weekend getaway.

Katinka left Benin on Saturday to go home to Germany. Her flight left at 6:30 in the morning, which meant she needed to be at the airport by 5:00 in the morning. So we decided to leave Friday night from Sakete and spent the night in Cotonou at the SIM House. (if you remember correctly, which I’m assuming you all do, that means Friday night this Tata slept in an air conditioned room. Woot!! WOOT!!)

(who could pass up an umbrella hat? NOT ME!)

We got to Cotonou around dinnertime and stopped a few places to pick up things to make dinner in the kitchen at the SIM House. This was Ashley’s brilliant idea and it was so delicious! We made a pasta dish and found some fantastic treats at the supermarket in Cotonou. American hot dogs in a jar. Jon was jazzed! And they were actually quite delicious. The supermarket also had tortilla chips and salsa!! What? They each cost about $6 US dollars a piece, but trust me, it was worth every single CFA! In case that didn’t push me over the edge enough, there was also DIET COKE at this supermarket!!!!!!!! Seriously? Chips. Salsa. Diet Coke. This Tata’s entire week was made by one lucky stop at the supermarket! We bought things throughout town from street vendors and headed to the SIM House to make our delicious dinner. There was another couple staying upstairs at the house with us and they joined us for dinner! They were visiting Benin from France. The wife’s sister is a missionary in northern Benin and she married a Beninese man last week. So they had made the journey down to Benin from France with their family. It was nice to talk with them and share dinner together! You better believe I drank BOTH cans of Diet Coke with ice at dinner. Trust me, it was well worth the two month wait.

(ashley preparing the pasta.)

(jon grilling the hot dogs from a jar!)

(whew! doesn't that look AMAZING? trust me. it was!)

We slept a few hours and then got up to take Katinka to the airport at 4:30 in the morning. I have had such a great time with her! It is nice to always have a sidekick and someone to share this crazy experience with. She is starting university in the fall and will have the best time! My bureau sure is quiet at night without her here now…

We slept a few more hours after coming back to the SIM House from the airport and then loaded up for an eventful day. An organization had some donations to give the orphanage, so we stopped by there and picked up a lot of clothes, books, toys, and fabric for the kids. The car was loaded down and it wasn’t even noon yet. Jon was craving some Indian food, so we went to this fantastic Indian restaurant and ate GOOD! In Sakete there is not much variety. Well, there is honestly no variety. I eat what the kids eat. And what the kids eat is pretty much what everyone around here eats. A grain of some sort at every meal with sauce. And then there is usually a small piece of fish at dinner. We have beans often as well. And hard-boiled eggs once a week or so. All that to say, when we go to Cotonou…we eat and we eat good because there is not much in the way of variety here in Sakete. The Indian food was delicious, just as Ashley and Jon said it would be! We loaded up and headed out to Bab’s Dock.

Ashley has been talking to me about Bab’s Dock basically since I got here. Saying that we had to go while I was here. It is this beautiful resort type venue on a lake that is off the ocean in Cotonou. Ashley’s birthday was coming up, so we planned on spending the afternoon Saturday relaxing at Bab’s Dock. It was beautiful! We parked the car and then got on a small motorboat that took us through a heavy, wooded area to the other side of the lake where the resort is. I was pretty nervous on the boat ride over there, but didn’t really say much about it. We settled down on the dock, got some cold drinks, read some books, took a nap, talked, and shared stories. It was so relaxing and so nice! There were donkeys and monkeys. Beautiful flowers and American music playing. Just like an oasis! Minus the donkey hee-hawing every so often.

(the ocean on the way to Bab's Dock.)

(don't feed the monkeys...)

(this picture took us approximately 6 attempts...)

(trust me. this is one amazing, amazing couple!)

(love this buddy.)

(jon ducking on the boat ride back.)

(until next time Bab's Dock...)

It started to cool down and we noticed some clouds rolling in, so we grabbed the boat while it was over on our side of the lake. Well, the man forgot to tie the boat up to the dock, so he had to jump in a kayak and go get the motorboat so we could ride it back to the car…Just had to laugh! The sky was beautiful on the way back to the car and the boat driver was not wasting anytime. We were maneuvering through the small, cut out path in the water at what felt like warp speed. Jon had to duck his head so the branches didn’t knock him over. Ashley looked up, and said…”Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous right now.” I busted up laughing because I was honestly thinking the same thing. Don’t worry, we made it safely back to the other dock to get to the car.

We needed to stay in Cotonou until around 7:30 because some girls from Ohio were arriving in Benin to work with a mission in Cotonou for a few weeks. They brought 2 bags over with them from Ashley’s family and friends in Ohio since they could each check 2 bags a piece, and they were only planning on checking 1 each. Sweet Kelli thought about me and added some surprise goodies in these bags for me! It was such a fun treat to get some treats from home on Sunday when we went through Ashley and Jon’s bags that the girls from Ohio had brought.

(100% positive this is the first time I've ever received cash money from K. Odom!)

We collected the girls from the airport and then went with them and Mark, the director of the mission they will be volunteering with, to dinner. Loaded up and headed back to Sakete! It’s about a 2 hour drive, depending on traffic. We didn’t get home til late, late Saturday night. Which I think didn't help how entirely exhausted we each felt Sunday morning. At church, Ashley said she felt like she'd been hit by a Mack Truck. Seriously. It was definitely a long day, but it was so fun! Thankful for the fun little getaway and plenty of memories.