The next day all of the things that Stacie had been doing, training, trip to Morocco, getting ready for us, the Fete, the Camu and village life in general had taken its toll. In addition to all of that she had a spill on a moto (motorcycle taxi) and she was skinned up and bruised. We all agreed that she should indulge in electricity and running water at our motel room, while we traveled north to Kande and see the Tamberma Compounds or Mud Fortresses called Tatas. John and I both wanted to see these working villages and a Peace Corps Volunteer in the area had agreed to arrange it for us.
During the time of the slave traders, people who were trying to protect their families escaped to the north and built the compounds for safety. Everything about them were designed to watch for enemies and to protect themselves. They used what they had, mud and sticks. The structures were impressive to say the least. They were of various dimensions, but most at least four stories high including the "pantries" or food and grain cashes on the corners that looked like turrets on a castle. They also served as lookouts for enemies. They had secret hiding places for the children and holes strategically placed for shooting arrows. They had everything they needed within their walls to keep safe from the ruthless exploiters of human beings.
The Taxi north didn't sound like it would make it. The rear end howled and shuddered the driver coasted down every hill trying to extend the life of a car that should have already died. He wanted to drive us around the Koutamakou area and back, but we had already made arrangements with Mary the volunteer who lived in Kande.
We walked with her to a complex housing young people who lived in a type of gardening and farming commune. Akanto, a young man who runs the operation works with kids teaching them skills and giving them an opportunity for an education. The produce pays for the expenses. He gave us the use of his car and we paid the driver who was from the Koutamakou area to take us on a tour of a Tamberma Compound.
The Tatas were indeed very impressive and we were allowed to go inside and climb up the three levels to the rooftop of one of the fortresses. The village chief wanted us to take a picture with him and some of the villagers sold us ceramic creatures. Our guide explained the structures and culture of his people. It was really interesting and fun being a ceramic artist in a mud fort!
It was getting dark and we had a long way to go, so we started back down the dirt road out of the Koutamakou area. As we made our way the car lurched there was a loud sound of metal breaking and simultaneously the car came to a sudden stop, listing to one side. It didn't look good. The entire wheel had broken off and the car was sitting on it sideways.
Mary was on her phone talking to the owner of the car trying to figure out our options. A group of kids of who were walking down the road stopped to watch and a couple of motorcycles stopped and the people riding them talked with the driver who was extremely distressed and I thought was possibly close to tears. Quite a crowd had gathered but nothing was actually being done to help our predicament, it was more like sideshow entertainment.
Then a Bush Taxi that had furniture strapped to the roof and was filled to the brim with people, yams, chickens and luggage stopped. The driver was from Kara and recognized us from the Camu a few days earlier. He offered to take us back to Kara, so we arranged to meet him in Kande as soon as our replacement car arrived.
The full moon lit the dark night as we waited and hoped the Bush Taxi wouldn't leave for Kara without us. It was only a few hours, but it seemed longer, a car came, we hopped in and they got out and started working on the broken car. Mary kept apologizing as if somehow it was her fault. We really appreciated having her there to interpret for us and making all of the arrangements. It was a true African experience.
Eventually we made it back into town and the bush taxi did wait for us and removed some of the yams & furniture as well! It was really late when we got back to our Hotel, the Bush Taxi let us out right in front and of course Stacie was really worried, but the trip from Kande to Kara was one of the better rides we had in Africa.
The next day we bought bus tickets for a trip to Atakpame. The owner of the hotel gave us a ride to the bus station because there are only moto taxis in town and we had 50 pounds of luggage each, and the bus terminal was a couple of miles away. We were so thankful!!!!
Another volunteer who was getting on the bus, said, "Bad news no air conditioning, good news the TV is broken!" "They like to play really lousy Nigerian Soap Operas that are similar to Bollywood only worse", Stacie told us, "the air conditioning never works, and the windows don't open, but it's not a Bush Taxi, you get a whole seat to yourself!"
We spent the night in Atakpame at a hotel with a rooftop restaurant. One of the fun things about Africa is the restaurants. They give you a menu and when you try to order something they say, "finish" which means they don't have it. Then when you finally find out what they do have, it isn't even on the menu, so you order it and then they bring you something completely different! Because you're so hot, tired and thirsty you really don't care as long as they bring a cold beer with it.
Bush Taxis, as I have described before are an African transportation system that really cannot be explained, just experienced. We survived the trip to Cat's house in Badou, we had cold beer, shopped the marche, cooked chicken curry, hand washed our laundry and spent the night. In the morning we had leftovers for breakfast then took a Bush Taxi back to Atakpame.
It was really hard to say goodbye to Stacie, but she headed home and we went south to Lome in a different Bush Taxi. Many painful hours later we arrived, but we stayed in a different hotel than the one before that was running a drug ring.
The next day we carried our luggage down the dirt road to the main street. John flagged a taxi and haggled a price to take us to the square where we could arrange transportation to Cotonou, Benin. We hadn't gone far when the Taxi driver flagged another car. It pulled in front of us and we all stopped. Two big guys jumped out and surrounded our car poking their heads in through the windows and shouting in French. In spite of the craziness of it all we realized they were going to Cotonou, we haggled a price, transferred our luggage and hopped into their car and off we went. They were happy, John was happy - I was scared. Turns out my fears were unwarranted. They walked/held our hands through the boarder crossing and delivered us safely to our destination in Benin.
