lome, vogan, ouidah, cotonou

I am in Cotonou, the unofficial capital of Benin. I am at an internet cafe that is using french keyboards, so there are probably going to be a lot of mistakes in this since there are about 10 letters in different positions fro, the keyboards i am used to. I will start with my morning in Lome. i hated it. People were rude to me. I got yelled at. Nobody spoke English. A taxi driver made me cry. I got lost. And that was all in the space of 2 hours. I was feeling very insecure about my lack of French to begin with and the lack of helpfulness from the togolese did not make the situation any better. In lome, there are many motorbikes. There are some cars, but most of the transportation is by motos. alot of the intersections do not have lights and there are many sand roads. The capital is very run down and would not be a place that i would want to live in. Lome and Cotonou are much bigger than maseru, but maseru is much more modern. both of these capitals are what i have always stereotypically imagined an african capital to look like. the night that i spent in lome, i had dinner with a few peace corps volunteers and the country director for togo. it was interesting to see how different peace corps togo is from lesotho. i saw three other tourists in lome. needless to say, i got out of lome very quickly since i saw nothing positive in it.

fetching water in togo

I went to a town called vogan, about an hour outside of the capital, and met amanda, a PC volunteer posted there. i had a wonderful time there. We walked around her village and then hired motos to take us out to the outlying villages so i could see the traditional togolese villages and way of life. i fetched water in one of the villages. the women use hollowed out gourds and haul water from a well over 100 feet deep. my arms hurt after doing it one time. i am glad that i dont have to collect my water that way. Amanda explained that the reason i was probably treated poorly in lome was not because of my lack of french, but because i am a woman. she told me countless stories of how poorly she has been treated in a myriad of situations just because she is a woman. it doesnt make the situations any better, but at least it made me feel a bit better about not knowing french. last year, togo had corrupt elections and violence around that time. since then, togo has gone down hill. when amanda went to her site, the internet was there and so was a big supermarket. now both of those are gone. togo doesnt have full diplomatic relations with either the us or eu. there is a very small expat community. in addition to the peqce corps, the french and germans are the only ones in togo. i didnt think it was possible to find a country that has less to do and less tourist infrastructure than lesotho, but i have. as sad as it is to say, there is nothing to see anymore in togo. i am glad i went, but i would not recommend spending 20 dollars for a visa.

from ganvie to land

I crossed into benin on the 30th. Right away, i felt much more comfortable. The taxi drivers quoted me the correct prices for taxis and didnt try to cheat me like they constantly did in togo. People speak 'small small' english here. and in general, the are just a lot more friendly. in togo, if someone couldnt help me, they would just walk away. Here, if someone doesnt understand me, they will find someone who does and go out of there way to do that.

I spent the night in Ouidah last night. Ouidah is the home of voodoo and is also the place where slaves entered the ships headed to the americas. there were french and portguese forts in ouidah where the slaves were held after being captured by the dahomey. they then walked a four kms walk to what is now called the point of no return. i stayed at a hotel right at that point. it is a beautiful beach lined with palm trees and white sand. it was difficult for me to even imagine lying on that beach where such atrocious things happened 300 and 400 years ago. I was the only guest at this hotel. i did see 5 other tourists in Ouidah.

Ganvie, Benin

This morning, I came to Cotonou. It is a big city that seems full of chaos. Everyone is on motos. There are no street lights so everyone just goes into an intersection hoping not to hit anyone else. i have not seen such chaos in driving since china. almost hit another moto today, but i am still alive. i went to ganvie, a village outside of the city today. it is a village in the middle of a lake. all of the houses are built on stilts. 300 years ago, the people escaped battles by fleeing to the middle of the lake. 30,000 people live there today and they are all fisherman. THis place is the main attraction in Benin, and once again, I was the only tourist. Benin has history that can draw tourists here, so maybe it has a bit more to see than Lesotho, but not much more. There are some nature areas in the north, but i am not going to sit on a bush taxi for 12 hours just to do some hiking. Most of the taxis here are toyota tercels, circa 1985, and Peugots, circa 1975. They put 2 people in the passenger seat and four people in the back seat. Thankfully, people are not obese like they are in Lesotho. Otherwise the journeys would be hell. I think I am going back to ghana tomorrow. I have enjoyed myself here, but it is expensive and it is difficult travelling here on your own and without french.

i apologize for any problems in this letter, either spelling or it just not flowing. This keyboard is so annoying. I have always said that i don't like the french language, but there is something sexy about how it is spoken here. it could just be my affinity for africa that makes it sound different, but i like listening to it. it is a different french though than european french. amanda was fluent in french before coming to togo and now she is appalled at the things she says and how much her french has changed.