Lomé to Ouidah

Distance from Lomé to the Togo-Benin border is about 50kms. Distance from border to Ouidah – the voodoo capital of universe – is the same. Both countries use the same currency – West African Franc, CFA. Benin is the last West African CFA country on my trip. Cotonou is the biggest city in Benin, its economical capital, yet the capital of Benin is in a sleepy town Porto Novo, nearby.

I took zemidjan to where the cars for the border and for Cotonou leave. 1000cfa. I arrived when one of the cars was just leaving full of passengers. 2 in front, 4 in the back. I waited some time before my car filled up. In the meantime I had a baguette with omelette, 350cfa. I sat in front seat with a small mute man, who anyway communicated with everyone quite well.

Around half way to the border the car lost power. It wouldn’t go faster than 40km/h. We stopped and left the car. It’s again looking like there is a system in place. We paid to the driver who was then stopping the passing cars and talking to their drivers in order to put us so we continue the journey.

The border was easy but not without adventures. In the passport stamping immigration room – a wooden structure behind what looked like concrete buildings built for passport stamping, windows, counters and all – I saw first a man in the corner all in tears crying like a baby. Of course there was a small crowd and a heated discussion. In the midst of all this I got my passport stamped, the crying man was shouted at and I left.

The gate looked quite nice, colours, the sign it’s a Togo-Benin border so just before going through it I took two photos. Yeah, in one of the buildings there were signs “no picture” but I reckoned they apply to the building, not to the whole area. Inside a narrow passage that led through the gate the uniformed guards were not interested in my passport but immediately asked for my phone. They saw me taking pictures. I deleted the two photos, they still asked to see the “gallery” and let me go. They were friendly.

There are signs that the border will look better in the future, some beginnings of construction, but for now it’s a dirt road full of hawkers. I bought a SIM card, MTN Benin. The boys said it’s 2000cfa – expensive – but with 1000cfa of internet. We chatted, they complained that 1000cfa (almost $2) isn’t even 1GB of data and that’s because of the current president, that before it used to be 500cfa for 1GB but that’s still cheaper than Togo. But more expensive than Ghana. And Ivory Coast. Turns out the promised 1000cfa of internet was some kind of promotion that had already expired and I didn’t have it on my card. They tried tricks but eventually I told them I could only pay 1000cfa for this SIM (it’s most likely 500cfa in an official shop but it’s 1 May, who knows if any are open) and they finally agreed.

Benin stamping of the passports was uneventful although it took some time, I had to be registered. Other ECOWAS passports were stamped without being looked at. When I was leaving in the queue there was a British couple and they were travelling by car throughout the continent. Well, they didn’t speak to me, the woman managed barely “hi” but I saw their car, a land rover that looked like an armoured car, all covered in dark green metal, full of stickers of countries they had presumably visited, though the last of Africa was a Senegalese flag. Their website seems to me was http://www.overlandbirds.com but it probably is http://www.overlandbrits.com.

On the Benin side the first shop is… mobile network MTN. And it’s open. Argh! I buy 2000cfa of credit, that’s 1.5GB of data. We’ll see.

As I was walking on the street a man came up to me, asked where I was going to, I said Ouidah, he took me to the taxi stand, him being the driver. The price he said was 3000cfa. Wow. Triple of what I paid in Togo for the same distance. I asked him if that’s really the price. He said he puts 1 passenger in front and 3 in the back. And that I could ask anyone, that’s the price. Fine.

I manage to buy a bissap juice in a bottle, the woman was pouring the juice from a bucket to either plastic bags or 0.5l bottles, 150cfa when the taxi driver called me.

Two young people sat in the back. We got a woman joining them standing on the road a bit later. She talked to the driver in their language but I heard the words deux mille. 2000.

Then, some time later, the taxi driver stopped for another woman and the young couple objected. They said they were paying 2000cfa for the fact that there will be no more people sitting with them. I also joined the drama. The taxi driver unhappy kept driving but the third passenger in the back, the woman, also left the taxi. Whatever.

