abomey

it's been an intense day-and-a half in abomey :) a few snapshots:
... it's MUCH smaller, cleaner and quieter than cotonou (110 000, not 800 000)...
... in abomey you can visit the palaces of the last kings of abomey (the last of the kingdoms in this region - still in power in the XIX century). there are also many temples listed on the must-see list, but what i find much more interesting are many other, small temples build between people's houses with paintings often copied from the big, official ones. there are still fetiches and sacrifices inside
... you get to here 'yovo' ('white') way more often than in cotonou. it's true - i haven't seen many around. you can see how it looks like here ;)
... the market is full of onions, tomatoes and piment. there is also wonderful bread from the bakery at the market - you don't get to see the food crisis too much. only the bread is much smaller than it was two years ago. there are also grapefruits that pretend to be oranges!!! scandal!!!!
... there are many more muslims, even though it's only a bit more north than cotonou...
... there is always a problem with change. everyone knows it here...
... i'm totally immersed in 'everything is illuminated'. i could just keep reading all day long... it gives me strange dream though (like the one where paul banks from interpol was a superhero...), especially in the auberge la lutta, where voudun dolls hang from the walls and lizards trot on the roof all night long

now i'm waiting for morvan. he'll be here in a couple of hours. and then i'm going north. bamako's calling :)