Day 2 in Cotonou came with a sketchy plan in mind; visit Ganvie and then the day would figure itself out afterwards. With that in mind, we hopped out of Mea’s home onto a couple of ‘keke na’ aka ‘zems’ aka motorbikes, to Abomey-Calavi. Abomey-Calavi’s city fishing port leads to Ganvie, Benin Republic’s floating village. The beauty of going into a destination with absolutely no idea of what to expect is the gift of surprise that comes with it.
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The experience at the Abomey-Calavi port was a bit of a hot mess; we negotiated a 400cfa bike deal to the port, got there by 9:35am, paid 4050cfa for a motorless boat at the ‘concierge desk’ and had to wait ages for a boat that never showed up. They tried to get Toks and I to pay extra for the boats with motors…err not for us cheapos please. We could have skipped the hassle of paying 4050cfa by having a local fisherman show us around instead for 1000cfa, but we realized this too late. C’est la vie.
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After some very vocal complaints, they finally found us a motorized boat with a grim guide to take us into Ganvie at no extra cost. The 1000cfa local boat ride would have been sufficient really and the money would have gone directly into the hands that need it. #justSaying, I doubt the money reaches the people of Ganvie. The number of hostile looks we got was quite surprising.
The ride through Ganvie was a thing of beauty. While my heart cries for the level of poverty in Ganvie, there was also so much beauty in the way of life the people have adopted and the level of strength showcased by the women who seem to be the most hardworking of the people.
Who runs the world?! 😀
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We had only a bit of time to peek through the tourist market place in Ganvie and sip on a bottle of beer, Beninoise, while watching the people carry on with their daily lives before getting hied off back to Abomey-Calavi…it was time for breakfast/lunch. With a bit of luck on our side, we met up with Francois, a French friend of Mea that we met the day before, for lunch at his favorite Ivory Coast joint. We grabbed a plate of plantain mash dish (platain) that has a consistency of fufu, with a plate of peanut sauce (futu et sauce d’arachide) and a banga (sauce feuille) like soup. Delicious!
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If you ever find yourself in Cotonou, ask for Ganhi, it is behind the bus station to Ivory coast.
Francois had to head back to work, so Toks and I decided to trek off the overhaul of food we just consumed by walking around the city towards the Artiste Village. Sadly, we found that a lot of the art products were not so local. It also made us regret not buying some art works in Ganvie. Darn.
Random bit I noticed, the market district reminded a lot of a less congested version of Apongbon, check my pictures below. I have a picture of us walking down a bridge, and it reminded me a lot our own Eko Bridge in Lagos…
With an invite from Francois for drinks with more of his friends later in the evening, our last night in Cotonou was set to another good one. By 7pm, we got on a bike to Maimouna’s bar in fin pave Fidjrosse, a very busy area for restaurants and pubs to meet up with new friends for our last drinks together. After a raving night of way too many bottles of beer, a beautiful plate of mashed potatoes, a well tenderized piece of beef slid between toasted buns layered with cheese, tomato, and lettuce, it was time to say good night to Cotonou. I had an idea of my next destination, thanks to Mea, off to Abomey the next morning!
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”10″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_mosaic” row_height=”180″ margins=”5″ last_row=”justify” lazy_load_enable=”1″ lazy_load_initial=”35″ lazy_load_batch=”15″ ngg_proofing_display=”0″ captions_enabled=”0″ captions_display_sharing=”1″ captions_display_title=”1″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]Ps. I got cfa’s in the market at the most random spot; a Beninise market woman that sold drinks on the street. I asked around and was led to her.
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