Sandrina, Alayna and I just returned from a 5 day trip through Togo and Benin. We just got a taste of the countries, but it was enough to have great times and remark upon some major differences.
Our trip did not get off to a great start when we arrived tired and hungry at the Togo border at 8:30pm only to encounter a very disgruntled border official. It was the most ghetto border I have ever witnessed: the man was seated at a wooden table on the side of a shack and light was provided by another man shining a flashlight on the table. The border guard was furious that we had come so late to buy our visas (the border closes at 10pm) and began barking that we had to leave and come back in the morning. Thankfully a few passersby pleaded with the man on our behalf and after two hours we were finally through. He was angry because he had so many passports to process but the frustrating part was that he was moving so painstakingly slow!! The Togo visa is a multi-step masterpiece, but instead of licking 3 stamps and placing them in our respective passports at the same time, he would lick one, place it ever so carefully on one passport page, then the other…and so on. Finally, passports in hand, then a marriage proposal later, we got a ride to our hotel and collapsed into bed.
The most challenging element to our stay was mastering the currency. All the denominations were so big! One Canadian dollar is 486 CFA so for example, a long taxi ride was 2000 CFA, our hotel room 10,500 CFA – it was just so hard to conceptualize the value of things without a calculator in hand. We got used to it eventually though and quickly learned the right prices for things. One of our tricks was to ask the other passengers in a shared taxi how much they were paying to ensure we wouldn’t get ripped off. Saturday morning we went to a fetish market – I’ve never seen anything like it before. There were heads of every African animal imaginable, (leopard, hippo, monkey, dog, cat, etc.) bones, feathers, skins… apparently people who practice voodoo frequent this market to cure their ailments. Once the skull of your chosen animal is purchased, it is ground into a powder, mixed with some other things and then injected into your body. Interesting…
We stopped for lunch at a street-side Togolese establishment – I delved into a delicious plate of couscous, potatoes, peas and egg.
We spent the afternoon perusing the market – I made my first fabric purchase which was very exciting for me. I dithered while my friends bought up the store – I was worried it was too “out there” – but I took the plunge. I guess we’ll see, I dropped the fabric off to be made into a skirt this morning (4$ for a custom-made skirt – how can you go wrong?).
Sunday morning we made our way across the country admiring the beautiful shoreline, palm trees everywhere – gorgeous. We also went through the industrial area and noticed many public service billboards along the way, mostly regarding HIV/AIDS prevention.
The border at Benin was a much more positive experience – the officials were pleased to see Canadians and and we were thrilled to have yet another beautiful visa adorn our passport pages. There were no buses or tro-tros to be seen, so we shared a regular-sized 4-door to a place where we could catch a ride to Ouidah. They really know how to make the most out of their vehicles– we were 4 in the back, and 3 in the front (one was a child on a lap), not including the driver!! Sandrina, Alayna and I mastered the technique of sitting on one hip and then rotating in unison every hour. We got dropped off on the side of a 6-lane dirt highway with cars and motorbikes coming in every direction. Our taxi driver said that that we could catch our ride on the other side of the road. “But how does he expect us to make it across that road alive?” I wondered aloud. No traffic lights in sight and an endless stream of cars and trucks coming from both directions…the situation looked hopeless. I noticed a huge truck turning across the first 3 lanes so I grabbed Sandrina, yelled NOW! And we darted across unharmed. Thank goodness we did this trip at the peak of our physical condition because I doubt my heart could handle that crossing in 60 years. While we were sitting in the 30-passenger van waiting for it to depart, I noticed a lady on the side of the road spreading guacamole between two fresh slices of baguette…Alayna and I looked at each other. This was definitely against doctor’s orders – unsanitary in every way but we couldn’t resist!! It was our favourite meal of the trip and, knock on wood, no negative repercussions so far.
In Ouidah we visited a Python Temple – I am petrified of snakes (even rubber ones send shivers down my spine) but the lululemon mantra “do one thing a day that scares you” rang in my head and not only did I enter the Indiana-Jones-like temple full of slithering pythons, I even agreed to have one placed around my neck! We also visited an extremely well-assembled exhibition on the role of women in Africa coincidentally funded by CIDA. It portrayed the challenges African women face such as the many roles they must fill (land labourer, cooking, cleaning, caring for the children and husband…a typical workday begins at 5am and ends at 10pm). It seemed as though the women were at the epicenter of the household and yet all the real power resided with the man.
Monday, on to Abomey we went. There were no car-type taxis so we all had to hop on the back of motorbike taxis. It was kind of scary but so fun at the same time! I definitely wasn’t the most graceful passenger – when I mounted, the driver said “doucement, doucement” – but it’s hard getting on a motorbike in a long skirt when you are not accustomed. In Abomey we toured a voodoo village – very cool. It was the first time I felt we were seeing an authentic, remote, rural, village where barely anyone spoke French – there was evidence of animal sacrifice everywhere and we had the chance to consult the Oracle. We met the voodoo chief who was tiny! He performed some voodoo chants in front of us and then asked us to send him copies of the pictures we took of him (lol). We toured around some Dahomey palaces and called it a day.
Random observation: there are so many banana varieties in Africa. The bananas I eat here actually taste like bananas – so sweet and flavourful. Their peel is paper thin and the best ones are short and stubby.
The major differences we noticed between Ghana and Togo/Benin: the superior service in Togo, the presence of sidewalks, the lack of public transportation, the majority of people dressed in traditional African attire as opposed to western, and the ease of communicating with people in French in Togo/Benin compared to being understood in English in Ghana.
We left Abomey at 6:30am Tuesday morning and arrived in Accra at 6pm. Three countries in one day!
This blog is sponsored in part by Campbell Cohen
