Dfqd

• Karanshark's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Abomey, Cotonou, Porto Novo

Trip Start Oct 03, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Feb 28, 2006 Next
Entry

  Abomey, Cotonou, Porto Novo, Benin
Thursday, January 26, 2006

I think I appear to people here to be losing my mind even more - recently, the ridiculous things about Africa have really started to make me smile sometimes - it's just so absurd at times it's comical/fun! And then people look at me and wonder...for example, most transport here is extremely crammed, but 6 passengers plus a driver(which isn't actually too bad) in a small car can be painful when the people are Africans and me(and we're all pretty big!). In Asia, it would be comfortable still - over here, I've started to get aches in places where I didn't know you could get them, and in a perverse way, after you get off, you remember it as a bit fun in a way. Another excellent thing is that I have not been on a single car or motorcycle since I've been in Africa where the speedometer worked - it's always at zero. It makes me giggle when I see speed limit signs - does the government not realize their futility?
Another excellent thing - most of the hotels and restaurants in Francophone Africa are lighted by blue lights it seems - the indoor and outdoor area. Grant and I were sitting at a cafe in Bobo, and asked the manager, a very animated and extremely funny fellow, why it was like this - apparently it's because a lot of illicit lovers and prostitutes and their clients meet in restaurants and cafes and stuff, and if there's blue light, passersby can't really see them. This must happen a lot, because apparently, if a hotel puts white light instead of blue, business takes a nosedive.
And another funny thing is the volume of conversation - people sitting next to each other yell a lot, but don't seem to do it much to foreigners - and people talking on the phone...not that I really mind, it's just a quirk, and something I've seen in 90 percent of the places I have been. Reminds me of a (Sachdev - my mom's side of the family) family reunion. :D
After the last entry, I bought mango jam and mango syrup(I was at at agricultural development center). Some of you will not be surprised, coming from me, the 5-year-old who ate a whole tub of mangoes and wanted more!
After that went to the Grand Mosquee of Porto Novo - it was formerly a church built my the Portugese, and then converted to a mosque, and has been painted over several times, and was supposed to have a schizophrenic feel. It does. Went there, and it was prayer-time, so I could not enter - waited outside, and was called over by a guy sitting outside, who started talking to me, and called 7 women over, and asked which one I wanted to marry.
Eh?
I've gotten a couple of marriage proposals, but not on this scale! I was scared! Not wanting to offend anyone, I said that they were all very beautiful, but lied that I have a girlfriend back home. His and their response? So what? You can have more than one woman! I forget that fidelity and monogamy is not very highly valued in most of Africa, at least from what I've seen and experienced. I tried explaining that I have very little money. Didn't work. Eventually prayer time ended and I escaped to talk to 2 guys who wanted to take me into the mosque. As we were bargaining(they wanted me to pay 20 dollars, I told them very nicely they they could dream about that for as long as they wanted), there was suddenly a big commotion where I was talking to my potential wives...I turn...and there's this guy completely covered in fetishes/amulets running around! And most of them were white, and you could not see anything at all - just all these little bags on him. Kind of reminded me of a cross between cousin-it and a knight in chain-mail armor. Everyone was running away from him, but staying close in a way, and he was shouting. I asked the people with me what that was about, and he told me it was a voodoo man. Later he ran off, and a whole bunch of people followed him! I wanted to take a picture but he got away before I could get my camera out.
The mosque was cool(I got them down to 2 dollars) - every room, it seems is a different color, with lots of pink, and it seems a bit psychedelic and schizophrenic as the Lonely Planet says. The hall where the imam speaks was originally a chapel! Took lots of photos - my "guides"(I think they were just guys from the mosque trying to make a quick buck who got 2 dollars off me) wanted me to pay 2 dollars for each photo - I resisted the temptation to flip them off and smiled sweetly and persuaded them to see things my way...ech.
