January 31

OK, now they're just playing around with us.....

Friday night

 Saturday night

I heard that tomorrow they're going to change the month to further confuse us.

Random observations from our stops in Togo and Benin:

Oceania provided a shuttle from the port to the center of town for both ports.  We didn't use it since we had excursions.  In both ports you could escape the ship and see the city.

In both cities, at least along the roads we traveled, there was no cigarette advertising.  Lots of mobile phone (Togocel and Benincell most prominent) advertising.  More significantly, we never saw a local person smoking.  The only people smoking were from our ship, and fortunately, not many of them.

Motorcycles were the predominant mode of transportation in both.  "Motorbike Taxis"  were available in both cities for the cheap and the brave.  The guys in the yellow shirts are the "Yellow Taxis" of Benin,

The right-of-ways for the roads are quite wide.  Only the main roads were paved.  Most were dusty side streets.  There were outside displays of merchandise everywhere.  Sometimes it was for the products of the store fronting the street, but more often it was just a family selling something.

Side street

In Benin our tour guide told us that Shell and Total went out of business selling gas in the country because black marketeers were smuggling very cheap Nigerian gas across the border.  Even Oceania did something unusual -- after 5 days crossing the Atlantic, burning 3.5 tons of fuel per hour, Insignia needed fuel.  But the Captain did not refuel in Togo or Benin.  The ship left Lome harbor and proceeded to an offshore fuel tanker, where we took on 400 tons (according to the Captain on a PA announcement).  So we spent about 4 hours unpleasantly wallowing next to a tanker that evening.

You could buy gasoline at street side vendors.  It looked like ready-to-use Molotov cocktails, just "insert rag for fuse and ignite."  Luckily, both countries are very peaceful.....dave

Saturday, January 30, 2016
Cotonou, Benin, western Africa   

I did not have any preconceived notions about Benin.  I had done my research, of course, but did not know what to expect.  We signed up for a ship's excursion to Ganvie Village and my information and looking at pictures on the web led me to believe that we had made a good decision.

Instead of a "good" decision, I was blown away by Ganvie Village.  Absolutely incredible experience and one of the best ship's excursions I have ever taken.

Dancer greeting the ship on arrival

We boarded a really nice, comfortable bus at the port with 2 great guides on board who talked about Benin, and 2 men on board "for security."  The security guys were in street clothes and appeared to be unarmed but I have an idea that might not have been true!   I never felt that we were ever in an unsafe situation but I appreciate the Benin tour company having them on board.

The drive was unbelievable.  I did not see any stop lights and there were many buses, big trucks carrying goods, and hundreds of motor bikes.  Since it was Saturday, everyone was out!

 Everybody kind of 'went with the flow', but sometimes the motor bikes wanted to turn left in front of our bus from the right lane, so periodically our bus driver slowed down and the bikes, fully loaded with the passengers, turned in front of us....amazing!

 Motorbike parking

Typical street vendors

Then we reached the Lake Nokoue, near Cotonou. We were helped on board boats with long bench seats and a wooden canopy and outboard motor with about 20 passengers to a boat.

A boat similar to ours carrying other Oceania passengers

  There were many other smaller boats there as well with women selling fish from their boats--only women sell fish.  Many of the boats were hollowed out logs, much as our Native Americans did when they burned the tops of the logs, chiseled out the burnt wood and then shaped the front and back to cleave the water.

A well dressed group commuting to the city

 If you have ever visited Everglades National Park in the US, that is what Lake Nokoue reminded me of.  Endless lake, no shoreline, no trees, but some reeds visible and then many, many small boats with one or 2 fishermen --only men fish, with long sticks to pole themselves, or with small sails or motors.  The men fish with nets cast not with a pole and baited line.

The circles are "fish farms"

After about 20 minutes we began to see, in the distance a line of structures up on pilings.  This was our first sight of Ganvie, a village built completely on the lake.

  According to history, the Fon, a warrior people, attempted to enslave many smaller tribal groups to sell to the Portuguese.  The Tofinu, realizing that they could not win battles against the Fon, retreated to Lake Nokoue.  It was taboo for the Fon to engage in war on water settlements so the Tofinu, using the religious beliefs of their enemy, sought long term safety on the lake by building their houses ON the lake on stilts and 500 years later it has an approximate population of 20,000.  Some say "Ganvie" means "those who found safety" and others say it means "we survived."

Several of us had moments of anxiety when we saw kids about 7 or 8 poling boats around and then we saw, in the bottom of the boat, little brothers or sisters as young as 2.  Where were their parents, where were their life jackets, where were the certificates showing the boats were safe, we worried.   Not needed....they were as home in the water as we are on land!   According to our guides, every family in Ganvie hopes to have 3 boats; 1 for dad, 1 for mom, 1 for the kids. 

Some of our companions didn't understand why many from Ganvie turned their heads or covered their faces when we aimed our tourist cameras at them.  I totally got it....how would you like boatload after boatload of tourists taking pictures of you when you were on your way to market, or hanging out clothes on the back porch, or sitting in chairs on a Saturday morning talking to your neighbors?

I lowered my camera when I saw they didn't want their pictures taken and instead waved at the little kids and almost always got a grin, a smile, and a wave back.

