Unfortunately, not everything went quite as planned. In fact, this weekend turned into probably the most eventful and unforgettable weekends of my entire life.
From the very beginning we knew it was going to be an adventure. We awoke Friday morning to tumultuous storms. I have been in Africa now for a month and have not seen more than a drop of rain the entire time. Of course, on the day we plan to go to the lake, the thunderstorms hit. The rain was pouring so hard that we could not even see past the gangway onto the dock. Slightly discouraged, nevertheless happy to be leaving Cotonou, we sat and waited for the taxi. And we waited. And we waited. After almost two hours of waiting, several confusing conversations with other Mercy Shipper's cab drivers, and multiple sprints through the pouring rain, we decided to call our cab driver to see where he might be. Dorothea, the girl who made all of the arrrangements, asked him if he was going to be here soon. He assured her that he was close, it would be very soon, he was on his way. She then asked him if he was actually even in his car yet, to which he replied "but it's raining! I cannot walk to my car in the rain!" He assured us that he would arrive within half an hour. Soon after a man came up the gangway claiming to be our cab driver. I'm pretty sure that he was one of the drivers I had talked with earlier in the evening who had assured me he was friends with Michel, our driver, and knew that Michel was on his way. Now he was claiming to be Michel himself and he showed us to our cars. The car that I rode in leaked water through the doors and the entire windsheild was cracked. We all just smiled and laughed, somehow knowing that this was only the beginning of our adventure.
As the car pulled off the dock, we realized how much it really had rained. The streets were completely flooded! At one point, the car was driving through so much water that even the outside door handles were covered by the "puddle." Eventually, the rains stopped and when we arrived in Possotome two hours later, the sun was shining and the sky was clear.
Once we got to the hotel, there was some sort of confusion about our reservation, then we were led to a different hotel. We are not sure if we were first brought to the wrong hotel or if the first was out of room, but eventually we were taken to the right place.
We arranged with our taxi drivers to pick us up the following afternoon then proceeded to pay the previously agreed upon price. They were unhappy, however, with our payment. Apparently, since they had to bring two cars, they expected us to pay double the price we had agreed to. Thankfully our hotel owner argued with them and got them to let it be. We were glad that the ordeal ended without a fight, but nervous that the drivers may not return the following morning.
After a quick lunch and change of clothes, we headed down to the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful, perfect to begin our relaxing afternoon. Besides the chickens that roamed and pecked at our feet and the bird that left an unwanted package in one of the girl's hair, our afternoon at the beach was uneventful. When we were ready to eat dinner, we were told that we were already at the restaurant! Apparently the little picnic area we saw was the restaurant. We were not sure where the kitchen was or who was really in charge of the restaurant, so we decided to find another place to eat. Thankfully, at about this time another group of Mercy Ship women who were spending the holiday at Possotome passed by our spot of beach. They invited us to their hotel for dinner. Our meal was nice, though we did have to serve as translators for our new Mercy Ships friends who had quite a complicated order. We were ready to head back to our hotel, but quickly realized it was already dark! It is too dangerous for white people to walk at night in Africa because we stand out so well and all of the Africans blend perfectly in to the darkness of the evening. We could be perfect, unsuspecting victims to a nearly invisible attacker. We needed to find an African to walk us back to our hotel. We were able to convince one of the workers at the restaurant to walk with us if we paid him.
Once arriving back to our hotel, which was really just two seperate brick buildings, each containing two rooms and covered by a thatched roof, we all gathered in one room to talk. We were sitting around the beds eating cookies when all of a sudden the electricity went out. What little light we had in the room turned into pitch darkness and the fan turned off. We all laughed, thinking that nothing else could possibly go wrong. I jokingly said "Oh we should just be grateful for all of our little problems, because they just add to our adventure!!". Everyone agreed that even though everything had been frustrating, we would prefer this adventure to a boring, uneventful weekend. Of course, we thought that the worst of our frustrations were over.
Then we heard the loud crack...the bed broke beneath us. It just snapped apart and fell to the ground! At this point, the whole situation was absolutely hilarious and we were dying of laughter. Unfortunately our laughter was so loud we could not hear the screams of our friend Kaylee, whose foot was caught underneath the bed. After realizing what had happened we helped her to get her foot free. It immediately began to swell and bruise, we were afraid it might be broken. We had no access to ice or any sort of medical care, but thankfully some of the girls on the trip were in the middle of their medical training. We were able to soak towels in cold water in lieu of ice, then use tape from a first aid kit to stabilize her foot. We contemplated trying to find a cab home, but knew that at this point it would be too difficult.
By this point, we decided to pray that no more adventures befell us and also that Kaylee's foot would be okay to make it through the night. We each took a turn praying, some in english and some in their first languages. It was really neat to hear everyone praying in their own language. Since we all speak English on the ship, it is easy to forget that for the majority of Mercy Shippers, english is not a first language. For many it is a second or even third language, therefore a very difficult language in which to pray. After our prayer, the only other small issue that came up was when the top of the toilet seat snapped in half. I am not quite sure how exactly this happened, but it was just the icing on top of the cake. But considering that the toilet already did not flush unless we scooped water from the giant bucket provided for us into the toilet seat, we figured that it was not too much of a loss.
The second day was for the most part uneventful, only a few little problems here and there. Kaylee was feeling slightly better so we returned to the beach, and some of us went out in a boat to learn how to cast nets in order to fish. After a long morning, we headed back to the hotel to pack up. Finally, the cab came to bring us home. The only problem was that there was only one car with four seats. The second driver had gotten so upset that we wouldn't pay more that he decided to not return. So all seven of us had to pile into four seats for the entire two hour drive back to Cotonou. I sat in the lap of Kaylee (who is already crippled at this point) in the front seat. The roof of the car was so low that I had to lean my head out of the window in order to fit. The funny thing is that this was not abnormal for an African taxi. We have seen cars driving down the streets before with between six and seven people sitting on a three seat bench!
Our cab driver decorated his entire car with pink and white fake flowers and filled it with strawberry scented air fresheners. He also had a bunch of bananas sitting on the dashboard. His car also housed a large collection of cassette tapes, each containing some sort of traditional african chanting music. So with the volume blasting as loud as possible and the scent of fake strawberries wafting through the air, we endured the two hour long treck back to the ship piled into a tiny car.
Thankfully we all returned to the ship safely and for the most part in tact. After sharing the story several times with all of our friends on board, we still laugh everytime we think about it. While some could see our holiday as totally ruined, we our grateful for our eventful little adventure. This past week in my Bible study, we talked about how living a life in God's peace does not mean giving up a life of adventure. If nothing else, this weekend definitely helped to reinforce that wonderful lesson.
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