Advertisement
Published: January 15th 2007
First Morning in Benin
Guillaume and Freddi came over first thing to welcome my family. They were eager to show my family that they had already met them through my photos.The Summary:
Stuart finally has blue lips. He is the only one of the Kansas family that has been in the West African coastal waters for two hours or more. Three of the remaining four stayed for an hour or so. The fifth waded in until a man cleaned out his sinuses without forewarning. Ew; she went back to her book.
Four more Kansans in Africa- the first time leaving the North American continent- to visit another Kansan who has left the States three times: for one night in Fernie, British Columbia, then 12 days in Thailand, and now a couple of years in West Africa. Ask the six who have now been to visit her; they’ll tell you she’s a great tour guide, and to bring lots of cash.
But Athiémé, Benin, is a great place. The resident Kansan-African made some three or four meals for the Family in a total of 12 days. Most often the meal offered by an Athiémé native was filling enough for the following two meals. Luckily everyone in the Family liked la pate, akassa, and sodabe; Mom even developed a taste for the “hard” Beninese water. And for the most part everyone
My Grandfather's Daughter
Mom was thinking before she fell asleep, "This chair is pretty comfy!" stayed healthy. Aside from food, the Family was always in the company of Athiéméians- neighborhood kids, and often their elders as well, to play UNO, Phase 10, Skip-Bo, or 21; also to teach the Family English or share a few German verbs, or to practice dance moves or see who could jump the highest. The Family was always entertained. Entertained and treated as royalty.
Pancakes for breakfast the first morning in Athiémé. Stuart said they were the best he has ever eaten. Fried plantains dipped in cinnamon-sugar sufficed as snacks throughout the day. Friends began to find their way to the Kansans to welcome them, eventually extending an invitation to the local bar before dinner and the midnight mass, the first mass in Africa for the Family. At the mass, Mom wanted to join the dance; after her, Dad, Lana, and Stuart were dragged into the mix as well. Mass was extra long due to the increase in energy level.
Christmas day followed international standards of laziness. By 16h30 we were seated around the table in the home of one of the best families in Athiémé. The feasting commenced: la pate, futu (pounded manioc) pork, chicken, rice, beer,
Dad in the Morning
Dad was doing some Tae Kwon Do moves on the porch. He refused a picture, as hard as I had tried to sneak one. and sodabe. The question was asked about beverage preference, but in the end the response didn’t matter and everyone got beer. For the first time, Mom highly encouraged beer drinking; the command “chug!” was given in a sentence directed to Stuart.
Digesting that meal extended to a light salad at lunch the next day, before going to another friend’s home to feast; la pate, rice, okra sauce, rabbit, chicken, onion/tomato sauce, and chocolate-mint cake contributed by an outside source. Once again, walking home expended all the remaining energy.
The following day was spent meeting the host family in Aplahoue, and from there, going to meet the extended host family in a village a ways away, where one would think there is a sodabe spring. The following days consisted of a trip to Cotonou to meet the office administrators and eat pizza and salad and ice cream. Then to Lac Doukon to meet the hippo family, not far from Lokossa, eating la pate rouge and yams for lunch from the neighbor. Then a much needed day of rest.
Sunday the 31st of December was basketball, a game between the Americans with the neighborhood kids and everyone else. For
Dad in the Morning 2
So I ran around the house and took a picture anyway. the party that evening, the American clothes came out of the closet to dance in-style at the local bar. “Shakira” is a good party starter; five-minute long songs are put on repeat, especially when people keep dancing. When church gets out, the party comes alive.
New Years’ Day was a double feast- lunch with the priests, then dinner with As.P.E.L. and all of the NGO’s associates residing in the same village. Dinner in this village, at Toulassihoue, is a true taste of life as a celebrity, and true tasting in general: black-eyed peas, akassa and fish, la pate rouge and rabbit, and peanuts to snack on. There is a reason people wear pagnes; it can be re-adjusted after a meal.
Another day to visit Abomey, the ancient kingdom of Dahomey. Translator indeed. Serious souvenir shopping, then home again, home again. A minor visit to the hospital in Lokossa the next day for the rich man and his dis-ease; Dad found his gout medication.
And then to Ghana to re-discover English and hot water showers. To drink to Athiémé and working ATM machines; to the future of Benin and the quality of beer in West Africa. To drink
Food
A feast from the neighbor lady, Justine. She fed us yams and la pate rouge. Then we saw hippos. to life and all the loved ones that fit inside.
The four visiting Kansans left, full of basketball, bombahs, la pate and sauce and belly laughs and fresh bread. FanMilk goes down easy, as does quality sodabe, and the knowledge that life is lived as well as one knows how to live it, in Benin just as in Kansas.
A Few More Details:
Thus the holidays with my family began:
5h45- A phone call to room 303 at the Blue Royal Hotel in Accra, Ghana, to inform me the driver had arrived.
“Sir, we agreed yesterday that we would leave at 8h.”
“ Ees Africa time, c’est comme ça.”
“But usually Africa time brings people two hours later than scheduled, not earlier…”
In a sleepy and astonished stupor, I woke up my sister, brother, mother and father to get ready to go to Benin. Two and a quarter hours early is Africa time? Crazy.
At 22h, after a grand total of 14 hours of travel, the Kraus’ arrived in Athiémé. The Nigerian car headed to Lagos hauled us fairly well to Comé, where we waited (and waited) for the Athiémé chauffeur to come
Family Watching a Family of Hippos
My family watching hippos. It was a full boat. pick us up. We had been delayed at the Ghana/Togo border because of a car problem and some customs- but finally, Athiémé. My Mom would probably mention something here about the heat-affected officer with a quick gun at the Ghana/Togo border, but I prefer to continue the story.
