THE SPONSOR OF MY BICYCLE SPARE PARTS IS COMPANY PRODUCING FINE BICYCLE SADDLES
www.abi.com.pl I was so happy to leave Nigeria that I didn't even bother to stop for lunch before getting my passport stamped. The immigration officials were the same incompetent types as usual but all things were going well. When I got my passport back one man directed me to a road which was supposed to lead to the village that I was supposed to enter Republic du Benin through and this was a very exciting prospect.
The road was nothing more than a very sandy, wet in places windy track through the bush!! I was starting to think that Benin might be a bit harder than I was expecting it to be to get to.
After 15 km through no man's land, between corn fields and so on, I got to a small village called Negansi. The road I was taking was some kind of a short cut to Negansi and so I eventually arrived through a back way into the Benin Republic!!
Since the beginning of the day my biggest quest was really for some delicious baguettes. I had to eat all the same foods as in Nigeria so I was not inspired but at least I was surrounded by colourfull villagers whose tribal dresses made a huge impression on me!!!
In Nigeria I was told that to get my passport stamped I had to go to the next big town called Segbana, but when I got there the next day I found a Gandarmery Brigade whose chief told me that for a stamp I would have to go to another bigger city called Kandi 100 km on my way due west. So on I went!!! Still on the quest for baguettes and coffee!!! The road was quite a challenge and I got to Kandi the next morning. In the evening before arriving I found some old baguettes in a small chai shop and it was a good sign that THEY HAVE THEM!!!!
Kandi- is a standard town in black Africa. One main street and many dusty and dirty ones but I had finally found my prize!!!!
The BAGUETTES!!! Aslo, cheese which made me sick later on and some horrid Nescafe coffee!!! More or less though I was satisfied!!!
I got my passport stamped with my insistant manner and got some money from an ATM but I had to wait until it was connected to the system and it was at midday when all things slow down. All these time consuming things made me decide to take a day off and spend some time on the internet, and in a bar with a cool beer in my hand.
Kandi was showing early signs of being the different Africa I was expecting to see. Better food, less annoying people and a lot of colourfully dressed tribal people.