Second Full Day In Cotonou: Visiting Midrange Hotels Saying "J'ai besoin de une chambre pour mardi soir avec un televiseur avec CNN et l'internet"

Saturday morning. I slept in a bit. I felt like I was sleeping longer than usual, but my window was open and I wasn't hearing the usual noises outside. Africans wake up early. After a while of seeming daylight I checked my watch. 8:30. I guess Cotonou sleeps in on Saturday. I left around 9.

I have one goal today: find a place where I can stay up all night Tuesday night watching election returns on CNN. But first I needed a coffee and a pastry. After all, I am in Francophone Africa. I went to the Gerbe d'Or but I didn't realize there was un upstairs. So I got a chausson aux pommes to go which I ate. Then I remembered there was a place a block south of my hotel called Caramel that was a pâtissierie and it had a pretty middle eastern looking woman who appeared to be an employee talking on a cellphone a day before. I went there. I got a croissant and a pretty good coffee. While I was there, every single Lebanese person living in Cotonou must have come to buy something. It was a constant stream of Lebanese (I think--the Lebanese are all over Africa) people coming and buying something to go and leaving.

Then, it was time to start my quest for a place to watch the election. I decided to try the Hôtel du Lac first. It is right across the Ancien Pont. I crossed the north side of the bridge. A mistake. It's a long way if you cross on the north side. Going to the south side on the west side is the much better way to get to the south. I got the Hôtel du Lac and entered the lobby. Heavenly air-conditioning and crisp satellite TV showing! I went to the desk and told them what I wanted. They seemed to have everything I needed except one thing: a vacancy. Yikes! The place was crawling with white French people. I don't know what they are doing here, but they are there at the Hôtel du Lac. And they are using up all the rooms.

That wasn't quite what I wanted to hear. My second choice--Hôtel du Port in the middle of the container port. A bit of a hike, but I've walked further. I arrived dripping with sweat. But again, the lobby had wonderful AC and a TV with satellite. I asked about the room with a TV with CNN and internet. The woman said they have a room, but the CNN had problems and sometimes they can't get CNN. Hmmm.... Not the answer I want--I can't get a room and then not have CNN. I decided to head back downtown.

There is a very small hotel complex called the Tramway Hotel. Their sign said they have internet and satellite TV. I popped in. The desk girl was very helpful. We soon figured out that her English is better than my French. She said that they have CNN but not internet but that we might be able to arrange internet because her boss has it in his office. I tentatively reserved the room and said I'd come back and cancel if I found one with CNN and internet.

Next I decided to look at a new hotel called the Prince Hotel. But within half a block I decided it didn't have much promise. Next, my neighboring hotel which gets high marks from Lonely Planet for professionalism--the Vickinfel Hotel. The guy there said they have CNN, but the internet comes and goes.

Next I went down to the Riviera Hotel, a big modern hotel with a nice cool modern lobby. Again, I repeated my request. Again, they have everything I need except a vacancy, but she told me to ask again on Monday.

So I visited 5 midrange hotels and each either had spotty CNN or internet or no vacancies. Who knew that Cotonou could have so much business for midrange hotels? Actually the midrange hotels are all crawling with white people. By now I was hot and pretty wet though I can't imagine I was still sweating. I headed back to O' Grille where I knew I could get huge beers or CFA 1200. And I chugged half the first beer in one gulp. Then a few glasses of the water. With over half a liter of water and a quarter of a liter of beer consumed in less than a minute, I was finally starting to feel right. I got the quarter chicken again and after a couple more beers and a couple more chapters of Le Démon et Mademoiselle Prym, I asked for my check. The check was for CFA 3400 and included just one beer. I told the guy "J'ai bu trois bieres" and he said something in French I didn't understand. I gave him CFA 5000 and told him to keep the change.

There is something I noticed in Seattle. When a bartender sees me a few times, he or she will often hand me a bill short a beer. I suspect it is to see if I am counting and if so, will the money from the free beer be shared. And I do count and I do share. This leads to more missed beers and more sharing and then to free beers on the bartender. It's a sort of way of stickin' it to "da man" (or da woman in one case) with plausible deniability, I guess. And I'm all too happy to play. It benefits everyone in the end--even da man.

So I figured it was just that. Then as I walking out, the guy called me back. He realized his error. He needed CFA 900 more. I gave him CFA 1000. To bad. His nice tip turned into twenty cents.

It was starting to get late so I stayed in the rest of the night.

Saturday, November 1, 2008 20:44 Benin local time