10 more days. That’s right, the tri-country-first-time-in-Europe-first-time-in-Africa-first-time-away-from-home-for-more-than-five-minutes-excursion is coming to an end in just 10 days.
Don’t lie, I know that after those first blogs I wrote about my fears of missing my family too much, drowning in the constant rain, and oh yeah, you need a visa to come to Benin, y’all probably made bets about how long this kid would last on this trip.
I am still alive though and my biggest fears? Well, with a family as cool as mine, there is no such thing as missing them too much. I have felt a bit on the edge of cyber-stalking due the fact that mine and my mother’s iphones are synced via the icloud, therefore, I can creep on all of the pictures that they have been taking while I have been away. The Fourth of July was by far the hardest because of missing all of the silly traditions I have forced my family into to celebrate that day-mostly they include eating the most fabulous food (not just the stereotyped hamburger/hotdog American staple) and then blowing things up for fun. Someday you can all come over for the spectacle and besides being wowed by the fabulous food and show of explosives, you finally understand just why-even though this trip has been incredible- I am busting at the seams excited to my darling family in just 10 days.
And the rain? There really isn’t much you can control about the weather; and no, it didn’t take a trip around the world to learn that...I am from Arizona, this is practically our mantra.I really don’t think it has been as bad as the guide books say though; they all made it sound like I’d better pack my ark-building tools. While there were times that I wished I had a small ark to take across some of the puddles (this word could be exchanged for lakes) that form in the roads, I have yet to feel like the end of the world is at hand on account of all of the water falling from the sky. And hey, in the States, you can buy laundry detergent that smells like “Fresh Rain”...here you just do you laundry outside in the rain and then hang it outside in the rain, and voila, “Fresh Rain” pants, shirts, and undies, no fancy soap necessary (until you have been doing your laundry in a sink for 6+ weeks and the smell is more like...new mold...or fresh rot...or....just sort of...yucky)
And then as far as my other fears go, the ones I have developed on this trip...including but not limited to contracting a flesh eating disease in my chopped open finger, dying on a motorcycle taxi, constantly having diarrhea, getting malaria etc etc etc...I think we’re doing ok. My finger has almost completely healed, I now moto-taxi (or “zem”) around this city like a pro, and marlaria, well, you can get that for up to a year after you come home, so rather than wait in fear, I have long since just decided to accept the inevitable and cross that bridge when I come to it. Oh, and without getting too detailed, I now have the same sentiment about diarrhea as I do for the weather.
For the honor and glory.
*no pictures still, a fun fact instead. All of the "b"s in this post were copied and pasted do to the fact that my keyboard is beginning to go a little wonky from all this travel business.
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