Country Number Eight!

We all fell asleep pretty quickly that night, after a hectic, action-packed few days, but as usual Barney got up for the first in his toilet visits during the night, as he'd drunk two Cokes. I get woken up just after, by a crazed Mr Webb saying "We're locked in!". It was true - the deadbolt lock was broken and the key just turned loosely. There was no way out apart from a high drop from the small window to the house below. We tried for about twenty minutes to break open the deadlock, and eventually resorted to cutting into the woodwork with our penknives. But the nails went too far in! After even more hard work, and bending of the lock, the door swung open but not without injury - I sliced my poor thumb... At least Barney could go pee!

We left the Auberge pretty early, as we had to make a lot of distance to make it across the border to Benin, our final country. It was a shame to only have a few days in Togo, but we had plans in Benin for the next week before flying out of Cotonou. We hiked down the checkpoint before the village, and a very nice army sergeant helped us get some motorbike taxis back to Kpalimè. The bike journey was pretty nerve-wracking, as the route back to Kpalimè was all winding roads, with steep drops over the side. Not to help matters, the driver had my big bag on his handlebars and insisted on doing some pretty quick 'superbike' turns (with his knee close to the tarmac) and leaving it till the last moment to dodge potholes.

We all met up for breakfast in Cafè Bel Air in the centre of town, after Barney's driver got lost, and Kez and Dree managed to wangle a taxi. From there we arranged a tro-tro from the gare routiere, but had to wait for an hour or so before enough bodies got on board. The cramped vehicle drove down some very dusty tracks at speed, and we all got completely covered with red. This was mainly because there were no wheel arches on the minibus, and holes underneath. The inside looked like a Sahara sandstorm for most of the journey, and I ended up breathing through a towel.

From our drop off at Notsè, we found a driver willing to drive us to the border town of Tombè, for more than we'd normally pay. However, there were no other vehicles going that way, and it was the private car or stay in Notsè. The road there was... standard for Africa, and we bumped along with the windows stuck open. The driver was an idiot and drove through Tombè and to the border, which we'd asked him not to as the price was too much and we needed a minivan going ACROSS the border to the Benin side. We said that we'd only pay him 10,000 CFA, not an extra 3,000 from Tombè (only 2km).

After being checked through by the grumpy officials (unsure why, as it seems a pretty cushty, well-paid job) there was a bit of a fracas between Dree and the driver, who tried to pick up one of our bags. He knew we didn't want the border, and we argued for a while. The sergeant in charge at the border called us over and Dree did a tremendous job of explaining what happened in French. The guards seemed on our side and told the driver to take the 10,000. He kept complaining and we just paid and left, Dree subtly calling him a thief along the way.

On the Benin side, after a few formalities with a slightly less grumpy Benin official, a really, really nice couple of blokes had pulled over and waited for us in their van, after chatting to us on the Togo side. We'd been about half an hour and expected them to have given up and left. But they were so friendly, such a contrast to our last few minutes in Togo, and they took us to a local town where we tipped them and thanked them again.

From there, it was just an hour's drive or so to the notorious city of Abomey, capital of the old empire of Dahomey. A pretty uneventful journey in the wide, 1970's Peugot 505; apart from hitting a dog we arrived just before dusk at the Residence Marie-Josè, and after a few photos for the scrapbook - we were filthy from the dusty minibus earlier - we played cards for who would get the room with air-con and bidet. Yes, you read correctly, a bidet!