http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/eddy15/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from eddy15 en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:35:54 +0000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:35:54 +0000 Well another day of work 2 hrs and a lot of relaxing gotta love the fact that we had four guys ldquoshovelingrdquo including both ldquoleaderswe only have 3 shovels while the rest of us had to haul gravel or the fact I have to write a daily reporthellip Who the fuck gives a shit when we ateAll this Xtianity here has aroused my atheist sentiments also reading Joyce. If asked http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Togo/blog-426685.html More singingPlayed soccer yesterday how is it that even barefooted these guys are better than me. Speaking of guys from the village turn out for building the school I thought this village was all women but come the soccer game low and behold Men And why did we play with such small nets that it was impossible to score. They must love 0 0 games Work was over at 1015 am again. Man if no http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Togo/blog-425714.html Togolese songGod make a manMan make a womanWoman make a devilDevil make a fireFire Oh Fire oh Fire down belowWell you can see from the lyrics of the preceding song that the religion of choice here is definite. I noticed that ASTOVOT is now ASTOVOCT The C is for Christian of course What did I do to deserve this Oh right But the people are nice enough and two French girls are supposedly http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Togo/blog-422829.html The work camp has finally commenced. Not what I was expecting but I shall reserve final judgment. First the group is made up almost entirely of Togolese guys with one German girl Larissa who has a nice demeanour. Five more Europeans are supposed to show up soon wersquoll see. All the cute French girls are in the other ldquochantierrdquo in town including Debora the hot French girl who http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Togo/blog-422828.html Met up with ASTOVOT and they put me up for a reasonable rate 2500 CFA although I miss my Swiss hotel. I bought some work gloves and am awaiting the arrival of a fellow volunteer a French girl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Togo/Lome/blog-422827.html Have been relaxing in Lome getting visas and such. Today an ordeal at the Benin consulate. Fking idiot old man Donrsquot want me to come to your shty country to spend cash TIA From hellrsquos heart I stab at thee Just finished Moby Dick. Anyway Irsquoll have to erase some pages as Irsquom one page short but Irsquom sure in a worst case scenario I can bribe the Togolese border http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Togo/Lome/blog-419604.html So far so good. My visa will be done by tomorrow. Other than that I had an ordeal trying to get back to my hotel but it was my fault. I confused the ldquoPalm Beachrdquo with the ldquoCoco Beachrdquo hotels. Awesome supper Well mostly the desert No problems yet in Lome as Lonely Planet sure made this place seem sketchy. Wersquoll see. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Togo/Lome/blog-419602.html Well I didnrsquot get to stay long in Burkina Faso but getting a visa for Togo was too difficult without going to Lome and I donrsquot want to jeopardize my volunteer stint. Why every time the bus starts a giant argument starts too Anyway I got wicked ill in Bobo 3 days ago. I was in bed from 3 pm until morning. Took the bus to Ouaga where I met Anil again. Wersquore staying in a dorm. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Burkina-Faso/blog-419596.html Well not long after my last entry I got ill again from which Irsquove only just recovered today. Off to buy a bus ticket for Togo. More laterhellip http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Burkina-Faso/Centre/Ouagadougou/blog-418729.html Well I finally got out of Mali described as the ldquoJewel of West Africardquo but I donrsquot agree. It is a very wearing place to visit as an independent backpacker. Perhaps it would be better with money a good guide and a 4 x 4. There is too little economic activity other than ripping off tourists. Also there are few expats so almost all white people are tourists. Actually glad http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Burkina-Faso/Hauts-Bassins/Bobo-Dioulasso/blog-417989.html Well Irsquom in Djenne to see the market and the Mosque. I spent Saturday looking around Mopti with Anil. These wouldbe guides are very very annoying They really detract from the Mali experience. Bought a ticket to go to Djenne by boat. Stupidly I paid in advance because the next day the boat turned out to be bogus Down 4000CFA. Oh well after a long wait caught a bush taxi to Djenne. Met a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/Centre/Djenne/blog-416981.html Back in Mopti after a five day hike through Dogon Country with Anil and our guide Ibrahim1 JulySo this lazy day was spent in the pool talking to unattractive British girls and getting soaked in the rain. Anil and I met Ibrahim in the evening. We finalised our plan. Wersquoll be traveling with two French girls. Sweet Right2 JulyWhen we got to Bandingara there was no sign of the French girls. W http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Mopti/blog-415597.html Well another night out with Yousouf and Arnaud last night. Met a Colonel in the Malian Army who seemed to like me and hooked me up with contacts in Timbuktu. Also hersquos a good contact to have. Yousouf finally let me pay for a round not that I was trying too hard to and also gave me a CD. An early rise a bit rough and I was on the bus all day. I actually met Anil on the bus which was good http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Mopti/blog-413517.html Well Yousouf is quite the quite the partier His lawyer friend Arnaud took me to a bar where Yousouf met us after picking up Anil and the Nigerian kid Raymond wersquod met the night before. We proceeded to pound rsquoem back on Yousoufrsquos tab including supper. It was the most Irsquove drank since Canada I was somewhat loaded man my tolerance is low Anil also hooked Anil up wit http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-413516.html The bus trip finally ended after some more great hospitality the guy next to me shared his dinner with me and let me use his cell. The Malian boarder guards want plenty of bribes. We had to pass a hat around the bus to collect for them. It was too late when I arrived to get a hold of Baidoursquos uncle Yousouf whorsquos supposed to look after me so I spent last night in a hotel. I slept unt http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-413514.html A busy few days. The 23rd was a very long day travelling from Gambia to Dakar. I got scammed out of my last Delasis. When I finally got to Dakar I went to Salifrsquos house which is a good deal 7500 CFA per night with full board and good company. Turns out I missed Malikrsquos return to action in soccer 00 against Team Senegal Wow itrsquos a good thing I didnrsquot go practice http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Senegal/blog-412408.html Chill day. So many hustlers saying ldquoremember merdquo. Saw some crocs and bought some more books Also saw a pack of gay dogs fucking each other. Off to Dakar tomorrow. Also man am I bad a pingpong Oh yes at a museum I saw an exhibit that presented both sides of the story of female genital mutilation Fuck moral relativism That shit is wrong http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/District-of-Banjul-/Banjul/blog-410983.html Well a rather long day of travel from Cap Skiring to The Gambia. Early rise thanks to Simon 530 and on the bus at 630. I hope he didnrsquot expect any cash At the Gambian border I got pulled in to the border guards office for my ldquoaddressrdquo. It soon became clear that I wasnrsquot going to be allowed to go anytime soon. However I wasnrsquot in a rush. Neither of us were willin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Gambia/District-of-Banjul-/Banjul/blog-410640.html I visited another town today to see a fetish ldquoAnimistrdquo traditional spirit tree. Although the town was only 10 KM down the road the people spoke a different dialect which Simon said he couldnrsquot understand. Itrsquos a very hot and nice day on the beach. The kids in the village Irsquom staying in seem to like me I gave them saluting lessons. They get along well although the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Senegal/Lower-Casamance/Cap-Skirring/blog-410347.html So these couple days on the beach are turning out quite nicely as the beach is beautiful and deserted. Plus mango season is on This means I can have my fill of mangoes while trying not to get hit by them as they fall from the trees Babakarsquos friend Simon is very helpful and has shown me all around and introduced me to many of his friends and ldquofamilyrdquo. I canrsquot seen to av http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Senegal/Lower-Casamance/Cap-Skirring/blog-409990.html