Traveling, man

I was going to open this with a few lines from "Traveling Man" (at least I think that's the title) by Ricky Nelson (again, I think please feel free to correct me on any of these misconceptions of mine) but I couldn't remember any lines with any certainty. (Of course, that never stopped me before.)
It occured to me recently that I have been talking of my travels here (among other things) without actually talking of the process of travelling. The destinations and activities have been fun, or informative, or thought-provoking as the case may be but, often, the greater adventure, like life itself, is in the journey. With this posting I will try to describe the modes of travel here in Benin.
Let's start at the bottom. The very bottom. The ground. Benin has the best road system in West Africa. Admittedly this is a bit like claiming to have the best seafood in Mongolia (There is a point in the Gobi Desert, in Mongolia, which is the furthest point on the surface of the Earth from water, fresh or salt), but one takes what one can get. The quality of the road system allows for relatively rapid transport of people and goods across and through the country. This brings some commerce, and tax dollars, here due to neighboring countries using the roads to transport goods to and from seaports. The relatively high quality of the roads also means however that, too often, drivers are going too fast. There are numerous old abandoned wrecks in some places, and during my last trip to Cotonou my taxi passed by three very recent accidents. Each with police and vehicles still present. In Ketou recently a gendarmerie (police) vehicle drove off the road while responding to a call at night. There were reportedly three officers killed.
Okay, time to put peoples (parents) minds at ease a little. The Peace Corps is very concerned about volunteer safety. Also, while it takes a bit of an adventurous spirit to do what we are doing we all understand some of the limits of the envelope we are in. Volunteers are given training in riding zemidjans. We are also given helmets and their use is required. Non-use can result in immediate termination of service. This is true of the velos (bicycles) we are given as well. We have been instructed not to travel by motor vehicle at night, the most dangerous time obviously. Taxi training involved being told how to recognize an unsafe vehicle and driver as well as being told that we should sit in the middle of the back seat to minimize the possibility of injuries in the unlikely event of an accident. I have heard of very few accidents involving volunteers here in the last few years and none with injuries.
There are several ways to get around in Benin. There are zemidjans and taxis of course. And we can all walk or use our PC issued velo, though of course just for around the village. There are also privately owned cars and motos and commercial trucks. We are not allowed to use commercial trucks for transportation for safety reasons. Very often Beninese utilize this method however. It is cheaper than a taxi and the driver makes a little money too. Neither are we allowed to take a ride in a private vehicle unless the driver is known to us, a neighbor, work colleague etc. There is talk of some sort of public transportation also. Supposedly this is only in Cotonou and Porto Novo (the bigger cities obviously) but I have not seen evidence of this. Even if it exists it is certainly not used by volunteers very often if at all. There are also privately operated bus lines. What all this means is that as volunteers we are restricted to zemidjans, taxis and buses to fulfill our travelling requirements.

Zemis are generally used for shorter trips. Going across town or perhaps to a neighboring village. Taxis and buses are used for longer voyages. Going to Cotonou or another larger town. Taxis can be used for short trips as well, but they are more costly than zemis. Zemis can be used for longer trips, but they are more difficult with baggage. Also, not that taxis are comfortable (more on that later) but zemis are even less so, especially on longer trips.
Zemis are mopeds to small motorcycles, never larger than 125cc, generally between 80 and 100cc. Since zemis are small and sloz you might think that a longer trip would be faster in a taxi. This is not neessarily so. Taxis often stop to pick up and discharge passengers. There is also the occassional check of licenses, permits and carrying capacity by the gendarmarie. Because a zemidjan doesn’t have the same requirements it can be quicker for a long voyage. Again, however, there is no space for baggage, the seat is often uncomfortable and the suspension is never factory fresh or properly adjusted for two. Taxis, or buses if possible, are the predominant choice for longer trips.
Taxis are Peugeot 504 sedans and wagons. They are all the samefor two reasons. 504’s are readily available and relatively affordable. Also, having all of the taxis the same means that parts are interchangable. If a taxi is ever considered unrepairable (an apparently extremely rare occurence) the good parts can be used to keep others going. Finally, mechanics only have to stock and know how to repair one type of car. There are other cars, and a few taxis of other type of car, here of course, but a mechanic can be kept busy working on only taxis if he so desires.
