-William Least Heat Moon-
Cooking With Gas were on cooking this morning and I could
remember if it was a 7am breakfast or an 8am breakfast, so to be on the safe
side, I got up at 6.20am to err on the side of caution and as it works out it
was 8am, so I sat with a book with Duckie and Patrick, who are the early rises
of the group until 7.30am and then I headed down to the truck to start to get
breakfast ready. Sam and Zoe have been
sleeping on the truck, and all was quite up there, so in stealth mode, I opened
up all the lockers, pulled out some chairs, pulled out the boxes we would need,
got the eggs and spices out and the only thing I couldn’t do on my own was pull
out the table, which sits the cook top.
So I waited for my other team members to show, and waited, and waited
and then waited for ANYONE to show and eventually at 8am Zoe got us, followed
by the arrival of Duck and Patrick and at 8.02am FINALLY Harj arrived to help
with breakfast. Now I don’t mind people
sleeping in accidentally, but to just stay in bed because it was comfy when you
knew you had to be somewhere helping, that jacks me off and I let Harj and
Patti know that it was pretty shitty, for the second time. It is crappy, as I would also love to stay in
bed a bit longer and considering brekkie was supposed to be served at 8am, we
were just getting the kettle on. But
after making my point, it was all fun and games and we cooked scrambled eggs,
everyone helped pack up and considering how late the breakfast start was we
still left the camp site on time just after 9am.
It was apparently going to be an easy day today, so much
so that Sam mentioned that we could stop in Natitingou for lunch and if we can
find one, stop at an internet café. You
should have seen the whole truck light up with that news. It’s not so much not having internet, as we
all cope and also expect to not have internet in countries such as Togo and
Benin, but it has nearly been a week since our last connection and I think
there comes a time when it is acceptable, especially on a trip like this, to be
excited about connecting with the real world every now and then to make sure
there is no news from home. Woo hoo, but
we weren’t going to get too excited in case we couldn’t find somewhere or
couldn’t get on, but it was a mighty fine plan that everyone was super happy
with.
So we had to travel back the same way we had 2 days ago,
along the tricky dirt road and we weren’t sure what type of shape it would be
in after the big storm yesterday, but with positive vibes and waves to the
staff at the camp site we set forth to travel the 43km back to the main
road. It took us 1.5 hours coming in, so
we were going to see how long it would take going back. Even though 43km doesn’t sound that far, the
road, which was all dirt, was a little ‘patchy’ in places, meaning that some of
the road had eroded away from the rains, yesterday included and with Zoe behind
the wheel today, Sam was the guide, getting out at certain places that needed a
set of eyes on the ground helping. It
didn’t seem as scary as it had been a few days ago, but there were still
instances where there wasn’t much room between the wheels of the truck and a
2-3m fall. One part, that we crossed
previously using the side of the track, couldn’t be used this time as it was
soft from the rain, but after attempting the middle section, we were just not
going to fit on the eroded section, so back to plan B, using the soft section
after both Sam and Zoe getting out and accessing the options, they decided that
laying sand mats in the softest spots to stop us from sinking was the best way,
and offloading us to take out some of the weight, Zoe backed up and then slowly
worked her way across the 100m of soft road, with the truck getting some twist
on she made it through with no issues and we were back on the road in no time,
well after we had picked up the sand mats that is, with us all helping out. In the end it took us 2 hours to travel the
43km this time, but there were more puddles to traverse and the sand matting, I
still think that is good timing and thankful that we didn’t get stuck. Now that is no fun, as it can take hours to
get out and throw your whole day out if things don’t go your way. I remember in South America we got bogged at
a coffee plantation in Venezuela and after the whole day trying to get Rosita
(the truck) out, we as a group ended up travelling in a hired van for the 3
hours to our next stop and Rosita finally got out the next day and caught us up
in Cali.
Natitingou was only a 15 minute drive, once we were back
on the paved road and we pulled up out the front of a recommended restaurant in
Lonely Planet called Bourgone. It is a
hotel/restaurant run by a French woman who has lived in Benin for the last 30
years and when Sam mentioned having a meal here rather than buying stuff for a
truck lunch, we were all over it, like a fat kid on a smartie. We had a time frame to be back on the road by
2.30pm and after previous experiences with the timing of the service of food,
we decided to eat first and then see what time we finished. We walked in and Patrick and I had out our
IPod/phone’s already out to see if there was Wi-Fi and imagine our JOY when it
came up, password protected, but they had WI-FI!!!!! Well that bubble didn’t last long as the
owner of the establishment explained that half of the town was down with their
internet until tomorrow as they were working on some cables and to get
internet, we could check with a particular internet café on the outskirts of
town that ran on a different system. So
for now, internet was out of the question, but the food was on and after
getting a table set for us, we decided to have the 3 course set menu rather
than pick from the normal menu and for 6500CFA (13AUD) we had a homemade cheese
salad for starters, spicy sausages and fries for the main and a choice of a
dessert. When the starter came out, just
having fresh food that wasn’t a tomato was heaven for my taste buds. Really, at times like this you appreciate the
food you have readily at home and after living out of tinned food for the last
2 weeks, to get that fresh food, and not just fresh, but homemade to boot was
AMAZING and worth every dollar paid. We
also didn’t have to wait the African hour like usual and the food was served
just about immediately, timely and I think that was a plus of having a native
French woman in the house!
