Long Weekend in Benin
On Friday 12th October, we set off for Benin at 9:30am. Joy was coming with us this time; we had arranged for her to get papers. It was her first time to leave Nigeria. Fortunately Statoil had rented a large minibus for us so we didn't have to squeeze seven into our car. The traffic was bad on the way to the border and the Benin officials were their usual corrupt selves.

After the bridge between Porto Novo and Cotonou we branched off to find the jetty where Micah would meet the boat when we came back with my Mum and Caroline next month. We picked up someone from the street who directed us and was very friendly.

The main roads are pretty good quality in Benin but, like in France, you have to pay a toll on the motorways. Usually this is not a problem, but this time Micah forgot he was driving a bus and went into the lane for cars. There was a big metal bar across the lane which scraped across the roof of the bus. I couldn't believe it when they then said that we would have to reverse and go through the lane for heavy vehicles. This meant scraping the car again and getting the queue of cars behind us to move. At this point I lost my cool, which didn't help. They made us wait and then go to the main office to pay a pénalité. Eight and a half hours after we had set off, we made it to the Casa del Papa Hotel in time for a swim before dinner.

The next day, we had a nice breakfast and relaxed by the pool while the boys played with some friends and Mathilde was with Joy. There were several other families from Lagos at the hotel: Grant & Tiffany with Poppy (Mathilde's best friend), Jacob & Rebbecca with Oliver (in Erik's football team) and Anika, Scott & Carrie with Maddison (in Daniel's class) and Nicola and a German couple Ralph & Birgit with Raphael and a younger daughter.

Before lunch, Erik, Daniel and I went out in an open-topped Kayak on the lagoon with Jacob. We paddled out of the lagoon behind the hotel and into a tunnel through the mangroves, which Erik and Daniel loved. There were crabs clinging to the mangroves at water level, mud-skippers and weaver birds making their nests. Daniel thought he saw lots of crocodiles! The tunnel emerged into a larger lagoon, dotted with fishing villages. It was interesting to paddle along and see what was going on-

I hadn't planned to do any more exercise that day, so Inger-Lise and I shared a bottle of rosé with lunch. However, I was talked into playing football with the other dads and their sons. It was good fun. Erik and Daniel both played and enjoyed the novelty of playing football with me!

In the evening we went to the Laguna bar to watch the World Cup semi-final match England vs. France. France led for most of the match which made all the french in the bar happy, but they went quiet toward to the end when Johnny Wilkinson scored the penalty and drop goal to put England into the Final.

On Sunday, the other Lagotians went back to Lagos, while we relaxed by the pool. Poor Jacob had almost lost his 4-wheel drive car to the sea on Friday when he got it stuck in the sand. He and 70 villagers managed to pull it out, but he burnt out his clutch and he had to pay the locals well. He had to pay another arm and a leg to get the car towed back to the Kia dealer in Lagos. Erik and I went for another kayak trip in the lagoon before lunch. Daniel, Erik and I played on the beach in the afternoon. In the evening, we were planning on watching South Africa vs. Argentina in the bar again but it was shut so we ended up watching Home Alone with Erik and Daniel and catching the end of the match. South Africa never really looked like they were going to lose. They are going to be tough to beat.

On Monday, we got up early for breakfast and managed to leave by 9am. We needed to get back early for Daniel's Friend Connor's 6th birthday party. The trip was quite uneventful on the way back and we arrived back in Lagos at 3pm, only an hour late. The inflatable bouncy slide into the pool is always a sure winner for kids' parties and this was no exception. I went back with the bus and unpacked before coming back for a dip in the pool and a beer.


It was a nice long weekend. I hope that taking the boat next time will make the journey easier, though.

Jeremy