Approaching a road toll the taxi driver asked me if I had a large bill so we could get some change, the road toll was 400cfa. 10k bill was too much, 5000 was OK but the man in the toll booth refused to give out change and at one point he refused to even speak to the driver. Hoots were blasting at us from the cars behind. The toll booth guy finally changed the 5k bill into 1k bills. The driver paid 400 in coins. And then a strange thing happened, the taxi driver gave me back 3000cfa change. As if I too was paying 2000cfa, not the 3000! Great!

We went on. I think 10mins later the driver realised what he did and told me I owe him 1000cfa. And I refused. I told him everyone in the car paid 2000 except me. I said the couple behind me pay 2000. The driver said they were not going to Ouidah. So I asked them where they were going and they said they were going past Ouidah and I should be also paying 2000. The driver started talking & talking, I told him he was taking advantage of me. He got so upset that in the middle of the bush he stopped the car. Everyone joined in the drama. He said that I’d accepted the price. I said yes, but I did ask several times if 3000 is really the price and he confirmed and it turned out he was lying. Call someone a liar in Africa. The couple in the back was calling on his conscience. I stayed a dramatic door opening as if I don’t want to go with that driver anymore. The driver said that even if I got out here it’s still more than 2000cfa. Finally the man in the back said that for 2000cfa the man will drop me in Ouidah and the driver didn’t have an option but to shut up and oblige.

In Ouidah, about 1km from city centre, zemidjan drivers welcomed me with a 1000cfa fare to the centre. Fresh from the taxi drama I said 300cfa and I walked. Immediately they obliged. But the place I wanted to go – Chez Ben known in the internet as Chez Bern – was marked incorrectly both on Google Maps (it’s now corrected) and booking.com where I found it so from town centre we had to again to the right place.

Chez Ben is a bar-restaurant with rooms in the back. They are all ensuite, look new, and come either with fan or with AC. The woman in charge told me it’s 6000cfa for fan or 8000cfa for AC. Great! I paid up, took a beer, called maman to tell her I do not have malaria, had a small salad (food is expensive in restaurants here) for 1500cfa, but it had local Pular cheese, made “from beef”. It was delicate and fresh.

In 2010 I stayed in a hotel right in town centre. Now it’s empty & shut down. All accommodation choices seem to be on the ring road or outside the town core. Ouidah seems empty and poor, medieval. At times I thought I was back in Guinea, unpaved streets, people selling so few provisions.

I walked to a sacred forest. The entry price was 1100cfa + 2000cfa if I wanted photos. Guide costs extra. I told the ticket man I’d pay him if I take any photos. And inside there was absolutely nothing. Some statues made of metal, some statues of otherworldly creatures. A lot of trees chopped up. There is a fetish tree and there is a fetish hut painted around. I remember in 2010 coming in to the forest through some back entrance and that time they didn’t allow pictures. Now, being a certified photo rebel I took some and left via the side entrance. Nothing justifies any of those prices for that small clearing in the sacred forest. A guide would probably cost another 2-3kCFA.

In town centre there is a temple of pythons which has apparently 60 pythons inside. It looked freshly painted now but I didn’t go inside. Tourist trap.

I sat down in a bar La Référence, took a beer and then a zemidjan to the beach. It’s 4km down the road but it was getting late.

I remember Ouidah beach as being completely empty. I struggled to find even water to drink there. Now, being 1 May maybe, school trips etc., it was full of children and there were souvenir shops and even a bar.

There is point of no return from where the slaves were taken to the ships and across Atlantic and a point of return which gives hope to people who are now able to go back. You can guess which is which.

At the point of no return there was a guide. He told me there are two “conditions” of entry. Either I take him for guidance for 3000cfa or I go alone but then give him money for keeping the place clean. I left the monument via a side entrance again.

I walked back to town, there were some nice views and also the whole place gets a bit sinister atmosphere by the way of painted huts, those otherworldly creatures around and also the white flags pointing to where the voodoo masters live.

