Return to Benin!

I'm so excited to be writing this post from my living room in Cotonou, Benin.  Many of you know, but some may not, that I lived in Cotonou for about four months in 2007.  It was an experience that changed my life.  The freedom and fear of living in a new place, so far from home, in a language I could barely speak when I arrived was thrilling.  I learned so much about myself here.  I also learned what it's like to be an outsider, a non-native speaker, and misunderstood frequently.  It was a humbling experience.

This was also the first place that I met Landry's mom.  She is from Benin and was here visiting family the summer I was living here.  It was completely intimidating to meet the mother of my boyfriend alone in her country and in her language, but I remember her being so impressed with my ability to take a taxi bus to her city and maneuver my way around.  It turned out to be a pretty foundational building block to our relationship.

I've wanted to come back here for so long and just did not have the means or the opportunity.  When we decided to go to Gabon this summer our cousin Koudous had just moved back to Benin from the US, "Uncle Juicy" as the kids call him (a three-year old Amare mispronunciation of Koudous that stuck....lol).  It seemed an opportune moment to come out here for a week, visit with him, and reconnect with a place that has stayed so deeply with me despite fourteen years of time and space.  

In my last blog I recounted the drama over our flight here.  As you can see, Amare took to his business class flying like a champ.  Probably a bit too comfortable if you ask me!

The flight to Benin is only about two hours from Gabon, so it was easy to keep the kids entertained and relax a bit.  When we landed we were ushered onto a bus that took us to a tent for COVID testing.  After that it was back on the bus to passport control, baggage, customs and finally, BENIN!  

Reunited!

Koudous secured us a great apartment in the neighborhood I used to live in, Akpakpa, which was all the more exciting for me to not only return to the country and city, but the very neighborhood.  My friend, Keisha, also decided to join us so after we got ourselves settled into the apartment we went back to pick her up at the airport.  

Our first full day in Benin was spent in Porto Novo, the capitol city.  We went to visit with Tonton Moucha, Tanty's brother.  This was the house I came to in 2007 when I met Tanty for the first time.  Koudous and Landry decided it would be fun to surprise him, so we didn't tell him we were coming.  What a surprise it was for him to see me show up with my kids!  

Meeting Tonton Moucha for the first time

I absolutely love the ceilings in this house.  It's one of the things I remember most vividly from my first visit with Tanty.

Fourteen years apart, same place.  

We visited with him for a few hours, his wife made us a delicious meal that may still be the best thing I've eaten since we arrived, and then we took lots of family photos.  It meant a lot to me for the kids to be able to see the home that their grandmother grew up in and to be held by her brother.  Its the closest I can get them to her and that's something I just can't put words to.

Tuesday we visited Ganvie, the "Venice of Africa."  Ganvie is one of several towns on Lake Nakoue right outside of Cotonou.  Almost all of the buildings are built on stilts and sit above the water.  There are a few manmade islands that house a school, maternity hospital, and cemetery.  Legend has it that the ancestors of those who live there now were fleeing the Fon warriors, who were capturing rival tribes and selling them into enslavement.  Fon people believe that a demon lived in the lake and wouldn't step foot into it, so those who lived on the water were saved.  Ganvie translates roughly to "those who found peace."  The kids really enjoyed the boat ride tour and we were served a delicious lunch at one of the restaurants in Ganvie. 

Saye and our guide, Laurent

Pate rouge (my favorite!) and grilled fish with onion and tomato sauce

When we came back from Ganvie the girls that I lived with back in 2007 came over for a visit....but they're not girls anymore!  They're grown women with children of their own.  While I didn't get to visit with all of them, it was so nice to see some of them in person after 14 years of speaking via text and sending photos back and forth.  You can see from the collage how much we've all grown and changed.  The first picture was the night I left Cotonou and the second is the picture we took together on Tuesday night. 

2007, my last night in Cotonou and 2021, girls all grown up with kids of their own!

Yesterday Koudous took Saye for a few hours so that I could take Amare and Keisha to Dantokpa Market.  Dantokpa is one of the largest open air markets in West Africa.  We walked around for an hour or two.  Keisha bought some fabric and spices for friends at home and we bought fresh pineapple.  The pineapple here is soooo good.  So much less acidic that what we get in the US.  The women in the market cut the pineapple up for you, put it in a bag with a toothpick and you can just walk around and eat it.  We also picked up some toys for the boys to play with on the beach.

Dantokpa Market....and very bright sun

To get to and from the market we took zemijdans.  Zem or zemi for short, are motorcycle taxis.  This is basically the only way I got anywhere when I lived here in 2007.  It's cheap and fast.  Granted, not the safest way to travel.  But I also trust that the drivers know what they're doing and operate accordingly.  Amare was thrilled with the opportunity to hop on a motorcycle and keeps asking me when we can do it again.  

We went out to dinner last night to a nice spot that had a big screen with a soccer game and plenty of space for the kids to move around and not be totally distracting.  However, I think we failed at that when Saye walked out into the middle aisle of the restaurant and pulled his pants down to his ankles.  Apparently they'd started to sag and fall down and he thought the best solution to that was to just take them off completely instead of pulling them back up.  Yup...this one's going to be a problem.

We came back to the house just before midnight and so Koudous and his friend Saeed stayed until midnight to sing me happy birthday and do a birthday shot with me.  I got big hugs from the kiddos too and then it was off to bed.  Today has been a great day so far and I'll be sharing more of it in my next post.

Birthday hugs from my babies