The drum market in Adjara

16 Aout 2007

Today is our last cultural adventure: the drum market. I’m not really interested in buying a drum (which is good because I’m basically out of money), but I am excited for this trip. The drum market is actually a village in Benin that is known for its drum making. Today is market day there, so I suspect we’ll be able to see all sorts of things including drums. This is really my first adventure into a market; the other one we saw in Cotonou was an artesian market. It’ll be fun to take pictures of the market life and wares. My four mille (4 thousand dollars) probably won’t get me far, but browsing will be fun.

I am also starting to think about our Paris leg now. I think it’ll be a little bit of shock to the system to go from the natural beauty and slow community living of Benin to the manmade beauty and commerce of Paris. Money will go from feeling a bit like play money because it’s worth so little by comparison to being trés chére (very expensive) because it’s worth more! I’m excited for Paris because I’ve wanted to travel there since I was 12, but I know that Benin will flavor the experience I have.