On my way back a young man started chatting with me. His name was Micarel. He was very courteous but also he kept directing me, possibly in good faith. But telling me which side of the road I should walk and why shouldn’t I walk the middle of the road? At one point we passed what was called “house of slaves” and it was him who told me I was not allowed to go through the gate. Wtf? I kept asking why and a man materialised claiming he was the keeper and I’m not allowed on the grounds. I took a photo from behind the fence and the man photos like that are paid for. Those people really have to chill. That’s the photo.

Then as Micarel was in awe of my phone, he asked me for the price. I said 400,000cfa. And he asked if he could give me money to buy one for him. Micarel was 18. I asked him how he’ll get so much money. And Micarel told me, sit down for it, how a marabou made a wallet for his grandfather and that wallet fills up with money every day. By itself. Not immediately, the money grows during the day, 5k bill or 10k bill one by one so that by the end of the day up to 2million are reached. The charm has to be renewed by the marabou every 5 months. !!!!!! Of course I said it’s bullshit but the boy was adamant that it’s true. That in Africa such things are possible that something is created our of nothing. That his grandfather is a rich man, that he Micarel is not poor either, that he has an ATM visa card, an iPhone. When I said the money comes from banks and France he said yes but in his grandfather’s wallet the money comes by magic. Wonders of the world. We exchanged Facebook messenger contacts – I refuse to give out WhatsApp number because everyone wants to go video calls and I don’t see the point – and I asked Micarel to film the wallet growing the money and send it to me. He agreed. And we parted.

I wanted to find food in town but it was quite expensive, chicken and rice 4000cfa, rice and sauce 2500cfa. I settled for “grilled fish”, which was just a piece, with chips – my first chips on this trip – and some veggies. 2500cfa. Not much food.

It was already dark and there is no streetlights in Ouidah town. I walked in the dark passing by women selling their provisions in the light of small oil lamps. I bought mosquito coils and I decided to buy groundnuts. They are expensive here, 1700-2000cfa for a litre but I was tempted. They were not so fresh, not so tasty and not well cleaned.

It was a longish walk back to the guesthouse. I came back at 7:40pm. I ordered a Guinness and asked for a bottle of water. The man behind the counter introduced himself as an owner of the establishment. And then he said that the price I was given was wrong. That the woman who took me in confused “day price” with “night price” so the price I should pay is 10,000cfa. The money drama in Ouidah doesn’t end. Well, I said to him that that’s not exactly my problem, that it’s a bit late to tell me that (“oh no, it’s not late yet”) coz I don’t really have a choice to go somewhere else – though the truth is even at 10k the guesthouse is the cheapest I could find in town – but as a gesture of good will I will meet him halfway, at 8000cfa. I add 2000cfa to my price, he removes 2000cfa from my price. His answer “no, 8000 is not good”. Customer service 101. He said I got a receipt that said 10,000cfa, I said I didn’t get any receipt. At this point he said I should sit down, he will bring me the drinks.

Another man came up to me, adamant I should top up the payment to 10k. Again I told him why I don’t have to do anything really coz it’s not my fault. He said “but in the internet the price is 10,000cfa”. I said yes but booking.com takes 15% from you anyway so you get the 8k to your hand. That somehow convinced him. And I did end up paying 8000cfa for the room finally. Conversations like this pop up on this continent from time to time, as if people don’t understand that sometimes they must let the client be right. I don’t know if this such a money shortage that lets them do it.

In South Africa I once had a situation at petrol station where the petrol started overflowing, the pump didn’t switch off and the pump attendant wasn’t around and even though it was his fault he still wanted me to pay for all the petrol including the spilled one.

In Nigeria once I was looking for a car transport in remote area and a car showed up and we didn’t agree on the price and the driver asked me to cover the costs of the clients which he lost by dropping them in order to come to me. Oh yeah.

The room at the guesthouse was comfortable, I took my 3rd and last dose of malaria medicine and slept soundly.