Published in - The Devoir - August 8, 2015

BENIN: A memorable race in a collective taxi

Globetrotters in front of the eternal, they and they do experiments - or non-experiments - of any kind. React to situations that are sometimes surprising, original, unusual, unusual, unexpected. They and they are our tourism journalists who peel the planet to deliver reports. Throughout the summer, you can read selected pieces of cozies lived on the margins of their professional travels.

The Benin. Black Africa, Francophone and poor. A country where gas was sold in glass bottles by the side of the road and whites going to the beach had to be protected by men armed with clubs. At least in 1995, the year I was there.

Traveling alone, in Cotonou, I took one of these collective taxis that leave once the car is full of passengers. They came one by one, slowly, at the chance of their movements, while the 38 degrees boiled the blood ... and activated the armpit glands.

Finally, a small group of women made sure that the legendary Peugeot 504's quota was even exceeded.

So we were seven people in this medium-sized car, including an elderly Benin who found a place ... on me.

At the very moment when I told myself that the ambient human odor was peculiar, this woman looked at me curiously, lowered her face to my armpit and exclaimed: "Yovo, you, you feel nothing, you feel death ! "

We experienced a total mutual cultural shock. I was both dumbfounded and captivated. Being abroad, I did not reply.

My perception of his observation: Black Africans dress in bright colors, are demonstrative and full of life, while whites, from an African perspective, seem bland in general.

I kept this a priori for 20 years, until I started researching for this text. When I started to write it, I realized how delicate the subject is, that stereotypes linked to smells are legion and that they fascinate, on both sides of cultures.

For example, I was told of a Zimbabwean who almost fainted at a reception because "the smell of whites in the room was overwhelming" . Some clichés about body odor are amazing.

In fact, it is recognized that differences in scents between crops are mainly due to diet, in addition to hygiene and physiological peculiarities.

In Africa, the symbols of death are often white (like ghosts). It is sometimes represented by white powder on the skin, or linked to bones (white) without smell ...

When talking about cultures, it is better to focus on understanding differences rather than judging them, and practicing what sociologists call cultural relativism.

Smell is a sense that joins our most vivid and primary instincts, and this, almost without filter.

The childhood memories of smell, for example, are the ones we remember most clearly. And it is often those who stir up the strongest emotions.

On the road, in particular, one remembers forever the smell of markets, dishes or even cities in particular.

I will never forget the smell in this Peugeot 504 in Benin ... And the comment on my own (non) smell still bugs me.