TravelStream™ news feed for member jensblog on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jensblog en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Tue, 15 May 2007 19:49:48 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167437280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167437280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167437280/tpod.html Tue, 15 May 2007 19:49:48 -0400 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Parc de la Pendjari, Benin

We are up at 6:00 AM again today. It is dark as we check out of our hotel in the Parc. We have packed everything in the car and begin our day's journey. Jen is shivering this morning because it is cold in her opinion, warm and comfortable for us.

A few feet from the hotel we start to see animals. There is a sliver of sunrise light shining through the trees as we find elephants throwing dirt on each other. Everyone must be clean to start the day. The water hole stop was eventful and quite busy. Crocodile, birds, deer and hippos were bathing and drinking the cool morning water. About 11:00 AM we reached the exit to the park.

Next stop, the Tanougou Waterfalls. Just a short drive from the park exit we find a short drive to the chutes. The landscape is different here. Many trees, lots of green grass and the area almost resembles a jungle. The walkway is rather rocky. A troop of young boys starts to herd around us and appear to be ready to guide us somewhere. As we reached the rocky area to the first falls, the boys started to point to the rocks we should stand on in order to make it up to the next level. They continue to point out places to put our hands and places to position our feet. At the third waterfall there was no way we were going to be able to make the climb. WRONG! Suddenly, my hands were being pulled and I was walking up a perpendicular rock. I couldn't believe I made it. At this point there is a beautiful pool of water. Steep rocks surround the water. People are diving from the high rocks into the water. Now we have to find our way down. Never fear the boys are there to help. What a trip!

Jen's plan is to start getting rustic on our African Journey and we will head to an old African village. We took a family vote and we will find a hotel with a shower, toilet and water (or at least some combination of conveniences) and get a good night's sleep. Enough of these early morning rise and shines! (It's time to sleep in..at least until 7:00 AM)

Off to Natti to find lunch and a hotel. We ate lunch at the Hotel Tata Somba. We had a nice long lunch by the pool. Franck knew of a hotel that was clean and provided all the requirements we wanted in a good night's rest. (Sort of.) We spent the afternoon at the hotel, resting and visiting.

Franck took the car to a mechanic and had a few things checked and cleaned. had the fluids topped off, got the windshield wipers to work, any red lights the were on are now off, a pipe or whatever that was wiggling under the car was tightened. Hope we can make it through the rest of the trip with no major issues.

Dinner tonight was in a cute restaurant connected with our hotel. The manager definitely wanted us to stay. We could order off the menu and not take just from the Today's Special list. (I think that was a mistake.) Jen ordered lasagna. I'm sure they went shopping for everything, brought it back to the hotel and then cooked it. All of us were finished with our dinner long before she was served. It was Worth the 1 year, 5 months and 3 weeks since she had last had lasagna.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167166200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167166200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167166200/tpod.html Sat, 24 Mar 2007 16:55:25 -0400 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Natitingou, Benin

Mom wrote....

Hard to believe it, but we are up and on the road at 6:15 AM. It is dark, but the streets are busy with people walking and traffic buzzing by us. The first stop is at a darkened gas station. It appeared to be closed. No. A man slowly comes from a building behind the station. We fill up with gas and are on the road.

As we leave town we are stopped by the "police". From the conversation we gather that there is a little known law in this community. Our driver, Franck, needed a special license to drive tourists. A conversation develops about the law. Traffic is starting to back up behind us and drivers are getting a little restless. Another uniformed police officer comes from a building across the street and tells the "police" to have us move along. They advice Franck to pick up a license.

About 7:00 AM we arrive at a place called Camp Nino. Since we have never been here before we do not know we are heading down the wrong road. The driveway is bumpy. The path is narrow and ungraded. White painted rocks mark the trail we should take with our vehicle. We arrive at a set of buildings. African men are working around the property. A French speaking man with a white mustache with a unique hat and safari clothing wants to talk us into "camping" at his business. Ten men are ready to help us set up camp. I feel like we are in Jurassic Park. Ten minutes later we are on the road towards Pendjari National Park.

