Idanre to Benin City: there is art

I was woken up by a cockroach. It fell on my face sometime after 5am. I was in deep dream and I thought it was a grasshopper. I shook it onto the bedside where I thought I killed it with a pillow and threw it off bed. Only later when I looked for the grasshopper […]

Oshogbo to Idanre: beautiful hills

I woke up and it was raining. I went down to the hotel bar and asked for coffee. They had nescafé. N400, at least they gave me two sachets. I took okada to where transport to Akure was supposed to be. Akure is a capital of Ondo state. For N100 I was dropped on a […]

Lagos to Oshogbo: I know one hundred ways to ask for money

Mimy was so worried about me that she offered to drive me to Ojota Motor Park, where I could find bus to Oshogbo. We made an appointment at 8 and at 8:30am she picked me up from the petrol station next to my Lagos hotel. I also found out that I had a wife on […]

Happy new week in Lagos

People also wish you happy new week in Nigeria. Although I don’t know if it means they want something from you or they are just friendly. I waited until travel time shown by Google for the distance of 13kms to Ericsson office will decrease from 1hr 15min to something more bearable. After 9am the time […]

Visa no. 14: Cameroon in Lagos

I applied at 11am and collected the visa after 2pm. The visa costs N45000 and they give out only “temporary” visas valid for one month after the stated date of entry. The man at the reception asked for 2 photos and passport photocopy. He also insisted that the only way to cross to Cameroon at […]

Happy Sunday in Lagos

It’s often you hear people wishing you “happy Sunday” in Nigeria. I was told it means they want something from you. At 7am, when I was deep asleep someone knocked at the door of my room. It was a woman with a tray with breakfast. A simple toast and tea. I took it, went back […]

Porto Novo to Lagos

I planned to arrive at the border early in the morning. The sooner I got to Lagos the better. The plan of course didn’t work. I slept too long, the darkness in my room helped. I took a 200cfa moto to what I thought will be some gare du Nigéria but instead we rode for […]

Cotonou to Porto Novo

Do you know what’s the capital of Benin? From Cotonou to Porto Novo it’s less than an hour on the road. So, first things first, I went to apply for Congolese visa. Republic of Congo has an honorary consulate that is far in the East of Cotonou. 10kms on the road. Google shows it’s Dandji […]

Visa no. 13: Congo in Cotonou

The Republic of Congo has an honorary consulate in Cotonou. It’s a bit away from the city centre but the 10kms cost me 600cfa on a zemidjan. They ask for passport photocopy (there is a place to do it on a street parallel to where the consulate is), one passport photo and hotel booking. A […]

Ouidah to Cotonou

Getting transport to Cotonou was easy. I took my sweet time getting out of bed and even out of town. I had a double sachet of Nescafé in a cup for 400cfa and a plate of rice with some sauce, tasty, for 500cfa. Around 11am a woman working in the auberge came out on the […]