Reading their Journals, by Greta

---

Late Thursday night, I read the journal Greta had been keeping of her stay in Benin. I was delighted to find an objective writing-eye with personality… so I kept it and am publishing it for all to read. I am doing the same with Grandpa’s too, but not with my own. I am the author, I get to choose.

Trip to Benin 2006
Kansas City-Atlanta-Paris-Cotonou
Local time we arrived about 6:30 on Sunday, 25 hours after we left. We stayed in a nice hotel in Cotonou. There were lots of rooms, and beautiful woodwork. Our room, and I assume most others, was one room with two beds. Cold running water was available, you could order up hot water for bathing. We ate yummy pizza and hamburgers at a nice ice cream parlor down the street. Grandpa and I were very excited for bedtime!
We woke up at about 6 am Monday, September 4, so that we could drop off excess luggage at the Peace Corps office nearby and make it in time to catch our bus at 7am. We spent all day on the hot, un-air-conditioned, exhaust fumes-filled bus headed to Natitingou, a big city in the north of Benin. Erika had an Eco-Benin conference there for three days, so we were tagging along.
Since there were no vacancies at the Tata Somba hotel where the conference was held, for that night we walked to the hotel next door where they had vacancies! Yea! There were rooms available the following night, so the next morning we had our yummy breakfast of egg, bread, pineapple, and Nescafe instant coffee.
Tuesday, September 5
Erika’s conference started at 8 am, which is 8:30 or 9 Beninese time. We found our new room and Grandpa and I settled in for a hard day of reading and nap taking!
Another volunteer, Jacy, had her parents along as well. They were very nice people who lived in the Kansas City area for years and now live in a suburb of Denver. That afternoon, they invited us along to the nearby museum. Since the four of us didn’t speak any French, and our very nice chauffeur and very nice tour guide didn’t speak any English, it made for a very confusing museum tour.
We had dinner that night with Jacy and her parents at a restaurant. It was a two-room building with one light per room. There were three tables at about knee height and benches on either side at a regular height. It was like using a coffee table as a dinner table. The tables each sat about eight people. Since there are very rarely any public restrooms, or any private restrooms for that matter, hand washing supplies were at the table. A pitcher of water, some cups for drinking, and a bowl of soap. Erika trusts herself to only eat with one hand (no utensils) so she can pour water onto her own hand. Grandpa and I needed help washing both of our hands though, as did Jacy’s parents.
We ordered yam pile. Erika and Jacy love it very much and even crave it. They say it tastes best in the North. It is boiled yams, unlike any US yam, that are mashed to a pulp in a very large mortar. The mortar is so big that three or four girls work around it with pestles. They have such great rhythm that it sounds very quick, but the girls aren’t too over worked. It’s served with a sauce next to it, that is really very spicy (at least to me). The yam pilé has a thick consistency with a plain, doughy color. It’s shaped into a ball and served in its own bowl. Erika had her sauce with a special wagasi cheese that is made in the north. Grandpa and I had guinea fowl. You take a few fingers full, a pinch, of the yam pile and dip it in the sauce with your clean hand. Grandpa liked the pilé, and ate quite a bit. The sauce really added a lot of flavor. I, however, found the consistency to be too doughy for my liking. I thought I ate quite a bit though.
Wednesday, September 6
We had breakfast there at the hotel. I took a swim in the cute pool there, and then took my time with a shower since Grandpa was reading and napping and Erika was conferencing.
We met up with our rented car and it’s chauffeur at lunch. We also met the children of a friend of Erika’s, Yves, who works for the Peace Corps, and was taking the same afternoon trip we were. His children, James and Gloria, were on school vacation from Cotonou and visiting their dad while he was in Natitingou. The Peace Corps cars were full; otherwise we would have been able to travel together.
We had lunch at a restaurant near the hotel. We had the most beautiful smelling Jasmine right next to our table.
We then had an hour and half car ride north to Tanguieta near the Pendjari National Park. Off of a bumpy dirt road, and past many small villages we came to the waterfalls that we had headed out to see.
There were two levels of falls. The small one easily accessible and very pretty. The taller falls had to be climbed up to, and were worth it. We had several tour guides that ranged in age from 5-8 years. There were very good guides and were able to climb slippery rocks very easily.
Erika and I were the first ones up. She said it was lower when she swam in the pool a few weeks ago. Once we got down, Grandpa, who had been talking to Yves, decided he wanted to go up to the second falls too. He was very grateful for the help of the little and surprisingly strong tour guides. The climb down is much more complicated than the way up.
On the way back to the car, we stopped to do some souvenir shopping. We also got some fried bread for the long car ride back. The drive was very pretty.
