DJOUGOU: Out and About

Becky: These colorful trees were in bloom all over Djougou and the surrounding villages in northern Benin. They were called "Flamboyant Trees", and it is not hard to see why. The bright red flowers were a striking contrast to the neutral colors of the ground and landscape that cascade across west Africa. In such a harsh climate, it is not surprising that there wasn't much variety in species.
Damian: Never really noticed these trees much while living in Djougou. The rains had recently just come so I think that's why this one was so red. The big tap above usually turns off around Octoberish and does turn back on until about mid-April or early May. There is literally no rain during the dry season which lasts around 6 or 7 months. Bec liked these trees. Oh yeah, that car underneath which looks abandoned. It's not.


Becky: The Baobab Tree - another majestic piece of nature. I think these are the elephants of the botanical world, and they reigned all over Benin.
Damian: I'm getting a tatto of a Baobab tree. :-)

Tailors

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Becky: Damian and Taffa getting measured for their outfits for Damian's birthday party.
Damian: Any peace corps volunteer who has made it to the end of his or her three month training period knows the importance of same print outfits for festivals. My birthday being a pretty big occasion called out for same print outfits. Taffa was kind enough to buy us the same print pagne [or cloth]. We then went and got our measurements taken. Families make these 'uniforms' for all sort of festivals and holidays. Our outfits rocked. Not sure what my tailor is measuring?

Post Office
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: On bated breath... this is the post-office where Damian would go with hopes of hearing from friends and family back home. Remember, this was back before they had cell phones here. I can't even begin to imagine how isolated he must have felt.
Damian: Behold the PTT [Post Office]. The magical, wonderous place that houses post office box 111. This little portal to the west, on more than one occasion, delivered candy, taco seasoning and magazines. It only took--on average--about a month for padded envelopes to reach us in Djougou.
I gave Bec a hard time about never writing and then she reminded me that we didn't know each other back then. One postcard wouldn't have hurt. :)
I used to take my mail and go sit by an old woman who made fried yams and little bean cakes. This old woman was the best. I don't recall knowing her name because these type of vendors were usually called mama anyway. She used to help me with my dendi and protected me from curious passerbys who wanted to stare at whitey eating yams. One day some fulani stopped and gave me a hard time--really weird looking people. I just pointed back informing them that they were the 'weird' ones, my mama yam vendor agreed. :)
She had a much younger colleague who used to sit with her and sell bouille [type of porridge]. She came up and said hello to me on the visit while we were all taking in some coca cola at a buvette. She even remembered my name. Very cool to see a familiar face.
Sanitation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: I never got used to the lack of sanitation systems in Benin. People would throw garbage out of bus windows on the highways, or just there on the ground wherever they were standing. Having a waste basket was a small luxury at some of our nicer hotels. Near the end of our trip we met one current Peace Corps volunteer whose work was on water sanitation and community health, and one of his areas of focus was on raising the community conscience about the potential adverse health effects of leaving garbage around in such conditions. In the town of Djougou, which I believe is considered a small city, there are some very crowded living conditions in tightly packed cement and mud houses.
Damian: Ahhhh, yeah. Alleys in any third world country are going to be nasty. These were pretty smelly. Lots of trash and pee pee.

L'Enfants
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: The African Baby Bjorn - Here women wrap colorful pieces of fabric called pagnes ("PAHN-yahs") around their torso and carry their infants around all day like this. Older girls also often run around playing with their younger siblings strapped to their backs, arms flapping in the winds like real life dolls. It was not uncommon to see women riding on scooters with babies in their laps or strapped to their backs. It makes me think of the scandalous US Weekly photos of Brittany Spears driving with her baby on her lap.
Damian: This is how women carry their babies in Africa. They use the muli-purpose pagnes to wrap up their little koyo [kids in dendi]. Pagnes can be used for just about anything and they come in all sorts of prints and colors.
The Other Side?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: Why did the goat cross the road?
Damian: To escape Harouna the goat griller.
Local Cuisine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: Me and Damian at dinner our second night in Djougou. It was after this meal that my ill-fated gastrointestinal problems began; I still can't say I regret eating the little fried cakes of Pile. They were so yummy. Below that, Damian is excited for his appetizer of grilled goat meat.
Damian: Omg. I love[d] grilled goat. Ate a ton of it. And Harouna the goat griller is still there. He was really excited to see me after so long. The conversation went somthing like this:
Me: "Harouna! How are you? And your family? And the work"
Harouna: "How much do you want?"
Me: "Harouna, it's me. The professor of science who..."
Harouna: "Ah bon? Oh yeah. Welcome. How much"
Me: "400CFA. Merci."


Wagasi
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: Wagasi - the local cheese. This is cheese cultivated from goat milk, but it doesn't taste anything like goat cheese. It is usually served in a spicy sauce alongside a bed of Pile (a rather tasteless large white root called a yam but more resembles a potato). The cheese is kind of rubbery in consistency, but actually quite tasty, especially in these very protein-deficient meal options. These balls of cheese can lay out in the sun all day, baking and surrounded by flies, so I would not be surprised if this contributed somewhat to making me sick. Another note - eating local food is really cheap. One day Damian and I ate all three meals in Djougou and it was less than $6 for the both of us together.
Damian: Yes. Wagasi. When the Fulani weren't pointing at me eating yams they were busy making Wagasi and selling it in the market. The Fulani herd the cows and the cows make the milk and the Fulani make the wagasi and that's what we call the circle of wagasi. Wagasi is abundant in the north and almost non-existent in the south. [Although I'm sure that there were volunteers in the south who knew of someone who made it!] I ate and ate and ate wagasi. You can make fried wagasi, boiled wagasi, wagasi lasagne, wagasi sandwhiches, wagasi with your pile, wagasi without your pile...you get the idea.
Getting Around
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: Transportation - for every car there are about 20 scooters, called "Zemis". These were your local taxis, "Zemis" as well as personal transportation for most people, plants, and animals. Here I caught a couple of boys rounding a corner. Below that is the typical petrol stop, liters of fuel rebottled in glass containers. I am not sure what kind of fuel they are using, but the streets are quite polluted with smoke. I noticed a few Zemi riders wore scarfs around their mouths and noses. I loved riding on the Zemis - it was a little bit like a ride at an amusement park, only not as safe!
Damian: If you don't own a car then you're stuck with public transportation. Djougou's subway system was down for our stay there, so we were stuck taking Zemis all over the place. Zemi drivers are genarally pretty nice guys. Oh this is a good story. Sometimes they can be real aholes. During my 2 years in Djougou I had one Zemi driver who always called me Baturi [whitey] in a real annoying way. Finally I got it through his thick head that my name was Damian. On our visit we bumped into him at the market and the guy remembered my name. We greeted each other for a bit and he then asked me what I brought him from the States. I told him that I forgot his gift and he understood. I just said I'll bring it with me next time. I wonder if I'll run in to him next time. :)
Terre Rouge
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky: Terre Rouge - the red road. Many of the roads in Benin are still unpaved, and the soil in Africa is famously red. I was curious to learn why it is read, and learned that it is the iron in the soil. The ground is basically a clay called laterite, enriched with both iron and aluminum. The minerals are apparently a result of the alternating intense heat and heavy rainfall.
Damian: doo bee doo bee doo.

Talking Politics - clip above
----------------------------------------------------
Damian:
Becky:Damian and Taffa speaking French and talking shop at dinner... I am the retarded voice behind the camera. I don't think they realized I was videotaping them at first.