Benin

So after that miserable night, we spent the day on a boat w our driver Dodo,
our guide from Ghana, Robert, and the guide in Benin, Mathias, and another
guy running the motor for the boat. The main things around Grandpopo are
fishing and voodoo. We saw lots of different ways of fishing on the water.
People in canoes throwing nets, people putting down crab traps, nets and
sticks stuck into the water and left there for months. We also stopped at a
couple of villages and Mathias was a familiar person to them so we were
allowed to take photos of the voodoo gods, which is probably my favorite
part of the day. It was very hot out and very humid. At one point the tide
was too low to keep going, so we stopped by where the ocean comes into the
river and waded in the water and watched people fish. We also saw how salt
is made in one of the villages. We learned about many medicinal plants. We
saw baby piglets. There is a big voodoo ceremony in Grandpopo on Jan 10 and
this was Dec 28, so maybe that was why the small town was so crowded.

After the boat ride we started searching for hotel rooms and found one in
big beautiful hotel. It was expensive for being in the middle of nowhere
($100/night), but it was sure nice to have a hot shower and sheets and
blankets and AC. We arranged for another guided Benin tour the next day,
this time more driving than boating.

The next day we got up early to start our driving day at 730 am, but drivers
and guide did not show up until 830 am. This pretty much happened the whole
trip, no matter what time we picked, we ended up starting later. It didn't
really matter to me, except it would have been useful to have the car/driver
because we needed cash since the hotel did not take plastic. Charles ended
up getting a ride on the back of a scooter to the closest atm. For this tour
what Charles really wanted was to see ordinary life of people living in
Benin. First we went to the 4 km slave route that leads to the Door of No
Return. I felt a bit sick the whole time.

I forgot to mention that we found out at the beginning of the day that the
car we had left way back at the Ghana/Togo border now needed to get back to
Accra that night! So after touring Benin, we would be driving through Togo,
and then across part of Ghana, which sounded like a very long way, so we
were going to have the fast day tour of Benin and then zip back. Always the
unexpected, but there was someof Ghana I still wanted to see - Cape Coast -
so it was good to be on our way back, it was just going to be faster than I
expected.

After the slave route we decided to go see a village that lives on stilts
over water called Ganvie. 20,000 people live in housing on stilts over the
water. Mathias arranged w Leon to get us a canoe w a motor to do the tour,
two guys took us (me, Charles, Robert, Dodo, Mathias) out. We decided not to
stop at the touristy places out on the water, since we were doing the short
version of touring, so we could get back to Accra. but then -surprise-
surprise - the most exciting part of the trip happened next - two other
boats came up on either side of our boat and a woman and a man started
yelling at Mathias and trying to knock our boat around - this is all
happeningin French, and a French that is very hard to understand. It was
scary to me, I really thought we were going to be dumped in the water, and I
had no idea what it was about and it was very loud yelling. Eventually the
man and the woman get in our boat and start taking us back to the
restaurant. Eventually we find out that they say Mathias was suppose to pay
them and he didn't. Sadly he can not get Leon on thephone to say that we had
paid him. It was bad.

We get back to the restaurant and sit there w everyone staring at us while
the guy that is supposedly the village chief tries to get Mathias to pay him
money. But M has already paid once for the trip and does not want to pay
twice. We sit there for over an hour, not being allowed to leave. We switch
to another canoe, but that one isn't allowed to leave either. Dod and Robert
also get in the fight. Finally after forever in the heat Mathias gives them
money, but he is very upset about it. We all head back to shore except for
the angry yelling woman who stays at the restaurant. We are all going to
find Leon and settle this.

We get back to the shore and more people start yelling and fighting, and now
people are angry that Mathias gave money to the man, because he is not
entitled to it. There are more details, like if we had stopped at the
touristy store then it would've been ok supposedly. And in the past Mathias
has paid these people for other tours, but this time he went w Leon. Then
everyone decides they are going to settle this at the police station!! so we
go too!! and a policeman is found and each person gets a chance to tell his
side of the story without interuption. Leon explains, the yelling guy
explains, and at one point we are pulled out and pointed too and it is
explained that we were scared and this was bad for tourism. Charles is
loving this whole thing as it is certainly not yr standard tourist event.

Finally the police say the yelling guy is not entitled to money. Leon gives
Mathias the money just so we can get out of there, and thatpretty much took
up all the time we have left in Benin.