One funny thing in Benin is that state of my pants seems to bother a lot of people - after almost 4 months, they have become quite tatty at the bottom, and there are little strands of denim hanging around that seem to unfold no matter what I do. In my hotel, when I gave some clothes for laundry, the day receptionist seemed very disturbed by this and kept on telling me to give her my jeans so she could fix them - when I told her I did not want to walk around al fresco, she told me to go buy another pair. I refused. This evening when she saw me and I was leaving she was trying to persuade me to leave my jeans with her again. It was quite cute of her, so it was entertaining. I also had several people in Porto Novo quite bothered about their state - good conversation starter I guess...
Got another cramped taxi back to Cotonou after that, and collapsed in bed until 2. Now there's something I didn't explain - when I got to Cotonou, I took a motorcycle taxi and asked him to take me to the "Pension des Familles", the cheapest hotel in my Lonely Planet at 6 dollars a night - he took me to the "Hotel Iris", and told me that the Pension des Familles had changed its name to this. A bit suspicious, I walked in and asked the manager, and he said yes, they were the "Pension des Familles". The cheapest room was 13 dollars though, which shocked me - usually prices are 2 or 3 dollars more than what's listed - I thought that since this is the cheapest hotel, there must have been some hyperinflation. Then last night, when I wake up, I feel very suspicious and decide to look for the Pension. Hire a motorcycle driver, who is useless and has no idea where he is going and takes me in a tour of Cotonou for 30 minutes. Give up, go home, speak to the receptionist, and explain that his manager lied to me, and to warn the guy that we were going to have issues. This evening when I went back to get my pack, the nice lady receptionist who wanted to fix my pants was there - I explained what had happened to her, and that I had called the Pension and asked them how much they charged for a single room - 8 dollars a night - so I left the balance for paying 8 dollars a night for 2 nights, and I asked her to tell him to deal with it. She was totally in support, and said that that was fine. She had the biggest smile too - I don't think she likes him very much! In general a very cute lady...
Today went to Abomey, crushed in a little car again - checked in to a hotel - the guy was very nice and laid-back and absentminded - he was playing chess with himself later, which I found excellent(I the end I realized outside of Abomey museum there was nothing to see and I decided to head back to Cotonou) - went to the Abomey museum(I don't even like museums very much, and should stop going), which consists of a couple of palaces of former Fon kings, who were quite brutal, to be honest - there are a few buildings made of oil, sand, mud, a bunch of other stuff, and ground-up remains of 100 prisoners-of-war. The throne of one of the kings is in the museum, mounted on 4 skulls of his enemies. It was overpriced - the price of entry is 3 dollars, but the Abomey city government in its infinite wisdom that travelers spin in wisdom has added a 2 dollar tourist tax. Punks.
Benin, especially Abomey and Porto Novo are quite strange in the way that you often see women walking around topless - and it's not like they're breastfeeding or anything. Before I get any voyeurs excited and buying their next ticket to Benin, I should add that most of them are very old or very young. I always try to look away, because it's just not polite as a guy to be staring, but today I almost walked into a post because I was trying to look away from 2 topless women straight ahead of me.
One of the annoying things about Benin in general is motorcycle taxi drivers - every few seconds you'll be hearing hisses or strange sounds as they try to get your attention, and when you get out from a share taxi from another city, they run up to you, open the door, grab you, etc. while you're constantly saying - no! Leave me alone! And then today, as I got out from the car from Abomey, I was being hassled, and one guy didn't take no, then another moto taxi driver says - Idiot! If he says no why are you asking him again? I shook his hand, thanked him, told him he was the first one I've ever seen to do that, and offered him a bit of money just as a thank you - he grinned and refused. Later there was another one hassling me, following me, and I kept on saying - no, I'm walking! Then all of a sudden, he tells me to get on and that he'll take me to my destination for free, which he did! I guess they can be annoying because they're desperate for money, but I think most of them are probably good at heart.
Also met the sweetest little kid today - I was waiting for a drink at a roadside stall and the owner's 3-year-old son comes and waves at me - I wave back, and he offered me his candy! I actually was touched, because he only had one! Again, the generous African mentality. Offsets the absurdity, even though some would see it as absurd itself! Planet Africa...
Oh - dinner today was hommos and for dessert the best Black Forest Cake I have ever had! The food in Benin is going well!
Tomorrow I'm off to Ouidah for some black magic, and then possibly off to Lome in Togo the next evening!

TL
TL
TL

Print this entry Share

Previous Entry Next Entry