Dassa

A group of us went to Dassa-Zhomey on the weekend of November 7-8th. It was Kate, Jenna, Kimberely and I who went.

We left early on Saturday morning. It was a 4 hour drive from Cotonou. However getting out of Cotonou took an hour. Traffic everywhere! Only the big main roads are paved and the rest of dirt roads that have big pot-holes in them.

We made it out of Cotonou and once we were a little ways out, the traffic started to clear up. every now and then we would drive through a town and usually a market was going on. There were women lined up at the side of road selling anything and everything. We would come along strips of people selling the same thing, like charcoal or tapioca, and I was wondering how they make money if so many people are selling the same thing within a foot of you.

The main highway had huge pot holes that would pop up in the middle of no where. also there are no lines on the "high way" and passing is always a little dangerous. needless to say there were moments when I was scared but I survived , as is Africa.

When we were close to Dassa the landscape started to change. there were hills and open land. It was beautiful. Dassa is known to have 41 hills. They may not have 41 but Africans still claim that.

On the way into the city, we stopped at the catholic basillica. It was huge. I was amazed they built anything that size in Africa, especially a church. There was a main church building but there was also an altar outside as well.

Then our next task was to find a hotel. We tried the "nice" hotel first but it was all booked up. Our next option was the hotel with no running water, which I was prepared for. However we found another hotel that had one room for the four of us. This hotel had running water! However one of us had to sleep on the floor, which Jenna volunteered for.

We set out to go climb the hills. We went back to the church and found a local guide. The reason for the guide was because some of the hills are used for voodoo sacrifice. Our guide had a to pay a man to go up the hill. It was a pretty good hike up but once we got up there and looked out upon Dassa, I couldn't believe my eyes. So amazing.

After that we went walking around the town. Dassa is so much calmer and quieter then Cotonou. It was just nice walking around and not worrying about being run over.

We came across a Fan Milk store. Fan Milk is their "ice cream" or frozen juices here. Typically guys walk around with carts or on bikes selling it. They are not too bad and you can't beat anything cold when it is hot outside.

Also along our walk we came upon women gathering water out of a well. So we went over and we asked if we could try and they let us. So we all took turns gathering the water and we really had a good time. What impressed me the most was that these women lift ups these huge buckets of water and then put them on their heads and walk with them without spilling them.

A funny incident happened. One of the women was motioning to me that she wanted my shirt, I dont know why, the one I was wearing. So I lifted my shirt up a little bit to sure her I couldn't because my stomach is so pale and she screamed! I started to laugh.

We walked to a hotel for dinner. I had chicken and french fries which is typical option on menus. There wasn't much chicken there because the animals here are small. The strange thing about this hotel was that they had ostrich in the back of the hotel. I have no clue why but they had 4 of them. They were caged up with not very good wire but there was some sort of fence there.