Although, we are back in Cotonou right now, our short trip to Ouidah yesterday was a really nice relief to the smoky, noisy and traffic overburden Cotonou. Since we arrived in Cotonou on Wednesday, we are stuck here because the baggage of Mela (we are heading to Togo to do our internship there). The whole city smells like a petrol station and if there is no traffic-jam because of the thousands of tucks, moto-taxis are hunting you in herds. Nevertheless, the motos are by far the quickest vehicles to escape the smoky center.

Of course it was also by moto, that we went to the beach in Ouidah. The town was one of the big slavery markets on the west african coast and you can visit an old portuguese fort which remained Portuguese until independence also the old kingdom of Dahomey became a French colony long ago. Then of course, it was time to have a rest on the beach…

Last friday was the day of our summer festival in Bonn. I just want to thank everybody who helped to realize the festival! Especially, the people from the student groups who helped the whole day, the bands, musicians and the oriental dancing chorus, Moritz and Philipp for the acoustic engineering and the Biergarten Alter Zoll for the great location and help!

Get some details here: studisdrehnamrad.wordpress.com

Have a look at our website and spred the word!

Hiking Wadi Kelt is my personal favorite I would recommed if you are looking for a nice, a bit adventurous one day hiking trip. From Jerusalem you take a bus to the Dead Sea and get of at Kfar Adumim junction or Alon junction. Leaving Alon on your right, the track goes down from the street just before the guardrail starts. When you can see the yellow barrier in the valley, just some hundreds meters further down, you know you are right!

After the barrier there is a well, where you can also swim and there are quite a few israelis that spent some time there. Those who go all the way down to Jericho are only few, especially not israelis, since Jericho is part of the palestinian territories.

I did this trip a few times four years ago, but somehow I did not have in mind that the first part of the trail is really a bit impassable, especially when you have a 20kg bag on your back. Btw, most of the stuff I had in my bag, we did not need at all. It does not rain in this region in April at all, so the tent was unnecessary and all the cooking stuff I could have left at home because I could not find the right gas cartridge in Jerusalem (rather bring a stove which needs a cartridge without valve, if you’re not sure where to find a specific type for your high-tech stove). And also the clothes I bought in Bethlehem (good Nablus jeans made it not easier. Just leave your stuff you don’t need in Jerusalem if possible, makes it much easier…

Anyway, it was worth it to take the 7 o’clock bus in the morning, because we arrived just before sunset in Jericho and could easily go further to En Gedi beach to relax a day at the dead sea. That is really nice, because you can sleep on the beach an have showers and everything there. Just beware of the wild parties going on there especially on friday nights. On the beach the music was so loud as if you were in a club, and it only stopped when they ran out of fuel for the generator, which was at 4 o’clock or something.

These are some pictures from where I live. If you are from Bonn you will know Tannenbusch and never want to live there. But be aware, it’s not that bad. To be honest this is not the part of  Tannenbusch people usually mean when they say Tannenbusch. But anyway it is a part of it, and also it’s a nice and quiet place to live.

After the winter really started, we decided to spend a few days in Poland. In Wroclaw, where we arrived, Winter just really began! Wandering around in the snowy city, we enjoyed the good and inexpensive food and drinks . Most of Wroclaw was destroyed by the germans or russians, because the germans decided to use the city as there last castle before Berlin. I did not really recognise this, since at least the center has a nice and cossy atmosphere. By the way…the two big buildings are student apppartments and the only buildings of this kind i saw. Pictures from Krakow are coming soon…

Short film (german, though not much spoken) about the home production of tasty fallow deer which is by the way climate friendly. So forget about beef from Brazil or Argentina and go and ask your local hunter. If you are further interested, check this article (also in german) written by my sister.

Watch in HD 720p: So geht das! Der Wildmetzger ::HD::

Still, especially from the pictures schown below one could think, that it is as much behind (economically, mainly) as Togo is. But don’t let me cheat on you. There is not a single picture from Ghana’s capital Accra, indeed all photos are from the countryside or smaller towns. Till the cebra crossing, the photos originate from Korkrobite and Elmina (fish market) at the Atlantic coast. The other photos are from Bolga(tanga) which is the most northern town of the country.

Compare the two capitals Accra and Lomé, and you can guess how different the development in the past 20 years was. Since Ghana became more democratic and was caressed from the west for that, Faure Eyadéma was never recognised by western countries and left alone in terms of development aid and trade. When you walk along the streets in Accra, it feels not so much different than if you are in a european town. Not to many locals passing by, mostly clean and divided in tracks for cars and pedestrians are only the most evident things that you recognise when you come from Togo. Whereas in Lomé streets in the city center are crowded, pedestrian, cars and animals try to make there way in a messy chaos. You have to watch your step to not to disapear in an uncovered gully opening while the market salesmen try to sell you all kind of stuff you don’t want or probably want to buy but can’t care about becaus of all the trouble around you.

Okay, I didn’t want to paint a black’n'white picture here, but apparently I did exactly this. At least take into account the following: There are differences between countries, even between developing countries, also within a country, mainly between the countryside and the big cities. But don’t try to judge about it from a glimpse at it. You will only learn that it is not as black’n'white as you thought unless you allow yourself to have a closer, unbiased look at it.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

To not to confuse you too much: I traveled to Togo and Ghana last year, it’s only now, that I put it on the website.