Yovo!

Well the days are flying by and I only have 2 more weeks left on the Africa Mercy. In between work I have been puttering around the alternately dusty or muddy streets of Cotonou. The rainy season is definitely making itself evident these days. In the first weeks I was here I never went out into the city without feeling like it was an assault on the senses, but I am getting used to the chaos, darting across traffic and the frequent shouts of "Yovo", which the locals like to call us white people. It is used to get our attention in the markets, children like to shout it out and laugh or wave after us, and the occassional person will walk by and simply state "Yovo", just in case we hadn't noticed we didn't quite blend in.
On Canada Day all the Canadians on board got together for dinner and dessert. There are 22 of us on board at the moment! We reminisced about Tim Hortons and Stephen Harper and ate chicken, corn and fries. A few of us went to this tiny little pub right outside the port entrance for a drink, where the owner, a Sicilian, told us about his hernia and asked if there was any way we could slip him in for surgery...Well much more to write but my computer is about to die so bonsoir for now!