adventure: boukoumbe

I am currently sitting at home trying to watch a movie. However, it started to rain about 5-10 minutes ago and that poses a problem. I have a tin roof. Also, when it rains here, it pours. The two do not make for good movie watching.

On the flip side, it is almost therapeutic for me to hear the rain fall. The smell of the rain also reminds me of home.

It’s funny that it’s been raining on and off the past couple of weeks. I thought there was some kind of pattern to the weather here. I thought that we were in the long, hot, dry season. But I am thinking that the weather is some kind of messed up from what I have read. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been dreadfully hot, but the rain is a nice touch and cools the earth down a few degrees.

I spent the last half of my February break from school up north in the city of Natitingou and a village called Boukoumbe. Boukoumbe is a beautiful place filled with trees, steep hills, etc. It sits right next to Togo. Boukoumbe is famous in Benin for its Tata Sambas. Tata Sambas are these traditional mud hut homes that people still build and live in to this day. It’s almost more than a mud hut. It’s like a two story mud house.

The Tata Samba and family we visited was not in the village of Boukoumbe, but a 2 hour hike out. I think our guide said it was 11 kilometers. On our way to the mud hut, it was about 3:30 in the afternoon and the sun was relentless. It was the hottest I have felt in a really long time. I had a water bottle in my backpack and every time we stopped to take a break from the heat, I pulled out my water and it was HOT! Like hot tap water. But I drank it anyways. And I was so hot and thirsty that the hot water was somewhat refreshing…it quenched my thirst.

Finally when we arrived at the place we were sat down on a mat and rested. Soon after twin baby boys were plopped into mine and Melissa’s arms: our husbands, lol. They were tiny! And so cute! And they were in matching outfits.

For dinner we were fed some spaghetti noodles with a very bland tomato sauce and an egg each. It took a while to get the food to us, so long we were wondering if we were still gonna be fed. But it arrived and we scarfed it down.

Dennis, Melissa and I slept on the roof of a Tata Samba. Though, it was difficult to fall asleep because the moon was nearly full and laying down, looking up was like staring straight into a 60 watt light bulb (but doesn’t burn your cornea like a light bulb).

Overall, the trip was fun and I had a good time. It’s interesting though, because I found a lot of similarities between Boukoumbe, mud hut and Dogon country. For multiple reasons I will not list out because I am lazy. Just know that they were comparable.

The travel to and from Natitingou is always an adventure in itself. And I will admit that I pray every time that I have to travel in this country; it’s dangerous. But I got home all in one piece! (Thanks God!)

I think I have like nine or 10 weeks of actual teaching left. Phew, time went by quick, eh?