Quelques Photos

Well, I'm back in America, safe and sound. The last few days in Benin were a crazy whirlwind. A trip to Ouidah with three kiddos from the Orphelinat, a going away party at the Orphelinat itself, a quick stop in Porto Novo and then my last day divided between Ganvie, a stilt village, and Cotonou, the horribly moto-clogged unofficial capital of Benin. Unfortunately, I got my wisdom teeth out on Monday so I still haven't gotten to taste the glories of American pizza, but that will come in a few days when my ability to chew returns.

These pictures will be woefully insufficient for explaining the past few months, but until I get the real ones printed, the following five or six will have to do...

La famille! From the left- Modeste (aka Momo), about to be 13; Cynthia Carolyn (Caro 2 or Petite Caro), age 8; Me, age 21; and Olivier, age 14.

On the road between the fields and Huedogli itself, the village I where I lived when I wasn't in Lokossa. This woman is carrying fire wood for cookin'. For me, the end of a long day harvesting and peeling manioc root to make gari, manioc flour.

Les enfants de L'Orphelinat La Providence. From left: JC 2, Geoffroy, Obin, Marcellin, Nicolas, Robert 2, Bertrand, and Anicet, rocking out to what foot leaders know as "a jellyfish, a jellyfish" (a distant cousin of the kids song, "i like to eat eat eat apples and bananas"). The kids perform when visitors come, and some French folks had arrived that day, so I got to sneak in some photos while they did their thang.

A vrai "tata somba"- one of the incredible castellated mud houses built by the Betamaribe in the northwest of Benin, specifically in Boukoumbe.

On the road to Ouidah, the founding city of vodoun (and its descendents, namely voodoo) and a major shipping point in the slave-trade era. If you can imagine 16 people in a 7-seater 1980s era SUV, well, that was that. Celestin in my lap, Anicet in Nicolas's.

Last day in Lokossa. Caro 2, Mama-Olivier, Mama-Charlotte, and Carmel escort me to the paved road to catch a taxi for Porto Novo. This is the main road in town (the market is just to the right of us). Note my massive 55 pound hiking pack that Mama-Charlotte insisted on carrying.
I think this post will take 40 minutes to upload if I add any more, but there are about 2000 *(i've narrowed it down to 250 good ones) that i'd love to show you all, so when I see you in the future...

E yi zan de!! See you soon!