Bonjour Benin!

My uncle says that I swear too much in my blog, so I can’t tell you that I’m having a fucking awesome time, and instead will settle for a less accurate but also less offensive “gee golly this is really swell”.

What is so great you ask? Well, I’m on holiday, in Benin, with a great friend and her amazingly fun and welcoming family.

I’ll allow you a moment to google Benin, because most people can’t place it on a map (I certainly couldn’t not so long ago). Go on then, don’t be shy, have a look. I’ll wait…

For those of you who haven’t taken this opportunity for a geography lesson, what you need to know is that Benin is a small, French speaking, penis shaped country in West Africa, bordering Nigeria and Togo.



(Welcome back to those of you who just decided to look it up.)

Benin is my current holiday destination because my good friend’s grandmother lives here. She runs a delicious restaurant (I don’t have to eat alone!) with a salt water pool and some accommodation. It’s simple and perfect, just off the beach and allow me to boast a little and tell you that the sun is currently shining, I’m sitting poolside and enjoying the breeze off the ocean. Tonight I will fall asleep in my ensuite hut to the sound of the waves. Heaven.

I highly recommend being friends with people who own restaurants/hotels and who are generous enough to invite you along.

Seeing Mika (one of my two closest friends from my Masters) has of course been the highlight, and I love how easy it is to fall back in to comfortable friendship with someone you have been so close with yet haven’t seen for a while. Hanging out with her mother and grandmother is definitely a close second, and befriending a cute little kitten (that we’ve named Juba) rounds out the top three. (Then of course there is the amazing food, the lazy days by the pool and a trip to a voodoo market which is scheduled to take place this afternoon and will surely be a highlight – stay tuned).

This is a super easy holiday – just the way a holiday should be – no pressure to do anything/get up/go/go/go. Since this is a restaurant/small hotel, there is staff on hand to do everything, a masseuse on call and lots of people passing through to share in our enjoyment of an afternoon by the pool. Rada, Mika’s grandmother knows everyone and we’ve already been to a party at the German Embassy where we met the Mayor and the new Ambassador (that’s the way she rolls too).

Although I have heard through the grapevine that there are some touristy things to do in this country, we are all quite content to spend our days lounging by the pool, and our evenings beside it drinking champagne and occasionally laughing til it hurts.

Since I’ve already used the word heaven, you’ll have to insert your own synonym here.

Oh, and there’s a guy. Somehow there’s always a guy it seems.

(more on that, later)

PS. Someone needs to tell Auntie E that I’ve blogged, because I’ve once again said ‘penis’ and I think the School Board blocks my posts by email when I am so vulgar. Catholics, obviously, don’t have penis’.