Correction
I would like to amend an earlier post when I referred to our ride to Cotonou as hell. Sadly I was mistaken about what hell is but i think I’m a little closer to finding out. Two incidences helped me realize that the trip down wasn’t so bad.
1. When we first stayed in Cotonou at the house for teenage girls which is run by priests, I thought it was heaven. We stayed for two nights, it was free, the internet was wi-fi and fast and we had our own room. Each subsequent time the amenities deteriorated. Sometimes there would be no electricity, sometimes no water. The knob on the shower broke in our bathroom, etc.
This weekend was the last straw. When we arrived we requested a different room and were happy to have that request met. We had a working shower and everything was clean. Right after I hopped out of the shower and the Italian hopped in, the water was gone. I had to head downstairs to fetch a bucket of water for his shower. Next we both hopped on the internet to do our usual dealings, emails, streaming, skyping, the last two which we can only do there. Things were going smoothly! Well when we woke up on Thursday, the internet wasn’t working. We weren’t too worried figuring a simple unplug and replug would fix it as usual. Nope. Then that evening, after not so good sleep the night before we discovered the possibility of bed bugs. An almost microscopic creature was on the Italian’s phone which explained the itching and bites. After spraying ourselves and the bed with bug spray, we attempted to go to sleep. To no avail. On top of being itchy it is also about 85 degrees at night and there is no AC here. So the internet never came back. The electricity went out one night. The water went out a couple times per day and I was forced to sleep in pants and a long sleeve shirt the last night just so I could get to sleep. I dread ever having to return to that place.
2. Our trip back to Dassa wasn’t any better. We rose early and headed to the bus stop but when we got there the Italian suggested we take a taxi bus, something he is getting very comfortable with. After price negotiation and our demand for the front seat, we were set. Even though they said we were leaving, “Now” we didn’t pull off for 45 minutes. The trip was going well besides the rock solid seat I was sitting on. When we made it to Bohicon in record time I was super excited. We went to the taxi station to drop off passengers and the only ones left was us. Hmmmm this seemed like a predicament. Dassa is an hour north of Bohicon and the driver had no intention on going just for us. He told us to get into another taxi. We paid him and he was to pay the other taxi, accept he refused to pay the 1300CFA because he would have to take a loss of 600CFA. So after some arguing, the new taxi driver told us to take our bags and get out. Then our original driver said he would drive us, so we got back in the taxi bus. All the while he was trying to convince other taxi drivers to take us for 1000CFA instead of the standard 1300.
When he succeeded, we were shuffled off to another taxi in which we were the only two passengers, meaning we had to wait until it filled up. The driver said once he found two people we would go. We all know that was a lie. After 30 minutes and four additional passengers, we were off. As usual we got the front seat but since it is a car, that means the two of us share the one front seat, which is very uncomfortable. Don’t take sitting in the front seat of a car, alone, for granted people!! As uncomfortable as the drive was, at least we were on our way and at least we weren’t as tight as the four adults squeezed into the backseat.
About a half hour into the drive, the taxi honks his horn at someone and pulls to the side of the road, while I know this is usually the signal and action to pick up a passenger I knew in this case it wasn’t because there was no more room in the taxi. I figured it was a friend of his. After they began price negotiation I became really confused. I looked again in the back seat and was sure no one else could fit. After the price negotiation finished, the driver opened his door and climbed out. “What the hell is going on here?!!” I thought to myself. I looked at the man climbing into the driver’s seat with shock as he sat down and scooted closer to me. Then in came the driver and then came the new passenger’s body smashed against mine. Now the driver was also sharing a seat and we were four in the front, sitting in two seats. Talk about uncomfortable. About ten minutes in we passed a police post so the new passenger had to hide himself which meant slipping further behind me. He got out after another 10 minutes and I was relieved. And even though the driver continued to honk his horn looking for another passenger, we arrived home before I had to suffer again.
Now you tell me which one is closest to hell!
