Canoe Ride to Heve (aka Voodoo Village)

While we were at Grand Popo, we took a canoe ride to a village called Heve, which is known as "Voodoo Village" because the community contains many voodoo gods and worship sites.

How many people can we pile into a taxi the size of a Honda Civic? Let's see...three in front...

Four in back.

Our canoe was made from a hollowed out tree.

From left: Christina, Jess, Kelly, our guide, Jamie, me, and Paul

On the canoe...

A local fisherman...

A basket for catching fish

A basket for storing seafood
Watch out! They are eager to escape!

A little boy cut a coconut for us.

And we're off again...

Arriving at Voodoo Village

The figures on top of the building below are called "fetishes," and they are a tribute to one of the gods.

One of the gods

Paintings of items used in worship

Another god

The well

A painting of spirit that the people see at night. From what I've learned from other believers in Africa, the people really do see spirits at night. Obviously, these are demonic spirits and not reallly the gods that the people worship. It seems so foreign to those of us from a western culture, but the spirit world is just as real as the physical world. I've heard someone say once that Satan's biggest victory in the western world is convincing us that he doesn't exist. Probably true. We won't stand against an enemy if we don't believe he's real.

On our way back after a very eye-opening experience.