World Benin Ouidah

Pat and Richard in West Africa 2011

11 Nov - Ouidah & Ganvie Stilt Village Nov 11, 2011

We left our nice hotel at Ouidah early for a quick look at the town. Ouidah has a long history as a slave trading town and it was from here that many slaves were shipped off to Haiti years ago - they know this from the voodoo traditions in both countries which are the same. Apparently any person from Haiti coming back to Benin is automatically given land here, in recognition that this is their home. A group of people visiting to "find their roots" were upset that there was no memorial to the slaves and asked UNESCO to remedy this - there is now a large monument, the Gate of No Return, dedicated to these people. After visiting the monument we went to the Temple of Pythons which houses numerous short stumpy pythons which are considered sacred. They let them out at night and they go into the village to find food, then return to the temple in the morning. They drink only holy water. The people who believe in the power of the pythons have two marks, like speech marks, cut into their faces - we saw lots of people with these marks. Voodoo ceremonies and sacrifices are carried out at the temple - with the Catholic Church right next door. Next on the list was a visit to the Sacred Forest, another place where voodoo ceremonies are carried out. There were lots of statues in the forest, all for different purposes such as fertility, protection from smallpox etc. Back in the car again for the trip to Abomey, along a shocking road full of deep potholes big enough to swallow the car. We saw lots of Vespa scooters which had been modified to include a 200 litre petrol tank - they ride them into Nigeria (next country along) and fill up with cheap petrol which they sell back home in Benin. They look like a petrol tank on wheels but there were so many of them around, and lots of petrol in bottles on the side of the road. People pull up and fill up with a plastic bottle and hose and just pour the petrol in. Apparently all the Total service stations in Benin have closed down as they couldn't compete with the cheap Nigerian petrol! Also on the road are motorbike taxis, you just hail one if you need to go anywhere, but don't bother asking for a helmet! Along the road are stalls selling everything from coffins to toilets, car parts, plastic goods and fruit and veg - you name it, you can buy it here. There were banana plantations and mangoes, pineapples, sweet corn etc along the side of the road, also teak plantations. We stopped in a village to buy pineapples and the car was swamped by women trying to sell them to us - there were bodies and pineapples everywhere pressed against the car, you couldn't see daylight through the windows. Kunta braved the throngs and purchased a load of pineapples, 1000 CFA (around $2) for over 30. We had some for lunch and they were the juiciest, sweetest pineapples I have ever tasted. We ate our lunch under a big mango tree that was dripping with mangoes - unfortunately not quite ripe yet which I suppose is just as well as we have a car full of pineapples to eat! We are now in Abomey and will visit the museum tomorrow - this place has quite a violent history with some ruthless kings who murdered their enemies left, right and centre. Should be interesting.

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