For dinner, we met a PCV friend of Erika’s, Garrett, who is posted between Athieme and Cotonou. We had a beer at the same place we had lunch. We also ordered a bowl of couscous for dinner. It was very yummy. Unfortunately, the fried bread or the touching kids’ hands, or the combination gave me some food poisoning. But I am fine. It took a few days to kick, but the worst of it I was able to spend at the last day of the conference and the motel. This is good because there was no travel involved!
I slept most of Thursday and Grandpa read. We went for dinner that night at a Tata Somba across town. It offered a beautiful view of Natitingou. We met Erika’s language teachers there. Emily taught Erika French, Mina, and Fon. Sophia is a new teacher that Erika has only met a couple of times since she teaches the languages of the north, like Dendi. There were very nice women who could be very silly. Probably why they got along with Erika so well! Our driver seemed to be in a hurry though and told us he didn’t know we were going to take so long, and he had other things to do. At his urging, we got back in the car headed to the hotel. Erika was very cute as she chewed out the driver in French. He tried to argue back, but the more she shook her finger, the more she won! Such a grown-up!
Friday, September 8
Another bus ride that lasts all day. I was apprehensive, since I hadn’t been feeling well and there were no bathrooms on the bus. There were also no bathrooms at any of the bus stops. This bus ride was much better than the first though. There were fewer stops along the way, which meant we got there faster.
On the way up, we had many stops, for people and even a lunch stop. However, the Beninese eat very fast and a five-minute lunch/bathroom break just wasn’t enough for us Yovos. That was pretty disappointing. The trip down didn’t have a lunch break, but we got to Cotonou so much faster that it was worth it to keep going. It was raining in Cotonou, but Erika’s very nice friend Mathurin has a friend José who owns a car and was kind enough to meet us at the bus stop and take us to our excess luggage and the bank to change money and then all the way (two hours) to Athiémé. José and his family live in Sé, which is the town next to Athiémé. He owns a bar there and was happy to treat us to a beer before heading back to Athiémé. Both were very friendly and very generous men.
It’s been very tough for Grandpa and I to not speak French. It’s almost painful to sit next to a person like in the car ride to Athiémé or at the bar in Sé, and not be able to even attempt a conversation. We sometimes throw in a word in Spanish just so the people know that we aren’t stupid Americans who only know one language!
Friday night we had a lovely dinner of lentils that Erika made for us. We got to meet Derique and Bubs who are very good dogs! I got to talk to Steve again, which made me feel much better. Only talking to him twice in a week is making me miss him very much! If I could text him I would, but then I would run Erika out of credit very fast!
Saturday, September 9
We met Guillaume very early. He wanted to be sure that Erika had what she needed in order to have guests. He was ready to run errands or clean house if she needed him to. She mostly needed him to have oatmeal with us.
Erika did lots of moving around the house, and cooking and hauling water. Every time I asked to help her she had no idea what I could do. I couldn’t help but finish my book!
Around 10am Erika and I went to the Athiémé marché (market) to re-supply her house with food. We stopped at the dressmakers’ to get our matching outfits made and so Erika could have one of hers fitted. We had to stop to talk to so many people on our way through the marché. Athiémé is relatively small with surrounding villages. Erika knows almost everyone within five miles at least. Everyone is very nice and very welcoming. The shopping took about two hours, an hour longer than we had told Grandpa to expect us because we had to talk with so many people.
Guillaume was still on the porch, still watching Grandpa. It was getting to be the hot part of the day so we had some lunch and then took a nap.
Mathurin’s and José’s soccer teams played each other Saturday afternoon. It was a good game for people watching. The stadium was packed with people and many more were standing along the sides of the fields. Mathurin’s Athiémé team won with two goals to none. Grandpa was glad he had worn his yellow shirt, the same color as Athiémé.
Erika made a very yummy dinner of wagasi cheese and curried rice. I am very envious of Erika’s cooking ability. I have never made curried rice before! I may need to buy a new cookbook…
Sunday, September 10
We spent another lazy morning at Erika’s house. Grandpa and I made some pancakes while Erika ran some errands. Guillaume “stayed with us.” He came back later to ask to take Grandpa to the river. He really likes Grandpa and even dressed up! Grandpa was very touched.
That evening we were invited to dinner at Mathurin’s house. He has a very nice house across town. He enjoys his satellite TV and turned it to an English-speaking channel for us. The only one there was, which was C-Span. It was still very nice of him.
Dinner at his house turned into a party! He had invited José and his wife and several other friends. It was a party of about ten. We tried sodabe, which is a pretty hard alcohol. We also got to try pate, which is a corn-jell-o concoction and a staple in Benin meals mostly because it is very filling, but it also tastes pretty good in any sauce. Mathurin also offered us palm wine. I liked that very much. Between the sodabe, palm wine, and the big beers, Grandpa and Erika were getting pretty silly. My stomach was too questionable for alcohol, so I was the DW, designated walker.
