Saturday morning, Lotte, Kimberly, Jenna, Kaitlyn, Jess and I went to Possotome. This village is known for provided mineral water for the country. It is a village that sits right next to Lac Aheme.
Our driver, Anicet, picked us up and all 6 of us crammed into a small car. Four in the back and me in Jess sharing the front seat. I was happy that it was only a 2 hour drive because the right side of my body was going numb.
When we arrived we got a hotel which we stayed at for $3 a night. The room were simple but they had electricity, running water and fans, which can be hard to come by here sometimes. The rooms were simple but clean. The owners were very nice and gracious.
Afterwards we went to go learn how to fish. When we got to the place that provided lessons there were other people from Mercy Ships there. The first thing that our guide did was give us fresh coconuts. His son climbed the palm tree with only his hands and feet and got us fresh. coconuts. Then they used a machete to cut open the coconuts. The coconut was sweet and the coconut inside didn't have much flavor to it but it was good.
Then i sat down with two local boys who were fishing off the side of the dock. They let me try but I was not successful. It is hard just fishing with a stick.
The big group of us got on this wood boat and headed out onto the lake. When we got out there I was for certain that we were going to tip over. I have never been on a boat that rocked back and forth so much. Furthermore, because the boats are wooden they had to constantly scoup out the water, so that we wouldn't sink.
Our guide showed us how to hold the net and throw it. The net has weights on the bottom of it, there are no hooks on them. They let us practice with a small net and it is a lot heavier then I expected. It was fun to learn. It took a couple of hours for all us to practice throwing the fishing net and so it was really hot in the African sun.
After we made it back to the dock we walked around the village. All this kids were calling us "white people" in Fon. This village doesn't get that many visitors. The kids were incredible - they would walk up to us and follow us around. Their parents didn't mind at all. Also people here are so much inviting then people in Cotonou.
There wasn't too much to see in this town but it was nice to get away and be out of the city. We hung out at the beach by the lake and played with the kids for several hours.
For dinner we went the nice hotel and ate there. We got the pre-fixed dinner which had a mexican salad (which was a lot of corn, some tuna and a dressing), chicken and rice and crepe with chocolate. The dinner was really good but it was more then our hotel room, which is the funny part.
I also tried their local Benin beer. It taste very much like Coors Light but with little alcohol in it. Also the label has a beer glass with Africa in red on it. Then they have Benin colored in black but it is such a small country that it is hard to see unless you look closely.
Then we walked back to our hotel and you could see stars! I haven't stars that clear in such a long time. It was amazing! There was hardly any street light so the sky was so bright.
Back at our hotel we ended up talking to a local named Wilfred who spoke a little bit of english. He asked if we like R. Kelly or Celine Dion, we said yes of course - just because he wanted to dance so badly. he is a dancer in his heart, it is obvious. So we put on some bad remixes of american music and regaton and danced his heart out. We danced with him for awhile. Then towards the end of the night he put a Celine Dion album and did slow dancing, which is was so funny dancing with someone from Africa who knew all the words to to her music.
We ended the party around midnight and went to bed. When we went to sleep there was no sheets on the bed except the one for the bottom one. So during the middle of the night I got cold, which I was surprised by.
The next morning we got up early and went back to Cotonou so that we could get ready for the football game!
Wow it is like a whole other world!
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