Happy Birthday Meredith!
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2005
1
88
178
Trip End
Ongoing
Cotonou, Benin
Saturday, October 1, 2005
At Gerb d'Or, we enjoyed REAL coffee (not the instant just add water kind) and croissants that are called "snails". Meredith really wanted coffee, and since it was her birthday, we agreed to let her have some....plus, we all wanted some too.
After eating, we went to the bank and the grocery store. I was able to find brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Now I can go back to Houègbo and make "Mom's Cookies", YUM, with the chocolate chips that people have sent in packages .
There was a paint shop across the street from the grocery store. Meredith and I were interested in the pricing situation of paint, so we went inside. It'll be about 20 to 40 mille (40 to 80 dollars) for the base and a color. (You have to mix the paint yourself. You buy a large bucket of white and then add coloring to it to get the color you want.) A bit pricey for right now, but after the next pay period I think I'll buy paint. It'll help my sanity to have nicely painted walls.
Our next stop was the BEACH! We took zemi's out on sand roads...a bit scary. Totally thought the motorcycle was going to tip over in the loose sand. But, we made it out to the beach just fine and had a wonderful day relaxing.
No birthday is complete without a piece of cake. So, I offered to buy Meredith a piece at a restaurant called Petit Four (literally, Little Oven). They have great deserts; she had a slice of chocolate cake. I wasn't planning to get anything, but then I noticed that they have Smirnoff Ice on their menu...couldn't pass that up. It's rare to find USA drinks here.
