Today we have a busy day with lots to see and do. We are up at 6:30 AM and have breakfast after we pack up our stuff. Our things are a bit damp due to heavy dew over night - but we can dry it tonight. We pack up the campsite and are off by 8:10 AM. But after we have been driving for 20 minutes, we remember that we have forgotten something back at the hotel - namely the charger for our video camera battery. We need to go back for that, and Mark is kind enough to turn around. In order to save time, when we get to the turn off to the dirt road to the hotel, Lars hops on a motorcycle taxi to take a quick ride down to the hotel. He is successful and comes back with the charger - which is good, because without it, there would be no more pictures on this website.
On our way to our first stop, we have to pay the toll for the road for the third time!!! But we get to Ouidah at 9:45 AM. Our first sight there is the Musee d'histoire dÓuidah. It is part of an old Portuguese fort built in 1721. The exhibits at the museum focuses on the slave trade and the resulting links between Benin and Brazil and the Caribbean. It was quite well done, but not that many exhibits were in English and the English speaking guide was out sick today.
But it was still quite interesting, and they had some exhibits that were quite shocking. They showed some of the items that slaves were traded for, such as a gold necklace that got 25 slaves, a pipe that got 5 slaves, and shells. They also had some of the original shackles that had been dug up.
From the museum we went on to the Casa do Brazil, which is an old building that has been converted into a museum. We had a long 20 minute walk down a dirt road to get there - and it was not worth the works depicting voodoo culture and the black diaspora. They were made out of old car parts (such as the engine) and old Vespas. It was OK, but not worth the long walk in the hot mid-day sun. We walked by an interesting mosque, however, that was shaped very much like a church.
We then went to get our own lunch, which was noodles with curry from a street stall and some bread and cheese. We ate while waiting to leave for our next stop. We got to our next stop after a one hour drive - the pier from which you catch boats out to Ganvie, one of the stilt villages on Lac Nokoue. From the pier we took a 8 km pirogue ride out to Ganvie. The villages were first established in the 18th century when the Tofinu fled there from the warring Fon kingdoms in the north. This was an excellent choice of location as a religious custom banned the Fon Kingdom warriors from venturing into water.
In any case, there are now 30,000 people living in these villages that are built on stilts in the lake. The lake, at its deepest, is 2 meters deep. The people live almost exclusively from fishing (and now some tourism, of course). The are expert fish breeders, and set up pens made from branches of trees stuck in the muddy lagoon bottom. When the leaves begin to decompose, the fish congregate there to eat. The men will then return and catch the fish in nets which they would place around the branches and the slowly close up. The women will do the marketing, taking pirogues to the market to sell fish and produce and buy what they need.
The tourism trade has been highly organised here. To get out to the villages, you must take a guided tour with a pirogue. We first head out to the village, stopping at the hotel (they try to sell us drinks). We then take the pirogue down Lover's Lane to a artisan market and refreshment stand (as it is so hot, we do get a drink here). From this spot, we can also see the floating market. We head on back out of the village down Fisherman's Lane. It is interesting to note the different huts that have been built on stilts, some more modern than others. They also have a church and a mosque. There are four wells built in the village, where everyone comes to get their fresh water. Many of the huts have some land, where the people have used the mud and dirt to reclaim some land.
We get back to the truck at around 3 PM and head off to Abomey, where we spend the night at a very charming hotel that lets us camp in their grounds. The cook group prepares a great dinner - chicken grilled over the coals and fried potato and carrot cakes with a tomato sauce. We also have some of the chocolate drops left over from last night.
Tomorrow, after seeing the sights in Abomey, we will head for Nigeria.