Some people did some last minute snack shopping, ATM runs
and an alcohol run, Sam decided we still had time to find the internet café
that worked and we could all jump on and get some connection time. We found the place no problems and after
checking that they were working, they had 8 computers and the cost was 200CFA
(.40c) for 30 minutes or 300CFA (.60c) for an hour. How cheap is that!? Out of the 8 computers I happened to fluke
the fastest and by accident the computer guy gave me an hours access, which
worked out okay as everyone else in the end had to pay extra for the additional
30 minutes that we ended up staying there.
It was nice to get read some messages from home, but I also saw some
shocking news that there had been a shooting in a Nairobi Shopping Centre and
15 people had been killed. I looked into
it a little further and it happens to be a shopping center 15 minutes from my
home and even though it is not my primary shopping place, I go there for the
movies sometimes and it is known to be an expat shopping hub. Checking my email there was a message from
the Australian High Commission letting us know about the attack and that the
travel warning for the country had changed.
Shite. This is my new home and
this stuff is happening in my own neighborhood.
I just hope that nobody I know was there and unfortunately I ran out of
internet time, so I was unable to send out messages to anyone and will do so
the second I get internet access again.
We left Natitingou at 3.45pm for our final destination,
an eco-lodge located in the Atakora Mountains in the Tata Somba region of
Benin. This was going to be our lap of
luxury for the last of the trip, as the last 4 nights of the trip would be bush
camping for 2 and camping in Mt Kluoto for the last 2 before arriving back into
Accra on Friday afternoon. I can’t
believe just how quickly the last 2.5 weeks have flown. Well they do say that time flies when you are
having fun and we are all certainly all doing that and enjoying every
experience, good and challenging as they come at us at full speed. Yes West Africa, you are giving us
challenges, and we have tackled them and conquered them at every turn, and Sam
and Zoe have a lot to do with that. I
could not think of better people to be in control of our trip and I am glad
that I have them with me for nearly 3 months, which is just as well otherwise
it could well have been a very LONG 3 months otherwise!!!!
Even though we were supposed to be only travelling 20km,
the turn off for the eco-lodge was a dirt road, that was low in the passing due
to the condition it was in and it took us just over an hour to travel those
20km. A lot of patience is required for
driving in West Africa and for once I didn’t have my ears in and I actually
spoke to my travel buddies as Sam rocked the truck with some 80’s music. Duckie and I were talking, as she is not a
fan of the 80’s, and whether it would go out of fashion or not. I said that Bean was 21 and he knows all of
the 80’s (along with all types of music) and it still wasn’t out of fashion,
but an 80’s convert talking to a non-believer is a no win situation for us both
and this is what I love about my relationship with Duck is we know when to call
it quits and just accept each other’s views, which rarely differ anyway.
Our first view of the eco-lodge was WOW. I had seen pictures of the local homes in the
Tata Somba region, so I knew what they looked like, and the hotel as we pulled
in has been built on the exact same look and it looked amazing! Especially after the digs that we have had
for the last week, this place was a CASTLE and very unique. It took a little while to work on the
check-in due to the configuration of the rooms.
In the end Patti, Duck and I were given a triple room upstairs, Eve had
a single and the boys a triple on the ground floor. The rooms are all round clay huts (large)
with a bucket shower facility and a share eco toilet and bucket shower located
in another round clay hut on each floor.
It really was super cool and exciting that we would be here for 2 nights
and even better all meals were included, so we got a break from cooking duties
as well. While we were waiting for
sheets to be put on the beds, dinner was pre-ordered with a choice of fish or
chicken and a choice of sauce and side.
As most places like this, I am guess that the options will be the same
for the following meals while we are here, but who can argue with included
meals, cooked by someone else and hopefully tasty to boot. Oh you weren’t going to hear any complaints from
me that is for sure. Once we had dumped
our bags in our rooms, we had free time for 2 hours until dinner. Our floor (the second) had chairs and a table
and became the gathering point as people grabbed a beer or a whiskey to chat
away. It is so much cooler here and with
the sun setting, the temperature had dropped to a pleasant feel, and being 400m
above sea level I am hoping that it will be ideal sleeping conditions
tonight. I hadn’t seen a mosquito yet,
but I was on high alert as I try and contain the bites I already had without
accumulating new ones into the fray. The
sneaky bloodsucking monsters.
I was so tired, so after dinner, I excused myself and
retired to the room to get some blog written while the others went to Sam and
Zoes room for a movie marathon of the Big Lebowski followed by Anchorman. Both not really my cup of tea, but it bought
a smile to my face as I heard them all laughing late into the night, where it
is so peaceful out here, the sound carried and I don’t think there is a better
noise than people laughing and enjoying what they are doing, especially
children.
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