Ganvié, Benin

                                                        

So I think that the time has come to break the silence in here...not that it shouldn't have been done time ago...and I truly believed that I would be able to squeeze in at least one update in August....but August seemed not to really like me very much (the feeling was mutual, let me tell you), and it flew away just way too fast...and then I struggled for quite sometime with that silly Photobucket feature...I mean, I can't believe it that both in July and August I reached that stupid 10GB limit (in July being 10 days before month's end!    I mean, HEELLOOOO!! So I experimented with a number of photo hosting sites...and in each and every one of them (incl. Flickr or Picasa or some new stuff I tried), didn't want to cooperate when it comes to sharing the pictures on Blogger...and that's when I recalled that I have another Photobucket account...do not know why I had actually opened it in first place...so here we are...I wonder how long it's gonna take before it also starts pissing me off with its limits :) and then there is the original account, so I guess sometimes it will all look messy here...*sigh*...I don't know why I am not into that 'uploading pics from HD directly*. I guess I like it when it is complicated 
So anyways, so here comes September...a nice Monday morning, so lets post some cards....and first comes my very first written and stamped one from Benin!! Yayyyyyy!! Actually this one arrived few months ago, even before that Greenland card, but you know, the lazy me is posting it just now....

I wouldn't have had this card if it wasn't for Johanna and her kindness to include me on her long list of cards to send, and I am really really really thankful to her for that!
The card shows a stilt house on Lake Nokoué,in the Benin's city of Ganvié. (the whole city is actually built on stilt houses). In case you were wondering,according to aunt Wiki, Stilt houses or pile dwellings or palafitte are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water and are built primarily as a protection against flooding but also serve to keep out vermin.The shady space under the house can be used for work or storage.
Johanna says that sometimes Ganvié is called the Venice of Africa. Now that's cool...and I'm pretty sure the people in Ganvié won't rip you off for a ride on a boat or whatever they have as corresponding to the gondolas :)
btw, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on October 31, 1996 in the Cultural category. Isn't that a bit way too long to be on the tentative list?

here is the stamp and im so happy it is cancelled...it is funny how sometimes you receive a w/s card from some rare country, but then there is no cancellation...and you wonder if you should consider it valid as received w/s or not...coz you know, I may have just received a blank card from anywhere else, ordered a stamp, put it on myself, and voila! Yeah, overthinking shall kill me some day  .
Anyways, the stamp was issued in 2003 in a set of 7 stamps representing the Red Bellied Monkey as an Endangered species.
Btw, in 2003 I see Benin issued a set of so cute kitten stamps! So if by any chance there is anyone in Benin out there you may have stumbled across this post...can you please contact me =)