Play the Game of Life
Ryan Petersen's Blog

I paid a couple of local guys $1.00 to show me how to climb to the top of this waterfall--and to jump at the same time so I could be sure it was deep enough to survive!

Labels: Africa, Benin, video, West Africa

The primary interaction of most West Africans with their state appears to come through shakedowns at random police checkpoints. We've found these roadblocks in our path every hour or so all the major roads in Ghana, Benin and Togo. Heavily armed officers interrogate drivers and search vehicles, ostensibly in search of drugs and guns. Locals say these roadblocks are necessary because of the huge inflows of drugs from Nigeria in recent years. Yet it seems clear that the cops are just hoping to find a violation of some pety regulation so they can extract a bribe.

Oddly, during our traverse from the Burkina Faso border to the coast of Benin, we crossed eight roadblocks, each with officers boasting completely different uniforms. The first few times we encountered the mix-matched uniforms, I thought we were about to be robbed by a gang of armed thugs posing as cops. Ultimately when they saw that we were white, they let us go after asking if we have "tried" Beninoise girls, telling us they want to go to America, or making some other comment humourous only because it came from a guy with an AK-47.

I'm told that having a nice car will get you past these checkpoints without problem, because they assume you may be important and don't want to risk getting in trouble. When did these roadblocks come about? Besides reducing travel times and speeding commerce, what would happen if they were eliminated? What percentage of a police officer's income comes from petty bribes at these checkpoints rather than through their salaries? Is there some other way to control contraband besides random searches of all travelers? And why do West African countries have customs checkpoints at random locations deep in their interiors?

Labels: Benin, corruption, Ghana, Togo, West Africa

Driving through the north of Benin, the only intensive economic activity you're likely to see is cotton production. Indeed, cotton accounts for 40% of GDP, which was measured at $1,200 per capita in 2004.

We passed dozens of overloaded cotton trucks just like these in our seven days in the country.

Labels: Africa, Benin, cotton, economics, West Africa

You have already crammed nine guys into a car with five seats. You have already loaded 100 pounds worth of clothes, flour and other merchandise on the roof of the car. So what are you going to do with the twenty live turkeys you promised you would deliver to market by this afternoon?

In Benin, the solution would be obvious:

Labels: Africa, Benin

George Bush recently visited Cotonou, Benin. Something tells me he didn't wander far enough from the airport to experience the city's bustling Danktopa marketplace. The most ridiculously chaotic place I've ever seen. According to Wikipedia, the market has a turnover of $1 billion CFA ($2.26 million) per day--mostly on transactions under $5!

Here are a few pics of the harbor at the north end of the market, where thousands arrive via boat every hour to do their shopping.

For a better taste of just how wild this place is, watch a few of my videos from another section of this market.

Labels: Africa, Benin, West Africa

Labels: Africa, Benin, Cotonou, West Africa