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  The
tata somba style architecture continues to be preferred along the top of the
ridge between Koussoukoingou and Natitingou, both in traditional and modern
applications in rural areas. In fact, these intriguing and graceful
building are more prevalent in Benin than Togo and can be found in a large
part of the northwest region of Benin.
  Natitingou is the largest town
we spent time in since we left Lome. It's straight, paved, wide, tree-lined roads and
right angle intersections don't give many clues that it grew up from a
village.
 The
town is now well provisioned. As we explored there were the usual food
market with dozens of vendors, and shops specializing in hardware, clothing,
office supplies, video, music, bicycle parts, dry
 goods,
pharmaceuticals, bread, tourist curios, cement, building supplies, etc.
Barber shops and hair salons are probably the most plentiful. The Internet Café
was hard to find and tediously slow, but you wouldn't have found anything of
the sort a few years earlier. The tree lined streets do a lot to cut
the heat and make afternoon perambulating bearable.
Of course for the Beninoise
getting around town,
human powered transport is the norm:
 As
has been the pattern on this trip, Natitingou doesn't have many restaurants.
A lot of the establishments that called themselves restaurants were mostly
bars with little or no food to offer when we were getting the pulse of the
town. Once again the best option -- and very good at that -- was a
street side table with an smorgasbord of items to choose from (beans, rice,
spicy sauces, Fulani cheese, meat, fish, eggs, etc.).
 The
residential architecture suggests that there is some wealth in the town. It
is not clear whether the wealth was accumulated locally or made on the coast
and brought back to town. Continuing the theme of the region, some of the up market houses
also reflected elements of the traditional tata-style architecture.
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