First impression

3 stops in Africa this week-Togo, Benin, and Sao Tome. All 3 stops were heavy with history and life lessons. Matt has enjoyed going to the class time before each stop. Peter (Oceania crew) gives, what Matt describes as, a very thorough lesson of the history and current expectations for each port. So by the time we step foot on land Matt has a large amount of knowledge at the ready.


I wrote a bit about Togo on my facebook, here’s what I said:
The last 2 days have been such a huge history lesson. Both the countries of Togo and Benin have the distinction of selling the most it's own citizens into slavery with the Portuguese and Spain. For 400 years this went on.
Today although very poor they are united and our cruise ship had the honor of being the first mass tourist group to come recently! The people and towns were friendly, welcoming, and excited to see us. I had the feeling the children had never seen a White person before and they were so curious about us.


If I were forced to describe Togo-I would call it an infant country. Homes are built by the individual out of scraps around town. Most of the ‘buildings’ are falling down. BUT the people smiled and tried to communicate, they were helpful, and the children were super cute. Aren’t they always?


Benin I would describe as a toddler. Life was a little better-not much-but it was noticeable. Homes are sound(ish). It is possible to walk into a store without risking your life, although I’d be the first one out the door in an earthquake. The people were the same-they are always the reason I travel.


Today we were in Sao Tome. What a huge difference. This country is clearly a teenager pushing hard to be an adult. Homes are nice, streets are clean. The people, again, were awesome! God is good!


Overall these 3 countries are struggling with growing pains as they get past a dark history and move into a world of tourism. It would be interesting to come back in 5 years and see how they are progressing.


Next stop: ANIMALS!!!