I left the Bar Vulcain at about 9am completely cured of my mild cold. The owner said I should go to Bohica and get the Confort lines bus. I would rather take a bus taxi, but he insisted that I couldn't get a bush taxi to Parakou at the gare routière in downtown Abomey. I didn't think I believed him but I also didn't scope it out the day before. I also didn't want to take a mototaxi 9 km away on a street with a bunch of speed bumps that they have between Abomey and Bohica. But I did anyway. The mototaxi was CFA 800 (US$1.60) and since I had my backpack on, I was a tad off balance and by the time we got their, my back muscles were pretty tired and sore. But we made it.
I had thought that Confort Lines was the only bus line there and that there was a chance it would be full because it from Cotonou. But, there are actually about 5 or 6 different bus companies. The prices seem to range from CFA 4000 to CFA 5500. I got the MJB bus which was CFA 4000. I waited and after about a half hour, it came. I got the last seat by the rear exit door which never quite closed properly. We left a little after 10am. There are a lot of speed bumps and some towns that can't afford real speed bumps set logs out to make the traffic slalom through the town. But other than that, the road is pretty good.
They gave away a free sachet of water, but it tasted pretty bad. About half way through at a stop I got a small bag of frozen chocolate milk from a guy with a bicycle with Fan brand frozen milk products in a cooler.
As we passed through Parakou, I saw the hotel I wanted to stay in--the Hotel les Canaris. After a few blocks we were at the station. It is nice that MJB Bus Lines has its station close to the hotel. There were moto-taxi guys there, but I was close enough to walk. I should have gotten a quote just to see how much they would have tried to charge me.
The Canaris had rooms. Nice rooms with a toilet with a seat a and shower with running water. Even a TV with 3 channels. Only CFA 6000 (US$12). I checked in and asked if their beer was cold. The man at the counter said yes, so I ordered a Castel. But when it came it wasn't that cold. Their drink menu has something I've never seen on a menu before--CFA 500 for a "verre cassé." They actually charge you a dollar if you break a glass. After finishing the warm beer, I headed out in quest for the 2 internet cafés shown on the Lonely Planet map. It was a long walk and I couldn't find either one. Also, of the three places that serve pizza, I couldn't find 2 and there was only one left--Le New Cigale. So I went up there. As I passed the last traffic circle to get there, there was an internet café but it was packed. So I just went to Le New Cigale and ordered a Quattre Fromages pizza (CFA 4500==US$9), a Salade Mexicaine (CFA 1800==US$3.60), and couple of small Castels. This time the beer was ice cold. The waitress tried to convince me to get a room there--only CFA 5000. But, I'm leaving the next day. Otherwise, if you want to stay in a place that has about 5 different pizzas ranging from $7 to $9 and beer that's almost frozen, and has an internet café close by, Le New Cigale seems like a pretty good place.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 7:42 Benin local time
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