The Benin Border
>> April 25, 2010
written by Nathan
On the border with Togo, we will not go to Benin. We have come as far as Aneho, the capital of Voodoo religion in Togo and apparently West Africa. People here have symmetrical scarification on their faces. There are goats and chickens a plenty; but we have not found that there are botanical shops or idols being sold in the street as advertised on Lonely Planet or other tourist info sites. What we are finding is that the people are very pleasant. We exchange all the French pleasantries we can think of on the spot, ‘Como c’est va? C’est va bien? Bon soir.’
As our taxi driver told us, voodoo is common in the villages. Actually, he said pueblos. The most unbelievable set of circumstances, you are not going to believe this, put us in a taxi with a Togolaise conductor who spoke perfect Spanish, (Brittany is getting REALLY annoyed here, in French speaking Togo, at my habit of mixing Spanish/English liberally with my tiny French vocabulary). But, the crazy part is not that Ignacio was so completely fluent in Spanish, the crazy part, super crazy, super loco to be mas exacto, our Togo taxi driver had learned his Spanish in Colombia!!
If any Voodoo spells were cast on me I have worn them well, while I sputtered and complained for more than an hour after choking on a fish bone at lunch, I was given a smart cure of swallowing large bites of Fufu (pounded yucca flour porridge balls?).
If you are not ECOWAS Community of West African States citizen, all of these countries are hard to visit on-the-fly. Benin, which was one of the most exciting conceptually to visit (especially since we will not make Gambia - close on the map of Africa - but really five countries north from here). Benin offers a 2 day Visa at the border ($20 US) which is fine if you plan to stay a while because you can ‘renovate’ your visa in the capital. But, this was an impossibility for us when coupled together with the fact that we are on day two of our 7-day visa to Togo. Actually, I have never been in countries before offering such short Visas. We had thought China’s 30-day Visa a Communist Era aberration.
As our taxi driver told us, voodoo is common in the villages. Actually, he said pueblos. The most unbelievable set of circumstances, you are not going to believe this, put us in a taxi with a Togolaise conductor who spoke perfect Spanish, (Brittany is getting REALLY annoyed here, in French speaking Togo, at my habit of mixing Spanish/English liberally with my tiny French vocabulary). But, the crazy part is not that Ignacio was so completely fluent in Spanish, the crazy part, super crazy, super loco to be mas exacto, our Togo taxi driver had learned his Spanish in Colombia!!
If any Voodoo spells were cast on me I have worn them well, while I sputtered and complained for more than an hour after choking on a fish bone at lunch, I was given a smart cure of swallowing large bites of Fufu (pounded yucca flour porridge balls?).
If you are not ECOWAS Community of West African States citizen, all of these countries are hard to visit on-the-fly. Benin, which was one of the most exciting conceptually to visit (especially since we will not make Gambia - close on the map of Africa - but really five countries north from here). Benin offers a 2 day Visa at the border ($20 US) which is fine if you plan to stay a while because you can ‘renovate’ your visa in the capital. But, this was an impossibility for us when coupled together with the fact that we are on day two of our 7-day visa to Togo. Actually, I have never been in countries before offering such short Visas. We had thought China’s 30-day Visa a Communist Era aberration.
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment