08 jenuary

ARRIVAL IN BENIN

I’m leaving at six in the morning, it’s still night but I want to get out of the city before the chaos begins. I get behind a car that makes my way. For the first two hundred kilometers the road is full of holes and this acrid smoke and smell always accompanies me. Many fires along the streets. As in recent days many checkpoints, fortunately I pass quickly even if the intense traffic and the slowdowns of the vehicles make me waste a lot of time. No problem, the important thing is to arrive before nightfall. I stop for a couple of parts to have a drink, people are very kind and greet me, ask me where I come from and where I am going, and being Italian helps me, because every time I say what nationality they are they all smile and they say “very good”. I arrive at two o’clock and bat at the Nigeria border, very fast, at the Benin border they give me problems, but as always in these situations money works wonders. I switch to custom Nigeria, they make me wait a bit but they are still fast and kind. In custom Benin there is no one and I wait more than an hour before the border manager tells me that the carnet is not needed in Benin, as we leave towards Oiudah, where Lara and her friends who are here on vacation are waiting for me help an association that helps women children in difficulty. In the evening we all have dinner together. New encounters and new emotions, great adventure.

mappa