In Porto Novo, the proud capital of Benin we went on a discovery tour. There are some beautiful colonial buildings occupied by all kind of Government institutions. Of course we had to take some pictures, but only until Martin was called by some nice gentlemen in green dresses and Kalashnikovs as decoration: they seized his camera, told him that even immediate suicide may not avoid death penalty for espionage and taking pictures of government buildings without prior permission of the housekeeper’s grandma, etc. All the usual stuff you experience in such extremely uncomfortable situations.
A little later Monika arrived: of course she had to save Martin. She took the cell phone for a fake call to whomever it may concern – all conversation in German, except the words embassy, company and His Excellency the Minister in French.
A few seconds later the camera was back in Martin’s hands, the gentlemen wished us a nice visit to their capital and away we were – so far socialising with the locals in uniforms.
After that frightening experience, the visit was really nice, lot of voodoo, markets, street life – all accompanied by a lot of kids shouting Yovo, Yovo: This seems to be a kind of identification in Benin of somebody from another tribe.
