Benin III

PFTE Part VIII Episode III

Did I mention how the pineapple melts in your mouth here?
Anyways, I haven’t learned that much Fon since I’ve been here, which is the dominant language in this part of Benin (the south end of the country). But the one sentence I have learned (fun with Fon!!!) has been: Un no nyi Yovo ahhh, which basically means, “My name is not ‘Whitey’”. That’s been about it so far. So nothing else particularly useful in terms of language.
I was at the most amazing place on the weekend, a town called Ganvie. It’s a village entirely built on a lake, established in 1717 by people who were trying to escape from the slave traders ( A LOT of Benin’s history is tied up in the slave trade, as they were some of the biggest traders of their own peoples, as well as their captives, to the Europeans and Americans). Anyways, but the slave trade is another story as well as other places, and pictures.
It’s pretty amazing.
At any rate, Ganvie is this town built on stilts in the middle of this lake. I dunno how it occurred to them three hundred years ago to just paddle into the middle of a lake and start building houses. I guess if it’s that or be transported to the Americans to be a slave, I think I’d opt for drowning in my home country… and I took lots of photos there, which, as some of you know, I’m not that terribly trigger happy with the camera usually… It was a totally –other- type experience, if that makes sense.
julia