Celtic Rover
Voodoo and snakes….
Today we made our way to Ouidah the voodoo capital of Benin as we crossed the bridge to the town passing the fishermen Tony stopped for a shot and I looked down to see a creepy face staring up at me from the tree in front of the house beside, that set the theme for the day a nice Christian cathedral full of colourfully clad people at mass opposite the Python temple an interesting contrast, lots of Pythons draped around the visitors necks (squealing ladies in front of us, thankfully I don’t mind snakes at all)
We saw a good exhibition about women and slavery and a “secret garden” of rather dubious statues (not so secret as its on Google maps) and a carved tree celebrating slave history apart from that much of the towns attractions were closed or under renovation, one gets the feeling that lots of attractions, hotels and restaurants closed during Covid and never returned the internet sources not updated to show that.
We ended up in a garden owned by a reggae guy so have had a few hours of nice chilled music and friendly people this evening. We think of this as a good place, but our standards are adjusted from Europe, good means there is a tap which works, we use this to bucket shower behind a screen, do our laundry, and with a bucket flush the toilet (no seat no cistern) but actually we are comfortable showered and laundry nearly dry, cooked our own camp tea once we realised the reggae guys were offering to cook rather than them having a cook
Actually a very nice interesting day, we both enjoyed and are chilled, the recalibration of what one “needs” to be comfortable and relaxed is significant when I look back.
Another good day
Stilt Village of 20k people tomorrow