Monday, September 11
Erika got some mail at the post office today. She was excited all weekend knowing she had it there.
We had to meet the deputy mayor of Athiémé since Erika had said she would bring us in Monday morning. He decided to come to the house instead.
We were also trying to get ready to go to meet Erika’s family Asse in Aplahoué. The chauffeur was at the house on time, and of course we were late.
The car ride took us through Lokossa, which isn’t far from Athiémé. The Asse family has a very nice (and breezy) home in Aplahoué. I had brought Connect4 for the kids, so we opened that up right away and taught them how to play. Darly was very good right away. Freujus really liked dropping the checkers in until he realized he was losing each time. Evariste was very shy, but he liked it when I let him beat me a couple of times.
We had a very yummy lunch of chicken and rice with sauce. We saw first hand how Maman likes to force food on her guests. Grandpa complimented her food through Erika’s translation. Maman told Erika she wanted to give him more. Before Erika could finish the translation Maman had already plunked a piece of chicken and sauce onto Grandpa’s plate. Our tummies were VERY full from lunch.
After lunch, Maman and Papa and Grandpa and Erika and I took the car out to Papa’s village to visit his father. It was a long ride over a very bumpy road.
The village was very cute. There were children following us everywhere saying, “thank you, thank you,” because that was the only yovo phrase they knew.
We went into his fathers’ one room house to say hello. We were offered some sodabe, so we had to accept so we wouldn’t be rude. Papa’s father spoke Fon and not much French so Papa would translate to Erika and she would translate for Grandpa and I. Conversation took a long time. Papa showed us the house he was building there in the village for his family. They let me take a picture of the village kids and therefore some of the village. A few of the small children had been running around naked, like they usually do. Papa made them go put pants on for the picture. One little boy cried because he didn’t know why his big sister was making him stand there. He really wanted to play! We went back in the father’s house for another drink. He had sent someone off for oranges to give us as a gift, so we had to wait some for those to arrive. Erika said “only a few” which meant about 20 instead of 50. The oranges in Benin don’t ripen to an orange like in the US. Most people just find a spot to suck the juices out.
On the car ride back to Aplahoué, Papa saw his sister riding along on a zemidjan, so we stopped to say hi. The zemi driver thought Erika and I were cute, so he asked us to marry him. She told him we already had husbands back in the States. He said he was going to marry me anyway. Erika teased him and said then he would be my second husband. Polygamy is common in Benin, but it’s always the husband who has more than one wife. The zemi thought being my second husband was pretty funny, but he still wanted to steal me from my first husband.
On our way through Lokossa, Erika stopped to get some veggies for a salad. Grandpa and I looked for some pretty fabric. Grandpa found some to make a bombah (traditional outfit) for him and for grandma. Erika and I found some material that she’ll use for a shirt and that I will have hemmed for a pagne. I am looking forward to the comfy skirt!
Since we were so full from lunch, we didn’t make any dinner. Erika and I stayed up and talked while Grandpa went to bed early. Erika showed me lots of the pictures that don’t make it to her blog.
Tuesday, September 12
The hairdresser came to the house to tress my hair today. It took four hours, and my head is pretty itchy from being stretched so tight. I think I like the way it looks, but it sure hurts my scalp. The next-door neighbor made lunch for us that day. Imelda’s mother made chicken, French fries, omelette, pate, and an onion/bell pepper sauce for the pate. That lunch was very yummy. She had made the pate with the juices from the chicken, so it was called pate rouge, and really very tasty. Erika had some pineapple for dessert. We gave them some of the gifts we brought to Africa with us. It was a nice afternoon. That evening we went to go have drinks with the county chief. He is an area leader rather than a town leader. Athiémé is the capital of the Mono region, so he works there. The chief had been to Moscow, Russia, once long ago for some leadership training. He knew lots of dates and reasons for the history of the government of Benin. We asked him lots of questions about how the Benin government works, when it changed from a French colony to communist, when and why it changed then to a republic. He had lots of very good answers. Mathurin joined us after a while. He wanted to know our opinion of Africa, over another beer of course. For having to take lots of time to translate, we had a pretty good conversation.
After Mathurin left, we walked down to the Mayor of Athiémé’s home. He seemed like a very friendly guy, even if he can be a tough mayor sometimes. Erika gets frustrated with him occasionally, but he’s still a nice guy.
