The man is loved pretty much everywhere.
Near the beach in Togo.
Dave, drinking water and relaxing in the sun.
Me and Jake on a beach near Lome, Togo.
Dave and Jake on a beach near Lome, Togo.
Togo.
Ha!
Good times. Random children posing for the camera.
They tickled my feet as I was being buried and couldn't move. Punks!
Jake and Dave sampling the local beer.
Mixing it up a little bit.
Men's Paradise. Most of their customers rent rooms by the hour-- we stayed for two nights.
Dave relaxing on the balcony of our hotel.
Me and Dave at the hotel.
A random woman with tons of stuff on her head. Impressive!
Walking around the town.
Jake in a grocery store in Lome, Togo. Random.
Ohhhhh African children. I love them.
Jake about to indulge in a good meal on the beach.
The Oasis Hotel at the border between Togo and Benin.
The Oasis Hotel.
Our monkey friend at the Oasis Hotel.
The Oasis Hotel. Beautiful!
The Oasis Hotel. A fisherman doing his thing.
The Oasis Hotel. The river runs into the ocean at this point. Beautiful!
Jake and Dave at the hotel restaurant.
Oasis Hotel.
A large church. Lots of Christians around Togo and Benin.
Dave and Jake pretending to be sexy.
Jake, striking a pose.
Is that a dead body floating in the ocean?! Nope, it's just Dave.
Jake and Dave.
Jake with his $5 shot of hard alcohol.
At the restaurant at the Oasis Hotel in Togo.
These two dogs started having sex and the male got stuck inside of the female! It was terrible-- they both started yelping and crying. Dave went over and smacked their butts, at which time they separated and a bunch of liquid splashed onto the ground. Gross!! I was under the impression that I had just witnessed something never before seen in the history of mankind. Turns out, such a thing is quite common with dogs (Google it!). What do I know?
These two dogs started having sex and the male got stuck inside of the female. It was terrible-- they both started yelping and crying. Dave went over and smacked their butts, at which time they separated and a bunch of liquid splashed onto the ground. Gross!! I was under the impression that I had just witnessed something never before seen in the history of mankind. Turns out, such a thing is quite common with dogs (Google it!). What do I know?
Ohhh the beach.
Jake smoking with a local we met.
Peace Corps Togo.
Near the border between Togo and Benin.
Cotonou, Benin.
We visited a village called Gonvie in Benin that is built completely on water, and people get around in small boats like these. This is the dock where people leave to make the trip to the village, which takes about 30 minutes. The village was founded during a time of war when a group of people fled their enemy and relocated in the water, where the enemy did not have the means to travel.
A bit dirty, yeah?
On the boat ride out to the village-- they fish in this waters with nets.
Jake and one of our guides.
Fishing nets.
Our primary guide.
The locals place these walls of grass into the water and fish make their home there. After three of four months, they surround the grass with nets and catch the fish as they pull the grass up and out of the water.
Approaching the village.
A hotel and gift shop.
A mosque.
A statue of the founder and king of Gonvie.
This is where people come to purchase drinking water (seen coming out of the hose).
The "market" in town occurs in a large open area when tons of women in boats come together and buy and sell food on the water. This is a low-key example of that.
This is a 2.5 mile road called the "Slave Route" that leads to the ocean. In the past, slaves were forced to walk it on their way to bord ships in order to be sent overseas.
Arriving at the ocean (the end of the Slave Route). This is a monument to the slaves.
Sacred Forest.
God of fertility.
Jake and Dave, drinking beer again.
The beach in Benin, near the border with Togo.
Jake purchased this Voodoo fetish from a voodoo practitioner who performed a three-hour "service" in order to teach us how to use the fetish and harness it's powers. Part of the ritual involved killing a chicken (with his bare hands) and pouring blood on the fetish. Pretty interesting stuff.
Jake purchased this Voodoo fetish from a voodoo practitioner who performed a three-hour "service" in order to teach us how to use the fetish and harness it's powers. Part of the ritual involved killing a chicken (with his bare hands) and pouring blood on the fetish. You can see chicken feathers stuck to him. Pretty interesting stuff.
A small village on a beach in Benin.
Jake.
Posing with our FanMilk frozen treats. Mmmmm!
I saw this guy at the border between Togo and Burkina Faso. Pretty random.
It is common in Africa to see cars like that one that are dangerously over-stuffed with goods.....
..... or motorcycles.....
.... or people.
On the 52-hour bus ride from Togo back to Mali, we stopped at the border between Togo and Burkina Faso at around midnight and had to wait until 6am to continue traveling. Everyone on the bus laid down on the ground and slept on anything they might have had. Unfortunately, Jake didn't have anything, and slept exactly like this for the whole night. Ha!
On the 52-hour bus ride from Togo back to Mali, we stopped at the border between Togo and Burkina Faso at around midnight and had to wait until 6am to continue traveling. Everyone on the bus laid down on the ground and slept on anything they might have had. Dave and I slept here.
Munching on a sweet, juicy pineapple.
