Plan B: Off to Benin

So I’m on the border of Togo and Benin now and my original plan was to start a small surf club for the community here in a town called Aneho and learn some French. However, my plans have changed. I arrived yesterday after a 50KM ride along the ocean from the capital Lome and I arrived to find the beach littered with endless human turds (aka Poo Poo, crapola, kah kah). The Togolese people have been using the beach as a bathroom in this area for generations, and during my visit to checkout the surf I was accompanied by at least two dozen people doing their number.

Now I have indeed surfed in some yucky water. San Diego is famous for poor water quality at various breaks. And the fact is that these guys usually poo above the high tide mark so it’s not in the water, really. But what added to my turnoff was the vast amounts of trash that accompanied the poo. Not only was it a bathroom, but the beach was a dump. Endless plastic bags and bottles, car parts, mattresses, glass chunks, syringes and other atrocities like drug attics and riff raff crushed my vision pretty quick. Bottom line, I just did not the get the vibe and I do want to spend a month in this area.

I don’t have the time to commit to educate the locals about their age old habits and I decided to leave that battle to someone else. My plan was to spend a month or two building a club to stoke out the youth, but this education effort would take years to do it right. Finally, the vision of learning French here was also quickly squashed when I realized that 90% of the locals don’t even speak French, and the ones that do speak French that most French people would have difficulty understanding.

So, Plan B is in full affect. I’m doing a 110KM ride tomorrow to Cotonou, Benin. Cotonou is a larger city that will have more folks speaking proper French, a decent wave with a local surfer Marc who may be able to help me start a club there, and it will be the official starting country of my Western Africa trip. Mamacita will be sending me an important package the a new Panasonic Hi-Def camcorder as I killed my other one in Zanzibar, as well as other important replacement equipment to gear up for the journey to Morocco. I plan to be on the road early to mid August to ride Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Gambia in a continuous expedition that should be a whopper.

West Africa is so different than East Africa. Perhaps it’s more like East Africa was 10-20 years ago. The infrastructure is extremely limited, there are very few tourists and it appears to be as real an African experience as one can have in the few safe countries in this region.

On the genuine note, I can honestly say I feel far more alone and freaked out here than in the East. At least in the East you could, if you wanted to, engage with other travelers at a backpackers or something. I felt just far enough away from western civilization, but close enough to be in my comfort zone. I can say now I’m out of my comfort zone, but luckily not by so much that I’m suffering. It’s just enough to keep constant butterflies in my tummy and I’m sure I’ll grow from the experience tremendously.

Over and out from Aneho, Togo. Try to find this on the map, I dare ya. Try to find Togo! It’s tiny! This place is surreal, you’ll dig the photos and video no doubt!

Laters,

Jamie J