Easter Holiday!

So, for the Easter weekend we got 4 days off, Friday-Monday. I opted to instead take Thursday and Friday off and accompany two of my favorite girls on a weekend adventure! We went to a little town called Possotome, which is on a lake called Aheme, very near the border of Benin and Togo. We hoped and prayed for adventure, and adventure was what we got!

We started off on Thursday morning waiting for our taxi, which the other two girls, Suzanne and Steph, had arranged earlier in the week. None of us speak French, so this was a gamble to begin with. Sure enough, Gon Gon (the taxi driver) did not come for us, so we made our way to the bus station where it is easy to get taxis. As soon as we arrived we were surrounded by Taxi drivers, among them was Gon Gon, with a big grin saying 'You never call!' (We did...3 times). So off we went!

Although Gon Gon didn't seem to understand where exactly we wanted to go, he found it easily enough (there are really only 2 main roads in Possotome). We stayed at a beautiful hotel called Resort Hotel Aheme...or something like that. We relaxed on the little beach and eventually migrated to where we heard drumming down the beach. We stumbled on a little village within the village and after many hand gestures of 'Is this OK?' we played with the dozens of kidos running around, Steph even had a Conga line going for a while. At 6 on the dot, the village gathered around for the evening's dance party. Sure enough the Yovos (white people!) were dragged in and made to dance. We did our best but cannot compare to the african rhythm.

The next day we walked through the village and approached by a man offering us the services of a company called Eco-Benin. They are a fantastic Beninoise company that focuses on sustainable tourism. They are supported by an NGO in France who had sent a couple of men to help them build up their business (more on them later). The gents from Eco Benin took us out on the lake and taught us how to cast nets to catch fish. I wasn't very good at it, and we didn't catch any fish, but they were so enthusiastic that we felt like the best Yovo fisherwomen there ever were.

We returned to their lakefront 'restaurant' and enjoyed a lunch of fresh fish and casava (Yum?). Afterwards we relaxed and had another mellow evening on the lake shore with palm trees and the man on the moon.

The next morning we awoke for sunrise and cafe on the beach. To our surprise, Gon Gon had resturned for us! We went to settle our bill, only to discover that somewhere in the last 2 days, lots of money had been taken from us! We don't know how or when, but we did not have enough to cover our bill. Thank the good Lord for the French men from Eco Benin who lent us the money and will come tour the ship on their way to the airport this weekend.

We made it safely back to the ship, managed to dig up enough money to pay Gon Gon and counted our blessing for getting back at all!

Adventure with Gon Gon!

Suz and I at the entrance to the Resort Lake Aheme...or something. We love the Bouganvilla.

More of the entrance.

Preparing to throw the net! I really wasn't very good at it, which I am blaming on the miniature hands.

Lakeside Terrace...on stilts.

Lunch.

Steph and I. She and Suz are absolutely great.

This was just too funny to not include it. He is tied to a bunch of rocks. When we asked why, they explained that it is his job to eat the leaves that fall of that particular tree. He can pull the rocks behind him, but it takes a lot of effort. Poor little guy, Suz wanted to adopt him.