Zangbetons, vappu, excursions and Cotonou.

A lively and interesting Zangbeton ceremony, dinner festivities, vappu celebration and excursions to Ouidah, Abomey and Cotonou have filled my last weeks. A delegation group from Finland visited Villa Karo so I had quite a lot of program with them and we went on various trips, which was pleasant.

I also had a vappu celebration at my place, which is rather amusing as I never celebrate vappu in Finland. Vappu celebration in Grand Popo meant dinner for about 30 people, if not more, drinks and drumming until the early morning. The next day, the 1st of May, there was a staff and stipendiat lunch at Villa Karo which was very amusing. The amount of laughter and dancing always blows me away.

Last weekend I spent in Cotonou with Linni, Heidi and Victor. We experienced steamy nights as we all squeezed ourselves in his rather small but charming room. Despite the constant turning of the fan it gets very hot in a small room with 4 sleeping and snoring adults. It was an excellent weekend; just what I needed. I was in a need of getting out from Grand Popo although the many daytrips the previous week. I got to visit the enormous and very lively market in Cotonou, see a jazz band perform, ride moto-taxi in the rain at night, eat tasty Chinese food which was nice as a change, see a drum session in a cozy bar, witness the less posh area as well as a very posh nightclub with the highest bling bling factor I have seen in a good while. We also met some bling bling Lebanese guys that have lived in benin for a couple of years; they were fun company and took us around Cotonou in their fancy sports car. The scenario did though put a wide smile on my face as it is about 10 years ago since I have been riding around a city in a fancy car with terribly bad techno music. All this was a good change from the very calm laid back lifestyle in Grand Popo.

I also managed to put some different pictures on the internet so check out this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47458&l=ad05d&id=688982348