Voodoo and fetish
People in Benin are really chilled. Actually, they're so easygoing that you can walk around the large crowded central market and the only confrontations will be a polite bonjour. The centre of the market is the concrete box near the waterfront. From there the market spreads out in every direction. Each kind of goods have their own section, though there are lanes where you can pretty much find everything. As this being voodoo land, there is a small fetish corner with monkey skulls and dried snakes north east between the box and the waterfront. Expect to pay for a photo of people, particularly at the fetish market.
As part of the strong voodoo belief, there is a temple in Ouidah which is dedicated to pythons (yes, the snake). Believers - and tourists - come here to make sacrifice to the pythons in hope to have their wishes come true. The are ceremonies every third day at 2 pm, but you're also welcome to see the small temple at any other time. You will see some shrines, but the most interesting part is of course the pythons. The guide will probably show you one up close and let you hold it, in addition to a peek inside the snake pit. Though there is an entrance fee, along with a camera fee, the guide will most likely also ask you to make a donation to... eh, the snakes.
The market area in downtown Port-au-Prince is dominated by the red iron structure known as the Iron Market (Marché en Fer). The building with its twin halls, clock tower, and four minarates was originally constructed in France in the late 19-century and intended as the main train station in Cairo, but for some strange reason ended up in Haiti. It was heavily destroyed during the earthquake, but got quickly rebuilt. The northern hall has a strange mixed of crafts, art, tacky souvenirs... and voodoo stuff, like small dolls with needles in.
Described in Joseph Conrad's Hearth of Darkness as "a God-forsaken wilderness, with a tin shed and a flagpole lost in it" the town wasn't much to look at in the early colonial days. Originally known as Little Popo, Aného eventually prospered as the first capital of German Togoland. A German cemetery and some fine churches are evidence that this outpost once held some importance. Today, the wilderness is reclaiming many of the grand colonial buildings. Locals don't pay much attention to the crumbling grandeur. If colonial history isn't enough of a draw, the area is also an important voodoo centre. Voodoo culture here bubbles under the surface, and it will probably require some local assistance to be introduced to the fetish priests here. Alternatively, nearby Glidji is home to a couple of famous voodoo temples and shrines.
Most people think of voodoo as black magic, but most voodoo is actually white magic. People go to the fetish market to buy the ingredients, which they then bring to the witch doctor next door. The witch doctor then grind the ingredients, perform a voodoo ceremony, and hopefully the person gets well, luck with love, or whatever the reason was to seek out voodoo in the first place. The fetish market in Lomé is famous for locals and tourists alike. The stalls are packed with animal skins, skulls, and bones, all with great voodoo power for the enlightened, but there are tourist voodoo dolls too. Visiting the market has been put into system and is surprisingly orderly. You pay an entrance fee along with a camera fee and for that you get a guide, who explain all the strange fetish objects, can take pictures of everything, and a visit to a witch doctor. Though there isn't any hard sale, it's kind of expected that you buy a (overpriced) premade talisman from the witch doctor, but just consider it as an additional fee for the small voodoo ceremony.