The National Park begins at the edge of an African Village. We stop at the gate and wait while Jen and Franck "negotiate" our fees and hire our guide, Guri. Soon we begin our adventure through the park. A hunting zone surrounds the park. During hunting season you will find many hunters from Europe, Australia and especially America.

We had our guide and we are off into the Parc. The speed limit is 40 km/h. (I don't think you could even go that fast with the number of ruts in the road.) Driving is forbidden in the park during hours of darkness. (Who would want to be out in the dark anyway?) The soil is very red and it is quite dusty in the park. The best time of the day to see animals in the morning is from 6:30 AM until 10:00 AM. We are closing in on 10:00 AM so the animal watching is pretty quiet.


One of the first structures we noticed were the "huge" mud structures all over the park. These condo like -tructures are termite hills. We stop at a Mare Bali. (Mare is french for pool) The watering hole is a busy place. Two happy hippos are playing in the water. Baboons are playing tag on the edge of the water pool until a flock of beautiful big birds chase them away. Deer are sipping water by a smaller pool off to our right and alligators are laying on the edge of the pool watching it all. I'm glad we are in a little look-out house overlooking the entire scene. (Now this is what we would call a safari! What an experience!)

Back to the car. A sign directs us to our hotel. It must be close. Wrong! Two hours later we are still bumping over the rough roads on the way to the hotel. At 12:30 we finally arrive at our oasis. It is a very attractive area with bungaloo rooms and porch type buildings. There's a swimming pool. Beautiful flowers. Who would believe we are out in the middle of no where in Africa? Checking into our room we find it to be very comfortable. We've got running water, but no electricity. (It's day light, who needs electricity.) We put our stuff in our rooms, eat lunch and have an afternoon nap.

At four o'clock in the afternoon we get together for our evening safari tour of the park.
In the parking lot of the hotel we saw a tree full of turkey vultures. I hope they are not waiting for tourists who do not make it back for the evening. Gari pointed out many animals, but I think we found almost as many critters as he did. Our best find of the day was the lion. She was stalking prey under a tree that was not far from our car. We watched this magnificant animal for quite some time and she patiently waited for the right moment to strike. Other amazing animals we saw this afternoon were elephants, African hunting dogs, hippos, beautiful birds and a variety of African deer. Our stop at the mare on this end of the park this evening was not as eventful as our morning visit to the other mare. It was getting late so we start heading back to the hotel. We don't want to be out in the middle of the park after dark. (I think we broke the park curfew by 30-45 minutes.)

Time for dinner and off to bed. Tomorrow we want to be up with the jungle animals!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167092100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167092100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167092100/tpod.html Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:16:24 -0400 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Azove, Benin

Mom wrote...

We're up and going very early this morning. It was dark when we said good-by to the host family. Before we left they sent a bag of oranges with us and bottles of water. (Thanks to Tante's midnight shopping trip to get us water.)

Not too far up the road we needed to use the windshield wipers to remove moisture from the windshield. One little problem, the windshield wipers would not go on. Good thing a rag works just as good if you stop periodically to clean off the window.

Later we were starting to feel a little hungry. Those oranges tasted great! Too bad we can't eat them the way the host family taught us. The official way to eat oranges in Benin is to cut off the top and suck the juice from the fruit. Since we had no knife our Plan B included peeling the orange and eating it in sections.

Lots of miles later, many views of African landscapes and quite a few hours later we arrive in Parakou. Parakou is the second largest city in Benin with a population around 200,000. A stop at the Peace Corp station was a welcome break during our grand driving tour through Benin. It was nice to hear English again. We met several volunteers from the north enjoying a Christmas Day meal together.