I loved Ganvie Village and I'm so glad we had this experience.  David bought me a hand carved boat with 3 men sitting in it to remind us of this wonderful day!  ...... Au revoir......cynthia

Learning the family business

Jan 29, Lome Togo

After 5 days at sea we have reached Africa, the first visit for both of us.  Arriving first at Capetown would have been more impressive, but here was a chance to see West Africa.

There was drumming and dancing to greet us as we came down the gangplank to find our tour buses.  They were energetic and festive and brightly colored.  

We chose the half-day tour because we had to get off the boat, and walking around "downtown" on our own didn't seem like a real good choice.  The tour made 3 stops, the first was the Fetish Market.  Fortunately for you, I can't post the smell of less than fresh animal parts that were for sale.  Lots of skulls and pelts and feathers were available to fill your "prescription" from your spiritual consultant.  Since we weren't suffering from anything they could cure, we just took some pictures.  Lots of little kids were around.

It was a long drive to our next stop, and elementary school.  The street scenes were interesting.  Only the main road was paved, almost all of the side streets were dirt, and very dusty.  

Everybody carried loads on their head.

Furniture shops (and everything else) were just spots along the road.

This is the way you load your van.

 We stopped at an elementary school just before they were dismissed for lunch -- they go home for about 3 hours during the heat of the day, then come back for several hours in the late afternoon.  Everything was pretty minimal, but the children sang songs in their classroom and were quite willing to have their picture taken. 

About a 1/4 mile further down the road we visited the local King and his family.  There was drumming and singing and a procession of the royal family.  Most of the kids were back from the morning session of the school and were sitting among the 250 or so tourists watching the event.

It's good to be the king.

 

Final street scene on the way back to the ship.  Front view on the left, back view on the right.  A very contented traveler.

 

Thursday Jan 28  Still at Sea

A little hazy outside our verandah right now, but the ocean is flat.  I think we've been lulled into a false sense of security by the seas during our 5-day Atlantic transit.  It's been beautiful, but hot as we stay very near the equator.

And, if you're keeping score at home, we've lost another 3 hours in the last 5 days.  We are now on GMT.  No wonder I'm tired.

In response to a cruisecritic question, here are some photos of the Terrace Cafe during idle hours.  The Grill section is right in the middle at both lunch and dinner, where they do steak, chicken, fish and hamburgers to order.  For breakfast and lunch the line is symmetrical, dishes repeated on both port and starboard sides.  Across from the hot foods are the cold foods, omelettes made to order during breakfast, baked goods, and  desserts for lunch and dinner.  At dinner the buffet area is no longer symmetrical, with a carving station on the port side, a wok station on the starboard with the grill and made to order pasta dishes in the middle.

Atlantic Crossing

As of Wednesday, January 27th at 10pm local time (more or less) here's where we are, and have been.  This is the track of our recent travel.  This is a special request from a fellow traveler, who was trying to take a picture from the shipboard monitor showing our path.  I just dumped the tracks from my GPS and did a screen shot from my GPS software.

 

Wednesday January 27

Still moving across the Atlantic Ocean, and we just crossed back over into the Northern Hemisphere today.  We'll be north for the next two ports of call, then recross for the western coast and South Africa.

On our last day in Brazil after we returned from Olinda, we were eating lunch at the Terrace cafe. There was a lot of activity 6 stories below us on the dock.  We could see fresh food being loaded onto the ship.  Since we would spend the next 5 days crossing the Atlantic, and then another week at ports that couldn't provide the quantity and quality of food needed, the chef had to load pallets of food.  Leafy greens, gourds, berries and pineapples all got moved from truck to hold while we ate.   We grabbed our cameras and got a couple of pictures towards the end.  Very interesting!

Tuesday, January 26, 2016  

At sea-heading toward western Africa

Doesn't really seem like we've done almost 3 days at sea.  Lots of enrichment lectures and photo workshops plus trivia keep us busy, and of course, eating.

Today the pool deck on 9 was cleared of all pool chairs and tables to  make way for "The Country Fair", at 11am in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Tables were set up and were hosted by each of the ship's departments.  Each table had a game passengers could participate in and receive a colored ticket for participation and 2 of "winning."  Several of the passengers were clutching a handful of colored tickets.

 The executive chef running the restaurant's game

ACD John handing out the tickets

 Beer pong for tickets

 Deck crew gives out tickets for knot tying -- the Boy Scout years return

My favorite was Housekeepings contest of seeing who could stuff a pillow into a pillowcase first.  Many of the women passengers were quite good but some of the men resorted to brute force cramming their pillow into the case....very cute!!  One guy was very deliberate in his actions and I thought that if he was responsible for making the beds of several cabins it would be an all day job for him!!

 The Human slot machine--pull the "lever" and 3 kinds of fruit appear from their sacks.  If all three match, you win!

The CD pulled tickets out of a container and the winners holding that number received O items: keychains, visors, spa treatments, wine.  This lasted about 45 minutes and when I looked at the pool deck after lunch in Terraces the pool deck had been returned to its normal self.  Amazing effort!    Great fun, O crew!  Thanks for all your hard work!

The captain

CD Andy singing and handing out prizes

Everybody had a good time

 
We had dinner with the Captain and Denise Flokos who were very gracious hosts.  I complimented the Captain on his great skills as a chef!  Three other couples joined us and everyone, except for the Flokos, were from Florida.   I think they said something about living in....er....Greece, maybe?

I hope I always remember what a wonderful day at sea we had today.....c