voodoo culture, which is practiced widely in this country. Next, we stayed in Ouidah ...

... the pleasure of sampling a small Armagnac, my favorite after dinner drink. We landed after dark, past 7:00 pm. I whisked through immigration, the agent hardly even glanced at the visa, just stamped the passport. But then the waiting began again. It took nearly 90 minutes for my suitcase to arrive on the carousel. I'm not sure what takes so long, but it always seems to take a very long time here. Even tonight, when my suitcase has the ...

... que ainda estao em estagio infantile, mas ja da para antecipar a futura beleza do lugar. O Simon um dia sonhou, como todo o rapaz pobre por esse mundo fora, em faz** a vida como estrela renomada do futebol mundial, mas recusou naturalizar-se marfinense para se faz** catapultar e soube quando por os pes na t**ra e consacrar-se as suas ambicoes mais modestas. Muito nice o mano. Dia seguinte apressei o passo e, mais uma vez vou poupar-vos os detalhes de ...

Usual rise and shine up around 7. I hit the pool for a quick 20 lengths. No idea how I used to swim the way I used to. 500m near killed me!! After sandmatting truck out we drove to the stilt village of Ganvie where we arrived around 11:30ish. Walked down to the harbour where we watched market traders selling fruit and a boy walk his pet crab, complete with leash. Very funny. He nearly set it upon his little friend's bare bottom whilst he ...

Up 6, leave 7:30. Attacked by branches on the way out - sure way to wake you up. Arrived at the Togo/Benin frontier around 9 where the clocks went forward one hour. Easy exit and no mans land pretty much non existent. Entry into Benin also easy... the highlight being a lady who sold sausage rolls (croissant with frankfurter in the middle) for 250CFA. Upon entering we received Little Kate's country summary - a way to ensure we learn ...

... Really cool... especially since they repeatedly said we were the best volunteers out of the many they've hosted. Ok so tomorrow... we're taking the bus up to Natitengou (that's right a bus; rollin in style!!! Take that taxi man!) and hopefully will continue our good traveling karma. We'll probably write sometime after the New Year when we return from the post. Merry Christmas! We hope this finds everyone well and that everyone had a good Christmas. Love, Rebecca and Jason

this is goin to be a short one because the keys qre in all different places on a french keyboard: but short answers::: 1 still dont see a good reason why things are expensive: its not just that im white; there are barely any white people here and rates are posted: maybe i t is inflation or govt policy or something: 2 took a bus to togo yesterday: was seedy near the border but i just went straight to the first hotel and it was ok; " had an adventure finding the right bus ...

Now comfortably back with the Daphne and the tour group at a beautiful beach resort area I needed a day to do no more than relax on the beach and frolic in the waves. Supposedly th**e's a dang**ous und**tow at Grand Popo, but I didn't feel much evidence of it when I was in the wat**. Sure, th**e w**e some basic sight-seeing options available - going on a guided night sea turtle-watching expedition on the beach, a guided morning nature walk and pirogue ride ...