Something more about Benin

Cotonou has been the place we mostly stayed and to be honest, there were quite many things to see and experience. Time was not on our side, as we remained only for three days, but at least the most important landmarks were checked.
One that interested us was experiencing the Dantokpa Market.

Its importance lies in being the largest open market, not only in Benin but in all West Africa. Since to understand a culture the best way is to get the vibes of the food and places where people get their groceries and appliances.
I don't have the exact aerial extension of the market place, but you can easily get lost inside it. To keep yourself oriented you might want to focus one or two landmarks, like the pedestrian bridge connecting the two parts of the market divided by the main road.
There you can find everything from jewelry, grocery, livestock, products for the house, pottery, televisions, car part. Really, you name it. It is just like a mall but in an open space.

If you get lost, you will find at least a dozen new friends who will try to direct you to their stand. One of them was particularly insistent and kept walking beside us talking and talking without stopping. After a while that we insisted we were not interested in what he was selling, we just continued our round totally ignoring him. Yet, he continued following us for the whole time.
He left us only when we left the market to the pedestrian bridge that would have brought us to our salvation.

One thing I have to admit is that he was probably the only one who came to us, besides a couple of merchants who didn't insist further when we said we weren't interested.

That was the day when we had, perhaps the longest walk of our journey. 20km by foot in one day; the other days the distance was only 10 km.

One place worth to see for its historical meaning is the Place des Martyrs.
This monument is a memorial place remembering the victims of the coup d'etat tried by Bob Denard and his mercenaries in 1977. The coup d'etat was a trial to overthrow the government of the People's Republic of Benin which was led by Mathieu Kérékou, whose communist party was the only allowed political party in the country. The coup d'etat didn't succeed, like many other attempts before and after.

One thing we noticed during the whole trip is that it seems like in Benin like Togo and Ghana do not know the concept of the city center. When we were asking at the reception or to the people where the city center was located, they looked at us like we asked where is the Martian spaceship's landing area. Therefore we had to walk around for kilometers before we could find it by ourselves.
You might say that we could have asked the taxi drivers. yes, we did, but they also had no idea what we were talking about.

Finally, we found the heart of the city, and no surprise it was located also in correspondence with the Danokpa Market.

Maybe too soon, it also arrived for us the time to leave the country and once again our road trip started with another ride to the border of Togo, where we hoped to find easily a driver to bring us to the hotel in Lome.

Have a great day!

Traveling from Nigeria to Benin

Crossing the border between two African countries might be an enlightening experience. Just like it happens on the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, the impression a traveler has is to leave hell and reach heaven.
That was exactly the same feelings we had when we crossed the border between Nigeria and Benin.
Not just the people seemed more relaxed and keen to help, but the infrastructures told a whole story about how differently the two countries are managed.
From our hotel in Lagos to the border, we had a driver. He couldn't drive through Benin as he didn't have the license. Therefore, the challenges connected with finding a ride from the border to Cotonou, the city where our hotel were obvious.
We were lucky that the border officer helped us to find a driver, who for a reasonable price, would have driven us to our destination.
At that point, we had everything set, and the journey could continue.
The first thing to be noticed was the maintenance of the main road.
No holes, no significant damages on the asphalt, no checkpoints to rob the drivers... Another world, just like I said, the same difference between hell and heaven.
The journey would have taken about two hours, so I just leaned on my seat and took a nap.
I had nothing really to worry about.

Benin's capital is legally Porto Novo, but Cotonou is the heart of Benin's economy. The name Cotonou, in a local dialect (Fon) means 'by the River of Death.'
I could not find out the reason why, and perhaps the origins got lost in the past like it generally happens with ancient civilizations.
One thing we noticed was that, at least in Cotonou, the main road is well kept and continuously maintained to allow the circulation of heavy vehicles to and from the harbor. Nevertheless, the secondary roads are not even paved. They are left as sandy/muddy roads.
On one side, it makes sense to invest more in things that drive the economy of the whole country. Yet, I am wondering whether it would cost any big effort to pave also the secondary roads.

Another thing I have learned is don't bother yourself with questions which do not have an easy or unique answer.

Despite being a city on the sea, it seemed like people do not really care of the shores. They indeed have beautiful beaches, or better said they would have if they even cared about them.
Most of the places we have visited on the beach were occupied by the shacks of the seamen (and garbage).
So Benin gives the impression of being almost exclusively oriented on the practical side of things.

Similarly to Nigeria and generally in Africa, houses are built only to the level that they are capable of granting people with shelter. External walls are rarely finished, or pained. The roofs are completed to the bare minimum, and I am wondering whether doors and windows really do the job they are planned for. Despite this detail, people take great care in how they dress, particularly women, and they own expensive cars. Could it be again that they prefer to spend their money on a vehicle that can bring them to their work, or can help them with their business rather than in their houses?

Plausible.

On the streets, you will find everything from people selling gasoline stored in large glass containers (I am still wondering about this way of storing gasoline!) to goats and chicken. Nevertheless, I haven't seen a single dead animal on the road, and that was comforting.

 The official language is French, but people could also understand basic English, which made us a perfect match since my French is quite poor.

We spent in Cotonou three days, but my experience is too wide to be told in a single blog, so I will have to split the Benin experience into two episodes, hoping you will continue to follow me in this adventure.

Have a great weekend!