Everyone was having a great time and enjoying the day together. One of the volunteers was from our home town in Wisconsin. Emily and Jen did not know each other until they met in an Internet Cafe in Western Africa. The world is very small. We made plans to meet Emily when we drive through her town later in the week.


Lunch time...We are looking forward to the best pizza in town per recommendation of the Parakoo PCVs. The cheese, olives and ham pizza with Cokes (co-ka) hit the spot. Franck, our driver, was hungry for tongue. Happy to see it on the menu he made the order. Unfortunately, it was not available. (Many items on restaurant menus are not available. So as a tip, don't get your heart set on one thing. Always be ready for a substitution.)

Later in the afternoon we arrived in Natitingou. Nati, as the locals call it, has one north-south road and one east-west road. The town is becoming a bit modernized. This is mainly because the former Beninese president calls Natitingou his home. There are modern looking banks, gas stations with long lines and a few nice hotels.

Jen had made reservations at the Hotel Tata-Sambo. The rooms are great. We've got television (2 channels - both with an African M-TV format). We've also got hot water, a shower, electricity, toilets (with a seat) and a great looking swimming pool out our front door. We get ready for a great night of enjoying the comforts of home in Africa. Then the electricity is cut for several hours. Cutting power is a way to save energy in this country. Cuts occur at any time and may last for quite awhile. Luckily, we enjoyed the pool without having to worry about the power. After pool time, the power returned. Then we had a wonderful shower and a short rest before we joined Franck in the hotel dining room for a Christmas Night dinner feast. It was great evening of dining and talk.

This has been a Christmas to remember. But we also missed spending Christmas Eve with the family in Racine and Christmas Day with family from Barneveld. Merry Christmas to everyone!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1166836800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1166836800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1166836800/tpod.html Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:35:42 -0500 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Cotonou, Benin

Mom wrote:











Today we left Paris by plane after a 2 1/2 hour delay (yes, we waited on the plane). Our flight to Cotonou was 7 hours long. After dinner, a short nap, two movies and lots of reading we arrived in Cotonou. We haven't seen Jen in 1 year, 5 months and 17 days (Jen told us this fact as we greeted her at the airport.) and we were very happy to see her hand waving at us through a rather large crowd of people who were waiting for suitcases and customs. It was great to finally get together for a "group hug".

We met Jen's landlord, his wife and other family members. They loaded our suitcases into their "air-conditioned" cars and we were off on a very memorable drive on a hot, humid evening through dark streets crowded with cars, taxis and zemis....everyone moving very FAST!!!

A final right turn took us down another dark, unpaved, ruddy clay dirt street. Soon we stopped by a locked gate and were led into the landlord's home. The home was very comfortable, nicely decorated and quite modern. Jennifer and the landlord's wife entertained us with a late night celebration of local beverages, salad, rice and beef.

The landlord and his wife have been busy adding a new apartment to the upstairs of their home. We stayed here on our first night in Africa. Amazing, we have spacious bedrooms, private bathrooms, a living room/dining room area and windows with no screens. We are exhausted as we finally get to bed very late. Our plan is to start the "Grand Tour of Benin" early in the morning.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1166925000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1166925000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1166925000/tpod.html Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:29:31 -0500 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Cotonou, Benin

Mom wrote...




What a culture shock this morning. Sometime around 5:00 AM we heard some chant or cry that was very odd but rhythmic. We later thought it must have been a "call to prayer". A little later we heard a rooster crow. Looking out the window was the most quite amazing. Smoke was coming from several fires in different areas around the neighborhood. The red sun was almost hidden through hazy air. Kids were playing with balls on dirt roads. Woman walked by under the window in African skirts carrying bowls of something on their heads. Men were walking around chewing on sticks that are used for brushing teeth. Chickens and goats were rumaging through garbage piles. Houses seemed to be under construction and were missing walls and/or roofs. Other houses built of were three stories tall, had balconies and were covered with ceremic tiles. Usually these houses had a wall built around the yard.



