Went in to Cotonou to take care of some business. First up was to check out shipping - Cotonou is rumored to have the cheapest in West Africa - but at $20+ a kilo we all decided to wait. Next up was internet access, lots of little business centers have a computer but they charge 9,000 CFA / hour (almost $20/hr!) so skipped it as well.
Went and had a big lunch then decided to see if the Embassies (Canadian for the Aussies and American for Joy and I) could give us any advice on traveling through Nigeria. But the American embassy was closed for today and tomorrow because of "the Iraq thing" (?!?!?!) - what Iraq thing? So now we have no idea what is going on. The Canadian embassy sent us to talk to a Lebanese business man who conducts business in Nigeria, but the best advice he could give us was don't drive at night. He also gave us a letter introduction addressed to whom it may concern and basically asking everyone to be nice to us.
Joy and Dean decided to use the internet despite the cost so I went across the street to a TV repair shop to borrow some tools to take apart my H/PC to see if I could tell what I blew up in the charging circuit. I found the component, and it's fried so it looks like I'm using disposable batteries until I get a new one (another excuse for a new toy, besides the keyboard is starting to go bad as well).
Stopped for a couple beers at the bar across the street from the campground. Back at camp the other campers (Dutch) were able to give us the basics about was going on in Iraq (the U.S. bombed them). Joy cooked pasta for diner and we listened to the BBC on the short-wave to get the rest of the Iraq story.
