Days 34 - 35: An Audience with the King
I arrived early in Ouidah, Benin after an uneventful shared taxi from Togo. I was the only guest at the Hotel Oasis in the centre. After settling in, I collected a few things and left the room to find some lunch.
There was a group of people loitering around a restaurant at the hotel - “Ici, madame!” they gestured to the restaurant, obviously crowded forsome function. There was a police officer guarding the entrance; even he was inviting me in.
And that is how I crashed the gala lunch commemorating the investiture of the Supreme Chief of Vadoun Religion,the Daagbo (Majesty) TOMADJLEHOUKPON II METOGBOKANDJI.
There I sat during a great three-course meal (with free beer!!) and chatted about this new supreme leader. One of the guests at the table,an engineer named Rodrigue, invitedto accompany me tovisit the supreme leader the next day.
There was lots of singing and dancing in the supreme leader’s compound the next evening. The man himself was seated in a largish receiving room, with plenty of well-wishers surrounding him, as well as an (empty) bottle of whisky.
Rodrigue introduces me as “an adventurer” (which, as spmeone who is too scared to ride a bicycle, I find ironic) who was going to write about the trip.
So the supreme leader invited me to come and have a chat with him in a smaller receptionroom.
He asked me what I thought of Benin and I said I was fortunate to have had the chance to meet him on this auspicious occasion. “Yes, you are,” he replied (!).
Then he asked for my email address so I could have a little correspondance with the “King”.
My first brush with royalty …
PS - I did other things in Ouidah besides mingle with the high classes; visited the sacred temple of pythons (where I gotmy photo taken with a huge python around my neck) and saw various sites associatedwith the slave trade - most of the slaves from this region were sent to Brazil and the Caribbean.
PPS: I will write a more interesting,”proper” version of this story later, with better descriptions ofthe dancing, but the internet cafe where i am writing has a horrible keyboard so further work will haveto wait!