Breakfast was brought to our "apartment" by the landlord's wife. It was powdered milk, gari, and instant coffee. You mix water with the milk and gari, then add sugar. It seems you drink everything, including the instant coffee out of the same bowl.

Jen's French teacher, Franck, is going to be our driver while we are here. He comes over as we finish breakfast. We will be using the 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, they chase her down and want to make a deal. This is certainly a different way to shop.

Today was also a good introduction to the history of Benin. This small country was once the center for European slave traders to come, gather slaves and send them on boats to the Americas. We visited the museum telling the history of the slave trade, rode along the slave route, saw the ruins of where slaves stayed until they were sent away never to return to their country. There is a special tree known as "The Remembrance Tree" that descendants of slaves visit to remember the past.

Our hotel is on the beach. It looks like a picture postcard. A PCV and his family were also staying at this hotel tonight. We ate dinner with this Chicago area family and it was an interesting evening eating a smorgasborg of traditional Beninese foods, drinks and entertainment. (That bushrat left something to be desired though.) Music and dancing started quietly on the beach while we ate. It continued throughout the evening. The crowd of dancers grew and so did the beat of the drum.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167009240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167009240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1167009240/tpod.html Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:55:24 -0500 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Azove, Benin

Mom wrote...


What a beautiful morning! Christmas Eve morning has never been so warm. We woke up to the sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore. A quick walk on the beach revealed quite an undertow that was tossing shells and little sea creatures on the beach. We ate a relaxing breakfast at the outdoor restaurant overlooking the beach. Then we were off to visit Jen's host family.

We spent the morning traveling on backroads, dirt streets and navagating through a maze of unmarked traffic lanes until we pull up to a house with a wall around it. We enter into a tiled courtyard that is landscaped with a variety of plants. (We would call these houseplants, but they are native plants here.) A motorcycle is parked on the porch, a little schoolroom is located outside the front door and a walkway takes you into the main house or off to a small store which is a seamstress shop.

What a warm welcome! There are hugs, kisses, handshakes and greetings for everyone. Mamam and Papa take us to the livingroom where we sit. Christmas music is playing from the entertainment center. A small Christmas tree is decorated in the livingroom. Everything appears to be organized and ready for a celebration. We sit in the livingroom while everyone goes to the kitchen to arrange the snacks and beverages. When everyone returns sit, eat, drink and talk some more. Since we do not speak French we do lots of listening.

Lunch was served and it was a Christmas Feast. Salad consisted of a variety of greens, vegetables and a special homemade dressing. Chicken pieces, rice and more special sauces were served next. Then for dessert we had peeled oranges.

Bottled beverages are opened in front of you and the cap stays on the top of the bottle as a proof the contents are fresh. The family had two kinds of ice prepared. Ice from bottled water was just for us. We found out later in the evening that Scot got some of the wrong ice in his drink!

Now it is time to rest. We were sent to our rooms to rest for a couple of hours until we go to the children's Christmas party. It seems so unusual to be sent to your room to rest. I don't think I've actually done this since I was a child. (Although there have been many times when I wished I could have taken a nap.)

The children's Christmas Party was quite an event. It started about 5 o'clock in the evening and lasted until after 10:00 PM. The party was held on the roof top of a partially built restaurant. Lots of sound equipment was set up as workers prepared for the evening of music and entertainment. About 40 children attended this private party. There were very few adults and the behavior of the children was supurb! The kids sang songs, recited poetry, and danced. Boy, could they dance! There was an American Idol type contest to determine who the best dancers were. The kids voted by clapping to determine who stayed in the competition. A woman acted as the emcee, special dancers performed and the kids sang Christmas songs in French, of course. They were to anxious for Papa Noel to come to visit them. Papa Noel arrived with a decorated Christmas tree and lots of gifts. Papa Noel looks very much like the American Santa Claus. He wore a red suit and white beard. But best of all he had red blinking lights on the white fur trim of his hat. A photographer came with him to take pictures of the event. As the evening wore on some electricians arrived and put up lighting. This party was organized and paid for by a woman who owns a restaurant. She spoke to the kids and said they could not get their gifts until they ate dinner. (The dinner was a huge plate full of food. She made sure they ate everything.) Santa sat in the corner watching the entire event. Then the big event...gifts. All the children got one gift as their photo was taken with Papa Noel. No one opened their gifts. I understand it is custom to take the gift home to open it. For Jen's brother Sparro, this was the only gift he received.

