Day 10 - Lomé (Togo) to Gran Popo (Benin)
After breakfast we met up with our guide and tour group of 11 fellow travellers, and after a briefing and some visa checks we split into two groups to jump into 2 mini vans.
Our first stop in Lomé was a fetish market, a few stalls set up with animal parts for use in voodoo rituals, like heads of monkeys, crocodiles, snakes, dogs and horses. We were taken to a small hut where a local guide explained some recipes of animal parts to cure different maladies. Apart from the stall holders there weren't any locals so it seemed to us this was just for tourists, though maybe we weren't there at the right time.
From there we were taken through the local market which included a souvenir section, we did try to explain that border security wouldn't be very happy with us trying to import animal parts and wooden objects but they still persisted in trying to sell to us.
After lunch we drove on to a remote village where we witnessed a voodoo ceremony. It was explained to us that it was totally different to the Western understanding of dolls, pins and black magic. There were a group of drummers providing the music and seats around a square where we joined the villagers to watch different people dance in the centre. Some of them would go in to a type of trance and throw themselves around, at times the dancers seemed really intense, with eyes rolled back in their heads, it seemed real but we did question how much of it was an act put on just for us.
We drove on and crossed the border to Benin, our guide took care of the border formalities so it wasn't anywhere near as chaotic as the crossing into Togo yesterday, we just sat in the bus and waited.
We spent the night at a basic beach resort near a town called Grand Popo, it was hot and the air conditioning made only a slight difference to the heat and humidity but it was enough for us to have a reasonable rest before our 6:30am start the day.
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