http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Benin , South , Ouidah en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:03:43 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:03:43 +0000 I was we would say in Ghana...I have gone and come. Rachel and I left to go to Benin on Wednesday. I'd like to say we got up bright and early but considering we were up in moving before the sun...we just got up early. We hoped on a bus bound for Aflao the border crossing point to go into Togo and of course got the bus without air conditioning hooray But we did see an old woman who looked exact http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-351845.html Benin Benin a stable democracy and what seems to be a good president investing in healthcare and education. lots of NGOs working all over the placeroads are crumbling and it doesn't seem any much better than it's dictator ridden neighbour that get no funding whatsoever ok not looking at numbers just the visible signs. Granted Lome in neighbouring Togo is really not tidy if you see what I m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-347856.html Our first stop in Benin was Grand Popo a small beach town not far from the Togo border. Grand Popo has lots of hotels but seems to lack tourists this time of year. I think we were the only ones staying at the beautiful Auberge de Grand Popo they were so desperate for our business that they invented a 25 Peace Corps discount.The Auberge has a beautiful beach with thatch shade huts and a swimmi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-293958.html Woke up thinking it was 1000 when it was actually 1100 because of the time change. Weird to think there's a time change when Benin is only 90 miles from the Ghanian border. We headed off to the Python Temple which is the voodoo place of worship.When we arrived there was a morning service taking place which was completely unexpected as we were informed the temple was more of a museum than anyth http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-271947.html LET'S MEET BENIN The country of the amazones of the historical slave trade of the children new slaves today of the voodoo. A journey to meet understand and share a culture. Also a bit of adventure The Africans say ldquoThe world knows very well how people die in Africa but knows nothing of how people live thererdquo. With this journey we would like to repair a historical and cultural http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-249989.html JOSHIANE Each time we go to Africa there is some novelty. Sometimes pleasant sometimes sad or even dramatic. This time Maison de la Joie looks quiet. Children are growing up their number is growing as well from ten to twenty and others are waited. My wife and my daughter are there since one month. My arrival is welcome with a breakfast based on rice and chicken at 5 am. After a few hours sleep http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-249974.html The House of Joy We could not miss a visit to Justine during our journey in Benin. We knew that she was giving a shelter to some women who had been kicked out of their home by their own husbands together with their children. In general a wife is kicked out because she did not accept that her husband brought home a second one. Also the income often too scarce to maintain several wives and all of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-249961.html The border is just over an hour away from Chez Alice.We were given 48 hour visas at the border lots of food vendors on both sides of the frontier.We drove to Ouidah stopped at the Immaculate Conception church and had a few hours to walk around town we decided to go to the Snake temple nearby and Chrissy Ingrid Mark and Jo had their photos taken with a phyton round their necks I opted out. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Benin/South/Ouidah/blog-238007.html