Benin -- Ouidah

This is a monument called the Point of No Return, which marks a departure point for slave ships that headed to the US and mostly Brazil from Ouidah, Benin during the peak of the slave trade. Ouidah was a hub of slaving and is also known as a hotbed of voodoo -- shortly after I returned to Togo, Ouidah had its big annual voodoo festival. I spent New Years at a beachfront hotel near the monument with another volunteer, Amy, which given Ouidah's history seems like an odd place to celebrate. But today Ouidah just seems like a rather pretty beach town with some museums and monuments commemorating its darker past.