Here we are in Benin eating garlic prawns beside the sea at Hotel Awale Plage, parked for the night in the Enterprise right on the beach.
We returned to Togo on an early flight from Manchester on Saturday morning, then via Paris and a short stop in Niamey, Niger before returning to Chez Alice at 7pm. It felt so hot after having snow on the hilltops on the way to Manchester airport. Fortunately the air conditioning soon had the Enterprise bearable for us to sleep.
Yesterday morning we went for a walk to buy bread and water and get some cash from a bank before it got too sweltering. Most of the local banks were out of money so we walked a long way in the sun. We saw football teams out running with drums and whistles, looked in on a church gospel service then returned along the beach past gardens of green vegetables. We had a very nice evening at Chez Alice with Swiss Alice (in her 80s) and her family plus a German chap who lives in Nigeria. He gave us lots of useful information about travel there. We watched the final of the African Cup on TV and were very pleased when Cameroon scored their second goal against Egypt and won the championship. There appeared to be no internet in Lomé it as we couldn't connect and most of the bank ATMs would not work.
Yesterday morning we went for a walk to buy bread and water and get some cash from a bank before it got too sweltering. Most of the local banks were out of money so we walked a long way in the sun. We saw football teams out running with drums and whistles, looked in on a church gospel service then returned along the beach past gardens of green vegetables. We had a very nice evening at Chez Alice with Swiss Alice (in her 80s) and her family plus a German chap who lives in Nigeria. He gave us lots of useful information about travel there. We watched the final of the African Cup on TV and were very pleased when Cameroon scored their second goal against Egypt and won the championship. There appeared to be no internet in Lomé it as we couldn't connect and most of the bank ATMs would not work.
This morning we left early to get to the Gabon embassy for 8.30 amidst chaotic traffic, applied for visas at great expense to collect at 3pm. Then to the Congo embassy, got visas on the spot after 'bargaining' them down on price. With time to kill we visited a market on the railroad tracks for vegetables and also bought 6 yards of Togolese printed cloth for curtains for our house in France. Chris drove us to a truck garage to have the exhaust brake hose mended, which has been leaking for the last 2 weeks or so - they charged him nothing but he gave them the equivalent of £4 'tip'. While waiting outside the Gabon embassy for visas Chris ordered a wooden box to be made for spares (we brought back on the plane a new starter motor, water pump, brake pads and a window for the rear door). The box was finished by 2pm but it had no top or bottom, just sides! It took a bit longer for it to be modified to meet Chris's original specification.
Leaving central Lomé at 4pm we were at the Benin border by 5. As usual borders take time and we were not on our way again for 45 minutes. One hour forward on the clock and we were again pressed for time before the light went, but it was a straightforward drive along the coast to our overnight stop. We have yet to see the sea view but can hear the waves crashing on the beach very close. To Cotonou tomorrow for our visas for DRC, then we enter Nigeria and head for Abuja where we have made contact with a man there who owns 2 balloons and we hope to make a flight with him. Thank you, Josep from Ultramagic for the introduction.
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