Benin 2013

Two weeks have already passed in Benin and not a word written on my part, so it's time to remedy that. Generally, life has been uneventful which is great news for the productivity of this project and finishing the regional survey, but not so good for producing blog posts. We've fallen into a rhythm of fieldwork and labwork and life is good. A number of workers from previous seasons are working with us again (Bashiru, Lakosey, Valentin) and that makes things speedier and more enjoyable. The guys from Totah are keeping us fed with mangos, delivering huge bags of them at regular intervals during the week. Stranded downtown by a rainstorm the other day, Jason and I sought refuge at Yams Plus and had fries. The guy who grills meet in Fanta is still set up next door. It's nice to be familiar with things, now on my third season here.

On the more entertaining front, We went to the tiny epicerie/supermarket the other day (EcoPrice/YovoMart for you former field schoolers) for some supplies--mostly only white people go there because everyone else gets their food from the outdoor market. We ran into a bunch of Americans, which is a bit atypical. All three of them were these really stout guys, with deep south accents, wearing white and tan t-shirts and khaki pants and combat boots and keffiyehs. Very stereotypically military-looking. They asked me if I was Peace Corps, I said nope, archaeology. They were pretty incredulous and probably channeling images of Indiana Jones. So, I asked what they did and they laughed and replied, "Uhhhhhhhhhhh... Teachers..." and then laughed some more. It was pretty odd and one more up-and-down look of their get-up as well as their fancy, new Land Rover  and we concluded they were American mercenaries on their way to Nigeria or something like it--Benin was clearly just a stopover. I emailed my mother the story and her response was also worth sharing: "Oh yeah, les gorilles, we had those when I lived in Congo. Anyway, be careful with those guys, they are disguised murderers!" The nonchalance combined with the motherly sage advice pretty much sums up my family's attitude about my random travels in West Africa.

The internet is not yet accepting of the fact I'd like to upload some photos (though none of the mercenaries, sorry guys!) so those will have to wait for another day...