The ride back to the house was eventful. We ALL got into our car...at least ten of us. I'm not sure how the Beninese do it but we all fit in. Back at the house Sparro opened his remote control car. We gave our gifts to Jen's family and at a snack before church.

Church as a 3 hour event that started at 11:00 PM. Since we are guests we got the front row. The church is huge. Ushers chased kids out of the front row to make room for us. It is extremely hot in the church. There are large open windows but there are approximately a thousand people at this service. People are everywhere, even outside looking in the windows. The service is spoken in French and Fon. (We heard the Christmas story in both languages.) Then Scot and Gary left the church to go outside for some air. (Scot was very pale.) Ushers wearing purple (Miss America) banners were walking up and down the aisles making sure that people was awake and paying attention to the service. They were not shy about poking you for not being awake or participating in the worship. About an hour into the service, there was communion. Scot and Gary had not reappeared so Jen and I escaped out of the church to look for them. They were sitting on the rocks in the churchyard with hundreds of people. (Somehow the outside ushers knew exactly who we were looking for!) We found Jen's family and told them we were going to their house since Scot still was not feeling well.

Back at the house we are greeted with good news. The government had decided to turn on the water as a Christmas gift to the community. The family has running water, but the water pipes had not been working for several weeks. They would go to a well and carry water back to their cistern. Good news, we could get a shower tonight. Simple things can make a wonderful Christmas gift.

This Christmas night we are happy to be together as a family and to be able to spend this special night with Jen's Benin family. We wish all of our family and friends back home a very Merry Christmas!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1159317060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1159317060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1159317060/tpod.html Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:34:56 -0500 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Houegbo, Benin

Another garden attempt...this time I had the neighbor boy haul in dirt from the garbage pile, because it is richer in nutrients. He also added fertilizer that he found somewhere - no idea where. We planted only lettuce this time to see if it works. To prevent the lizards from eating it, we put screen all the way around and blocked off the bottom so they can't crawl inside. The palm leaves prevent the rain from washing away the seeds.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1158107220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1158107220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1158107220/tpod.html Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:31:23 -0500 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Sehoue, Benin

My Accounting class in Sehoue wanted to teach me how to make pate/pot after class one day. So, this is me making pot with jus (tomatoes, onion, piment and oil) sauce and mutton (precooked by someone).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1157329320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1157329320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1157329320/tpod.html Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:27:04 -0500 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Houegbo, Benin

On Labor Day weekend, it rained really hard and was "really cold" - 72 degrees! All of a sudden, I noticed hundreds of ants on my wall by the front door. They weren't doing anything, so I just let them be. I think they wanted to get out of the rain. Some took shelter under the photos I have on the wall. I decided to take a picture of the odd experience. It wasn't until i looked at the photo on my computer that I realized each ant is carrying an egg. They must have wanted to protect those from the rain as well. After the rain stopped, the ants left. They didn't disturb anything of mine, thankfully.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1155687480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1155687480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jensblog/peacecorpsbenin/1155687480/tpod.html Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:22:18 -0500 Benin: Life on the other side of the planet

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Houegbo, Benin

Every year in Hoegbo there is a festival on August 15th with dancing, food and booths. At the end, two neighborhoods (Yenawa and Houegbo Gare) with Houegbo played soccer against each other. My neighborhood (Yenawa) won. (Ye na wa is Fon for "They will come"...like in the Field of Dreams.
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