“Vous avez aloko?”

Six days a week the Italian and I eat lunch at Maquis La Marmite Africaine. You can find maquis all over Benin. They are restaurants with pre-made food and simple dining accommodations. One of our co-workers introduced us to this one in particular and we never looked back. For the last two months we have been eating lunch there six days per week. After a few weeks the smile from the owner became bigger when we arrived and she began to select our pieces of meat and fish for us.

I eat the same exact thing everyday, a specific piece of chicken, aloko (fried plantains), white rice and a tomato sauce. At this point I walk in and select my piece of chicken and sit down, she finishes the rest. And if something that I normally have is finished she tells me of the change before making my plate.

The best part about lunch is that we get to see the cutest little girl in Dassa. She is the daughter of the girl that is responsible for drinks. Sometimes she is sleeping, sometimes eating, sometimes playing a game of peek-a-boo with the Italian. One day she got a shot and she was sad the entire time we were there but her sadness was overcome by drowsiness which put her to sleep, no doubt an effect of her vaccination.

I know that a lot of times my blogs are not the happiest, but there are things that I will miss about this and the daily lunches at the maquis is one of them!