During the time of the slave traders, people who were trying to protect their families escaped to the north and built the compounds for safety. Everything about them were designed to watch for enemies and to protect themselves. They used what they had, mud and sticks. The structures were impressive to say the least. They were of various dimensions, but most at least four stories high including the "pantries" or food and grain cashes on the corners that looked like turrets on a castle. They also served as lookouts for enemies. They had secret hiding places for the children and holes strategically placed for shooting arrows. They had everything they needed within their walls to keep safe from the ruthless exploiters of human beings.
The Taxi north didn't sound like it would make it. The rear end howled and shuddered the driver coasted down every hill trying to extend the life of a car that should have already died. He wanted to drive us around the Koutamakou area and back, but we had already made arrangements with Mary the volunteer who lived in Kande.
We walked with her to a complex housing young people who lived in a type of gardening and farming commune. Akanto, a young man who runs the operation works with kids teaching them skills and giving them an opportunity for an education. The produce pays for the expenses. He gave us the use of his car and we paid the driver who was from the Koutamakou area to take us on a tour of a Tamberma Compound.
The Tatas were indeed very impressive and we were allowed to go inside and climb up the three levels to the rooftop of one of the fortresses. The village chief wanted us to take a picture with him and some of the villagers sold us ceramic creatures. Our guide explained the structures and culture of his people. It was really interesting and fun being a ceramic artist in a mud fort!
It was getting dark and we had a long way to go, so we started back down the dirt road out of the Koutamakou area. As we made our way the car lurched there was a loud sound of metal breaking and simultaneously the car came to a sudden stop, listing to one side. It didn't look good. The entire wheel had broken off and the car was sitting on it sideways.
Mary was on her phone talking to the owner of the car trying to figure out our options. A group of kids of who were walking down the road stopped to watch and a couple of motorcycles stopped and the people riding them talked with the driver who was extremely distressed and I thought was possibly close to tears. Quite a crowd had gathered but nothing was actually being done to help our predicament, it was more like sideshow entertainment.
Then a Bush Taxi that had furniture strapped to the roof and was filled to the brim with people, yams, chickens and luggage stopped. The driver was from Kara and recognized us from the Camu a few days earlier. He offered to take us back to Kara, so we arranged to meet him in Kande as soon as our replacement car arrived.
The full moon lit the dark night as we waited and hoped the Bush Taxi wouldn't leave for Kara without us. It was only a few hours, but it seemed longer, a car came, we hopped in and they got out and started working on the broken car. Mary kept apologizing as if somehow it was her fault. We really appreciated having her there to interpret for us and making all of the arrangements. It was a true African experience.
Eventually we made it back into town and the bush taxi did wait for us and removed some of the yams & furniture as well! It was really late when we got back to our Hotel, the Bush Taxi let us out right in front and of course Stacie was really worried, but the trip from Kande to Kara was one of the better rides we had in Africa.
The next day we bought bus tickets for a trip to Atakpame. The owner of the hotel gave us a ride to the bus station because there are only moto taxis in town and we had 50 pounds of luggage each, and the bus terminal was a couple of miles away. We were so thankful!!!!
Another volunteer who was getting on the bus, said, "Bad news no air conditioning, good news the TV is broken!" "They like to play really lousy Nigerian Soap Operas that are similar to Bollywood only worse", Stacie told us, "the air conditioning never works, and the windows don't open, but it's not a Bush Taxi, you get a whole seat to yourself!"
We spent the night in Atakpame at a hotel with a rooftop restaurant. One of the fun things about Africa is the restaurants. They give you a menu and when you try to order something they say, "finish" which means they don't have it. Then when you finally find out what they do have, it isn't even on the menu, so you order it and then they bring you something completely different! Because you're so hot, tired and thirsty you really don't care as long as they bring a cold beer with it.
Bush Taxis, as I have described before are an African transportation system that really cannot be explained, just experienced. We survived the trip to Cat's house in Badou, we had cold beer, shopped the marche, cooked chicken curry, hand washed our laundry and spent the night. In the morning we had leftovers for breakfast then took a Bush Taxi back to Atakpame.
It was really hard to say goodbye to Stacie, but she headed home and we went south to Lome in a different Bush Taxi. Many painful hours later we arrived, but we stayed in a different hotel than the one before that was running a drug ring.
The next day we carried our luggage down the dirt road to the main street. John flagged a taxi and haggled a price to take us to the square where we could arrange transportation to Cotonou, Benin. We hadn't gone far when the Taxi driver flagged another car. It pulled in front of us and we all stopped. Two big guys jumped out and surrounded our car poking their heads in through the windows and shouting in French. In spite of the craziness of it all we realized they were going to Cotonou, we haggled a price, transferred our luggage and hopped into their car and off we went. They were happy, John was happy - I was scared. Turns out my fears were unwarranted. They walked/held our hands through the boarder crossing and delivered us safely to our destination in Benin.
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