Athiémé wasted no time getting to know my family. Sunday, the first full day, was spent in the ready company of friends, many of them students. They used their school-English to teach my family French. As I ran around trying to cook or clean up the home or get things settled, my friends and my family found ways to communicate to play UNO, Phase 10, or just to chat. I was very pleased, and always impressed with the level the communication had reached before I was finally summoned to translate.
My family slipped easily into my pace of life. Granted, no one was working and vacation is a fairly international mode of living, but it was easy for my family to get along. The fist things Dad did were some tae kwon do exercises and to take my bike to Awamé and beyond, some three or four kilometers away. Mom
Basketball
Stuart and Lana taking a break from the game. Koudjo is chilling, too. and Lana went for a walk later, too, saying, “Maman Erika, non français.” It was easy to not worry about people who communicate as well as that. At Christmas Eve midnight mass, Mom wanted to join the dance. After she and I joined the train, my neighbor fetched Dad, Lana, and Stuart to the front as well. Our cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.
Home by 3h, bed by 3h30. We woke up in the later morning, in time to laze sufficiently around the home. By 16h30, we had walked across town to the home of one of my favorite families for Christmas dinner. There were three servings- first la pate of course, and secondly futu, followed by rice. The sauce was constant- an excellent spicy pork sauce. We were asked what we wanted to drink, but were given beer anyway, including my 14 year old brother, who had tasted sodabe along with the rest of us. The meal was excellent; I love that family. And mine too, I love my family too.
It was all we could to walk home. We continued digesting until eating again the next day at another friend’s home. There were enough bottles
Basketball Team
The guys. The girls were on holiday out of Athieme. of alcohol at this table that we all claimed one for the meal- Mom took the two-liter jug of sodabe.
To make the long story short, I can say that is doesn’t take much to get my family giggling, and hardly anything more to get us laughing, doubled over. Mom was worried at first about how well her fellow visitors were eating and drinking, asking me repeatedly if they had taken large enough shares, if they had cleaned the bones well enough, if they needed to drink another shot of sodabe (mostly that was Mom asking for another). She told Stuart to chug his beer when he said he didn’t care for it. I didn’t explain well enough the first time around that usually only la pate is eaten with the hands, rice goes with a fork or spoon. I doubled over laughing, bypassing the giggling, when Lana said, “I have never eaten rice with my hands before.” I looked to her side and saw Dad with two clean forks next to his plate and his fingers covered in rice. Then Mom put the tooth pick from the pineapple in her mouth to clean her teeth, then used her
New Years' Eve
Freddi joined us. It was kinda strange wearing American clothes in Athieme. My shirt, though, I bought in the Lokossa Market. (Nancy should appreciate the shirt the most.) still-clean fork to eat the fruit after picking her teeth clean of rabbit. I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard.
With my host family, in the land where sodabe flows freely, Stuart discovered Sangria, and Papa was pleased- everyone had alcohol in hand.
Basketball picked up with the addition of two more experienced Americans. If I hadn’t rolled my ankle, I am sure I could have helped bring the Yovocomé team to victory. It was fun anyway.
Dad’s foot started bothering him, but we continued touring, first to see hippos, one of the most beautiful evenings of the visit, and later to see Abomey. We also visited a village some ten kilometers from the main dirt road- we thought we killed the car there for a while, but it carried us through. So much food, so much sodabe.
The best morning was New Years’ Day- we had danced until 2h, talked until 4h, then woke up at 8h to a clogged toilet. Of all toilets, of all possible days, it was mine on New Years’ Day. I was kind of kidding when I said it was the best morning. We found the plumber and were
Dinner with the Priests
We were fed twice on New Years' Day, the first feast being with the priests. back in business by noon.
Before going back to Accra, we drank with the mayor and his wife, and on a separate day, visited the village with the tree nursery and garden where I work. Truly, we were royalty. We souvenir-shopped in Abomey, then prepared for the trip to Ghana.
I had to get another Ghana visa, because I am stupid and didn’t do it right he first time. I tried to make a quick trip to Cotonou to pick it up, but it was a normal trip that took most of the day. I returned to a very hungry, very bored, and slightly worried family. Oh, miscommunications- Mom paid 3000 FCFA for a load of laundry, but only gave 1000 FCFA for onions, eggs, and rice for four people. Uh… that was my fault.
But it all worked out. Many people came the night before the depart to say “au revoir.” Only two weeks, and people were emotional to see my family go home again. We also introduced the game of blackjack that night, betting with candy and matchsticks of course.
We made it safely and fairly quickly to Accra. We ate well and danced
New Years' Girls
New Years' Day is the only time children are allowed to dress up in their new clothes and wander around town without their parents. People give a coin or two when the kids come over to say Happy New Year. I like to make the kids dance for their money, though. in millions of cedis, the Ghanain currency, once the ATM card started working. We spent the afternoon at the beach, the first time for Stuart, and said goodbye at the hotel the following morning. The separation was rather unemotional, since we were all concerned about making it back home, but to home we did arrive. My family only missed one flight of three; well, one of six if I include the three flights to arrive.
Most importantly, I realized again and just as profoundly, that my family is wonderful. They are worth any number of visas and changes of currency, especially if I get to make fun of them in their presence using a different language so that they don’t know what I am saying. Yup, it was a good trip.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.149s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 9; qc: 76; dbt: 0.0984s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
mom
non-member comment
the whole truth!
I have to object to your caption of the four of us in the back seat. What time amount is "not very long" to you?:) Actually I loved the experience! You also should have told the gun story! You are making me sound like I'm making a mountain our of a molehill! I also object to the sleeping picture! Just wait till I catch you sawing logs some day! I absolutely love your summary, Erika. You summed it up the way it was supposed to be! Love you!