In Benin I’ve Been

Soundtrack: Paul McCartney - No More Lonely Nights

Benin was a bit more comfortable than Togo, at least I felt so after the president incident in Togo.
The roads didn’t become much better, to be honest they became worse due to temporarily road construction. I didn’t see much sign of tarmac the three days it took Ian and me to cross Benin on our way to Nigeria.
It seems like the countries keep getting better as I head east. I might even end up enjoying Nigeria, though many people say the opposite!
The roads of Benin mostly consist of corrugated brown soil, a true sub-frame and shock killer. That kind of surface causes your bike to shake in high frequent vibrations as the suspension on a sports bike is not designed to absorb such a violent force. It eventually makes everything become loose or brake down, such as mirrors, sub-frame, screws and bolts.
If it hasn’t been for meeting Mr. Didier whom I stumbled into in Barei West of Djougou, Benin I would have thought the country was just another dusty place on my map I had to forced, like Togo and Burkina Faso.
Mr. Didier, a French engineer in his mid fifties was working on a big main road project, improving the infrastructure of Benin.  He and his wife had been living in Benin for several years, and seemed to enjoy the place.
As many times before Ian and I had just another day fighting our way through the heat ending up being close to dehydration. When I saw this huge construction compound I got the great idea of dropping in and ask for water.  Immediately Mr. Didier invited us in for something that was much better than H2O, a cold beer in a nice air-conditioned room. Imagine stepping into a refrigerator from 45 degrees Celsius. It was paradise once the cold air hit as I went into one of the many construction shed’s. It was not just a normal shed. It was the dining area for the engineer’s. A black man (cookie) approached us and suddenly we stood with a cold beer in our hands. Mr. Didier asked me. “Isn’t Benin a nice place?” I had to agree, yes it had become a much more nice country during the last 5 minutes.
After this I felt the situation could lead to yet another good thing, so I asked our new French friend if we could camp on the compound and stay for the night. He quickly replied in English greatly influenced by his French origin language. Sjure, no problem. The evening was a success, we had a secure place to stay including shower facilities. The most of the evening was spend drinking beers with the engineers. They kindly took us into town in their Toyota Hilux and bought us a couple of rounds.
These are the best kind of days. You drop in to ask for some water, and a few moments later you are sitting in good  company with a beer in your hand. Do I have to say that I love this way of travelling. The unexpected, things that suddenly happens as you didn’t expect them when you woke up in the morning.
We said farewell to Mr. Didier and the engineer’s at the construction compound and headed down the dusty road with yet another day and night in 45 degrees Celsius, but this time well equipped with H2O.
Nigeria is waiting us. We keep getting different information on which part of Nigeria to cross when heading from West to Abuja, the head capital of the country. It all depends on who you ask. If you ask a Christian you should go south. If you ask a Muslim they will tell you to go North. If you listen to the news, you should go neither of the places. So I think we will go mid and hope te luck will be with us.
Ian is already starting to become concerned on my behalf regarding the roads in Cameroun, more specific between Mamfe and Ekok. Apparently he has heard people spending 13 days doing the 60 km stretch during the rainy season. Can it really be that bad? I am not worried about it at this point. Time will help me out, and I have all the time in the world. One good thing about being without a job…

INFO: Shipment to Buenos Aires delayed untill Thursday 8th of July, as the ship hasn’t arrived from Durban yet.
Bike has been crated and handed over to the shippers/ customs. They seem to have a problem stamping the Carnet (customs document) out of South Africa as they don’t know their own rules. Namibia, Botswana and South Africa is one custom region. So once you arrive in Namibia you get stamped into the 3 countries, and do not need to be stamped out before you leave SA r one of the other regions.
All three countries are one custom region/ zone. Even the shipper FCL didn’t know about this, which I was a bit surprised about!
I look forward for Argentina, in fact I am starting to get a little restless ;oP

Update 07JUL2010: Ship delayed once again. Now setting sail from Durban on 12JUL2010. South African customs in Durban still refuse to stamp Carnet and bike out of SA. Shipper will try and get Cape Town customs officers on the case to get some progress in the case.
I am still at SaltyCrax, Shane is cooking for me and making sure I do not not suffer!