Anticipation

 ANTICIPATION

On Tuesday, February 18, I will leave for an adventure in Benin, Togo and Ghana.  These three countries are sandwiched between Nigeria on the east and Ivory Coast on the west, bordering the Gulf of Guinea:


I’ll fly Rochester-JFK-Paris-Cotonou, arriving Cotonou, Benin at 9:10 PM on Wednesday, February 19 if all goes as scheduled.  On Saturday, February 22 I’ll join a small group (twelve people) on a trip organized by Geographic Expeditions titled, “Mystical West Africa: Traditions, Voodoo and Craft,” and we will travel through Benin, Togo and Ghana for the next couple of weeks.  I’ll return home from Accra, Ghana on Thursday, March 6.

If you’d like to see the itinerary, it’s here (ignore the “request itinerary box and scroll down):   https://www.geoex.com/trips/west-africa-mystical/

West Africa is enormous--just this part of Africa is much bigger than the USA:

There’s an extensive amount to see and learn here, from the history of the slave trade, to wonderful and varied cultures and festivals.  Prominent will be markets, dances, masks, fabrics and other crafts, cultural museums and the Akwasidae Festival at the palace in Kumasi, Ghana.  And, of course, Benin is the origin of voodoo; who knows what skills I might learn!

I’m hopeful that I’ll have sufficient internet access to send daily notes; we’ll see.  It should be a truly fascinating experience.  The next post will be from Benin.

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