The cars are often stripped of unnecessary parts, including always for some reason window levers. (The driver always has one lever to open or close windows if requested.) This often includes lqrge chunks of dashboard as well. Even on taxis with dashboards I have never seen a functioning speedometer or gas gauge. The wagons have an extra rear seat in the back (apparently from other, dead taxis) to increase capacity. Normal capacity for a sedan is 5 with 8, due to the extra seat, being the norm for a wagon. However, a sedan will never a taxistand with less than 6 passengers, plus a driver. A wagon must have 9 passengers plus driver. This is in addition to luggage for passengers and other cargo the driver has been able to find (and charge for). Carrying capacity is not limited to the closed trunk. Taxis will often (always?) have open, tied down, trunks and cargo on the roof that often more than doubles the height of the taxi. (Incidentally this is also true of trucks which often makes them very scary looking.) Drivers will also often tell passengers to carry their own luggage in their lap (whether you have one or not once you get in). I am usually told that I have to carry my helmet. Along with luggage I have heard of other volunteers being in sedans with as many as 8 passengers plus driver (my personal record is 7 fortunately) and 12 plus driver in a wagon (10 for me at most).
Buses are the most luxuriant form of transportation generally available to volunteers in Benin. (Again, a volunteer can accept a ride in a private vehicle if the driver is known to them, but this does not happen very often.) Although available in limited areas they are utilized as often as possible. The prices are about the same as taxis, sometimes higher, sometimes lower. Luggage is stored in an area below the seats but there is often luggage and cargo on the roof as well. The major difference from taxis is that every passenger gets their own seat. If there are no more seats available, there are no more passengers allowed to board. I am not fortunate enough to live near a bus line but I am told that there is a meal served on long distance portions of the trip also. (I try not to eat before I have to get into a taxi.)
There are differences in the way the three transportation systems work as well. Buses have regular routes and schedules. They stick to their schedules regardless of the number of passengers. If you get to a bus stop too late then you don’t get on the bus because it has gone. There is always another bus of course but sometimes not until the next day.
Taxis have assigned routes but no schedule. They wait at gares until they have enough passengers to justify a journey. When one taxi leaves another pulls up to wait for the next batch of passengers. Small villages are often not served by taxis as there is not enough traffic to warrant the service. On the other hand, large cities have multiple gares for taxis going in different directions. For example, I have to go to Dantokpa to get back to Ketou when I leave Cotonou. Those who have to go toward Grand-Popo must go to the Etoile Rouge gare. There are several other gares in Cotonou to handle all of the taxi traffic. Most other cities don’t have quite so many. Ketou has only two. One for going south, toward Cotonou, and another for going west, into the central portion of Benin, and east, toward and into Nigeria. There is no taxi service to the immediate north of Ketou.
Zemidjans have neither schedules nor prescribed routes. They are always parked at taxi gares looking for fares from passengers. They are also parked at other busy places in every city and village. It is also possible to wave one down in the street that happens to be between fares. In fact, in the larger cities some drivers actively drive around looking for fares. Zemis can be utilized beyond their normal carrying capacity just like taxis. I myself have been on a zemi holding four people. I have also seen many other things being carried by zemis. Refrigerators are common pieces of cargo, but I once saw two on a zemi. I have also seen four goats, an uncountable number of chickens, three 55 gallon oil drums (pesumably empty but who knows), a dozen or so 50 liter plastic jugs (used for holding vegetable oil, gas, water or virtually any liquid), other zemis and, on one occassion, a passenger carrying a piece of sheet glass about 4’ x 4’ in size. My personal favorite however occurs regularly right here in Ketou. Seven people on one zemi. (Dramatic pause here.) It is one driver with 6 small children. I doubt that they are all his beause they all appear to be the same size and age, I guess about 5. The children are all dressed in their school uniforms, which happens to be a red and white checked shirt with blue pants. Along with the drivers tissue it often makes for a very colorful display. The children are arrayed on the zemi with 3 behind the driver, each with their hands around the one in front of them, 2 sitting on the gas tank and one perched on the handlebars, all facing forward. This group rides in front of the CLCAM office twice a day so I hope to able to get a photo sometime.
That’s all for now. Sorry, I know this was a little long (I have done worse though) but I hope it helps you to understand a little more about life in Benin. I have some ideas for other subjects about life here. Hopefully though, I’ll be able to make them a little more interesting, and shorter.