BENIN – REST DAY – GRAND POPO – Saturday 28th Nov

We took the Pentax 2CV on a farewell outing, with the doctor Andreas and Dutch Richard, to the local town to look for a bank. We were not successful in our quest to withdraw money but we did manage to get the car stuck in all gears. As the locals watched on bemused, we first attempted to bounce it round 180 degrees, only for the driveshaft to fall out! With it still stuck facing the wrong way we then lift and slowly slid it round before ramming it into gear and repeatedly dropping the clutch (which surprisingly worked). Eleanor and Andreas climbed onto the roof and we at last drove off, much to the amusement of the onlookers. We then used our best French to exchange the remaining canned food for fresh mangos and oranges before we left the town. This was a task that Eleanor was particularly good at and it was impressive what a pack of spaghetti and tinned beans could be swapped for! Later in the afternoon we had the presentation of the trophies. We were surprised but very humbled to receive the prestigious team spirit award jointly with Tentoo team. This award had been voted by the fellow participants on the trail. Photos were then taken on the podium with the car shortly before the celebrations began. We had the most amazing beach party and stayed up till the early hours.