He invited us out to drinks at the Athiémé bar on Thursday. Erika said he must have been very impressed with having us visit because he so rarely asks people out socially.
Wednesday, September 13
We left early that morning for Abomey. Our trusty chauffeur was wearing a nice bombah and happy to let us stop for breakfast in Lokossa. That’s when we had Erika’s favorite coffee-flavored sweetened condensed milk. Grandpa had Erika’s favorite omelette sandwich.
The terrain between Lokossa and Abomey was very pretty. Most of Benin seems to be weedy. It could be because I have only seen it along the highway, and it’s more grassland elsewhere. There are lots of palm trees and coconut trees along the road that are easy to recognize. We occasionally see a baobab tree in the distance with its enormous size.
There are small plots along the road being farmed. There are LOTS of teak trees since they need little maintenance; however, they take five years to mature. There is lots of corn and manioc. We have even seen a couple of pineapple fields. Mostly it looks overgrown though. Not the savannah you see on National Geographic.
In Abomey we went to the museum of the old Dahomey palaces. It was the tradition of the kings to build their palace right next to their fathers’. Only two remain. The funds aren’t available for lots of fancy display cases. Many items are just displayed out in the open. They are in buildings out of the weather. No pictures allowed.
Back in Athiémé our chauffeur dropped us at the garden that Erika works at. We met Patrice and Florent, two of the guys who work with Erika at the garden. They made a very nice meal for us of rabbit and pate rouge. The pate really was very good. It’s very filling for boiled corn flour. However, the rabbit was far more difficult to eat. It looked very good, but for the life of me I could not find any meat there! I felt very rude to not be able to eat it. Erika used the excuse that I hadn’t been feeling well. I ate as much of the pate as possible so as to not be rude. She said it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I still felt bad.
That night, Mathurin came over to visit again. Also, Erika’s friend Hortense was able to visit too. We had been missing each other the last couple of days, so it was good to finally meet her.
Thursday, September 14
Our last day in Athiémé! The tailor stopped by today to have Erika and I try on our outfits. They are very cute! Grandpa really liked his shirt. The best part is that we match! We hung out around the house most of the day. It was the hottest day we’ve had while in Africa. Grandpa re-packed. Erika sent some things home and Derique and Bubby took a nap.
That evening we walked to the convent in Athiémé to meet Erika’s nun friends. They had a very nice compound with a dorm for the sisters and the school and the pharmacy that they run.
The sisters were getting ready to go to that evenings’ adoration, so we didn’t stay for too long. They were very nice women. A couple of them commented on how they didn’t get a chance to “welcome us with a meal.” We felt bad too, but we had run out of time. Hopefully Erika can explain to them that in our culture a meal or a gift isn’t necessary. That we are very welcomed to Athiémé and just being able to meet Erika’s friends is honor enough.
The sisters left for mass, and we left to go meet the mayor for drinks. We were supposed to meet him at his office, but he wasn’t there when we arrived. The second deputy mayor, who was going to join us for drinks, said the mayor would meet us at the bar.
We waited at the bar for about 15 or 20 minutes with the deputy mayor. Erika was a little perturbed that he mayor wasn’t where he said he would be. It was looking like he had stood us up. Erika would have much rather had us join the Sisters for dinner that night. Fortunately, one beer later, the mayor did come to the bar. Being busy and running late is very understandable.
We gave him and the deputy mayor a gift of a rain poncho and a deck of cards. Apparently mayors can drink a beer quickly because we didn’t have to stay much longer. We talked about how wonderful Athiémé is and some of their future plans for the city, and also my parents’ upcoming trip to Athiémé in December.
At home, Erika and Grandpa made spaghetti for dinner. Mathurin came over to join us for dinner as well. Grandpa showed him the bombah that he had received that day. Mathurin surprised us with another set of bombahs! He had a set made for Grandpa, and a matching set made for grandma and me. The material is very pretty. Mathurin was very sneaky with his generous gift. Erika had planned to give him one of the mancala games anyway. He seemed to really like the gift.

---

Photos

The Adventure Begins!
The first full day of the trip, and they started happy! They still thought there were bathrooms along the way! Little did they know, bwa ha ha...

All of the Family
Way out there in Adja land, Papa wants to build a home. So we took a picture with all the family.

Best Hang-Out in Athieme
On the porch again, eating breakfast. Mornings are very nice, even when Greta tells me three times that she very rarely gets up before 9 o'clock on saturdays.

Sorry Greta
This picture just says too much to not show it here; please forgive me Greta. Greta sleeps and Grandpa works on an orange on the way home from Abomey.

New Clothes make all of us Beninese!
Mathurin is sneaky- and he really likes the color orange. They look so good.