Kandi to Natitingou - Crossing the Finish Line

January 20 – 25

Day #24 – Started: Kandi                             Ended: Banikoara                          Distance Covered: 68 km

Day #25 – Started: Banikoara                      Ended: Brignimaro                         Distance Covered: 77 km

Day #26 – Started: Brignimaro                    Ended: Gnemasson                       Distance Covered: 40 km

Day #27 – Started: Gnemasson                  Ended: Kouande                            Distance Covered: 47 km

Day #28 – Started: Kouande                       Ended: Ganikperou                        Distance Covered: 12 km

Day #29 – Started: Ganikperou                   Ended: Natitingou                           Distance Covered: 43 km

Highlights

• Mud brickyards
• Sacred waterfall
• Visiting other volunteers' projects
• Crossing the finish line

Click on the images below to enlarge

A brickyard full of bricks made

from mud, straw, and water.  One

brick sells for $0.04.

My bike didn't have too many

problems along the way, but

2 days from finishing this

happened.  About 15 seconds later

the inner tube you see exploded.

Women weaving textiles. This

style of fabric is one of the

fancier kinds available

I thought this was a field filled

with strange rocks at furst, but

these are actually old, eroded

termite mounds.  This used to

be a forest, and these mounds

used to be much bigger and

pushed up against large trees.

A sacred waterfall near

Ganikperou.  Swimming is

allowed here only one day out of

the year, following an important

ceremony and an animal sacrifice.

A group of guys in their cabbage

garden.  They were really friendly,

and even gave me a free cabbage!

Finished!!  Over the past six days I’ve made my way from Kandi back to Natitingou, where this whole trip started 29 days ago.  The last leg of the journey consisted of a series of smaller distances, as there were a lot of volunteers’ villages that I was passing along the way, and I couldn’t pass up opportunities to visit friends I hadn’t seen in a long time.

The landscape of this region was similar to what I’ve been seeing while travelling through much of the north.  I passed several herds of cattle being led by Fulani people, fields filled with cotton and millet and shea trees, and loads of dust swirling in the air.  Lots and lots of dust everywhere.

The shorter days of biking were probably a good thing for me, actually, as I caught some malady and found myself getting a lot more tired from biking than normal.  Due to how arid it is at this time of year, loads of dust can inevitably find its way into your lungs (especially if you’re travelling on roads frequented by cars and semis), and this can cause a number of unpleasant ailments.

Stopping at so many different volunteers’ villages made biking more manageable, and it also gave me the chance to see what my friends have been working on.  Every volunteer’s living and work situation are very different;  Some of the people I visited were among the wave of volunteers that arrived in their village this past September and have just finished settling in to their new homes, and some have been in town as long as 16 months.  Some were put into a more rigid work schedule – as a teacher with assigned class times, for example – and others have had hardly any guidance and rely entirely on their own initiative to seek out and start projects.  Some were placed in towns and cities where a high level of French is spoken at a quick pace; others are in tiny villages where the vast majority speaks a specific local language that necessity requires them to learn.

One of my friends - another Peace Corps Volunteer -

making garden beds with a gardening group he's

been working with for the past year.

Regardless of the environments these volunteers were placed in, it’s been great to see how each individual has confronted their challenges and made things work.  I visited volunteers that were serving as extension agents to gardening groups throughout their region; that were teaching high school students entrepreneurial skills and helping them start their own business; and that were getting their hands dirty in the fields to convert unused brush-land to an irrigated, community garden that may be prosperous year-round.  It’s been great to see the hard work my friends have been putting into their communities, and to appreciate them for it too – far too often volunteers don’t actually realize how remarkable their actions actually are.

It’s also made me realize that I’ve got to get back to work soon too.

This trip has been amazing; I feel like I’ve seen and understand far more of Benin than I did one month prior.  I’ve had many cultural experiences that I won’t forget, and I’ve gotten to share them with some great friends.  I’ve also been amazed time and time again by the generosity and hospitality of the Beninese people that have helped me along the way during this trip – whether it be by giving the group a small gift for passing by, putting us up somewhere to pass the night, or helping retrieve a camera that appeared to be lost forever.  Hopefully this blog has done some justice to a country that is not too often travelled or publicized, yet is filled with history, culture, and some really great people.

This roundabout marks the entrance to Natitingou - finally made it full circle!

Now it’s time for me to go back to the lovely village of Miniki and return a community that’s been calling me a lot lately, asking, “Did you go home or something?  When are you coming back, anyways?!”