Novotel Orisha Cotonou

Cotonou is the largest city in the country of Benin. It is the economic capital.

Upon arrival in the country, I didn't think much of this city. However, now that I am accustomed to the poor-looking small villages, the city looks much different. It is a booming and full of life. One can get just about anything here, if they search hard enough and/or have the right connections.
Cotonou, Benin jenvisitsbenin

... on nous a
servis, …
Dès la sortir de l’avion on a été marquées par l’humidité
de l’air et par la chaleur. C’était selon Jessica quasi irrespirable.
Un hammam à l’extérieur :-)
A l’arrivée dans l’aéroport c’était la
cohue. On a pris le bus, tout le monde se poussait, le chauffeur
fermait les portes même si tout le monde n’était pas rentré. Puis on
est arrivés à l’aéroport, il fallait ...

... tour to see the canoe markets and stilt houses.
Abomey also provided a great tour, in which we w**e all loaded onto motorbikes (3 p** bike, unless some of the lads decided to drive themselves and one game passeng**). We visited a local chief who p**formed sev**al voodoo rituals for us - lucky Andrew got a live chicken rubbed ov** his entire body...we also visited a fetish ...

... windshield, or his passengers.... On the road we saw all the weird and wonderful things one sees on African city streets. On one street corner traffic light, someone had displayed a selection of used winter jackets for sale. This is in tropical Africa where it never gets cooler than 70 degrees Fahrenheit even at night in the cool season. A passenger on a motorcycle taxi was wearing four car tires. The taxi ...

I was up early this morning and put the finishing touches on the next issue of our church magazine in French. Then, heading for breakfast, I took the metro up to the Anvers station. From there one can catch a funicular (a tram that goes diagonally upwards) to the peak of Montmartre. When I arrived at the funicular, I found it was not operating. So stairs it was, 202 stairs by my count. I arrived at the base of the Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart ...

... checking passports.  There were no lines, and I quickly learned that getting through the airport was going to be much like getting through Times Square.  When I finally got to an immigration officer I was all prepared with my full folder of documents.  He didn't care.  At all.  Without even looking up at me he grabbed my passport, stamped it, and handed it back.  Later I found out I was fortunate as many of the officers were taking ...

... de dente, de ouvido, de cabeca, mais o sol escaldante me obrigassem a encostar sob a sombra de uma arvore. 5 minutos depois, um rasta muito comico saiu da sua kubata mal amanhada atras da dita arvore e tivemos num dialogo int**essante durante meia hora, o tempo de recup**ar o folego e voltar a met**-me de pe. Mais marcha longa ate que outro motoqueiro, ou por outra, o passageiro que nela seguia, parou para me faz** adicionar como t**ceiro elemento mais ...

... huge heave hoe lifted it bit by bit turning it 90 degrees and leaving a massive dent in the front panelling. Oop's. Ended up taking us an hour to get the thing unbogged. Total torture being so close to the pool not to mention embarrassing by it being in a carpark. Nevermind. We got there eventually and were most relieved when we could dive in the pool. Which turned out to be the best pool ever complete with diving platforms ...

... you up in a hotel and feeds you. Then finally off to Benin. Unfortunately the fact that we had slept like the dead in Casablanca meant that when we arrived at 3:00am in the morning there was no way we were getting any sleep. Fortunately it seems like the chaufer has finally found the akassa and is lining the tire walls so based upon previous experiences in traveling through Africa, all the traveling bad karma should be done and it should be smooth sailing for now. This is ...