time out

I won't go on too much about the heat during hot season, but it is HOT. Night-times too, and it does get wearing to be waking up every morning feeling sticky and yuck! So even before hot season we had planned that we would have a long weekend at Bembéréké over Easter, and that was something to look forward to through the March heat. Not only do they have 24-hour electricity and therefore fans at night, they are in a completely different climate zone to us. So they are already having rains, which does mean mosquitoes, but also meant much fresher air!

Our friend Esther came up from Parakou to celebrate Easter with us. Here she is with Eve and her niece Ola (whose mother Jeanne-Mireille was my midwife).

Here is a close-up of the Easter cake I made (thanks to Stevie who brought the chocolate eggs back from Europe for us!). A friend said after tasting it that it was the nicest thing she'd put in her mouth for a long time! ("Favorite chocolate cake" from the "Wild Boar on the Kitchen Floor" cookbook, with lemon butter icing and Kinder praline-filled mini-eggs!)

I had hoped that it might be cooler here by now ... but no! We were welcomed back with temperatures of over 40°C again. We've had a couple of storms, but I don't think there'll be any real rain for quite some time.