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Published: January 9th 2008
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For those of you who aren't acquainted with turtle girl...yet...it includes me (obviously) carrying a heavy backpack...the rest is self explanatory. To start off i did not have a heavy backpack, but after a series of 'mistakes' in Togo it turned out that way...................
Crossing the border into Lome was really easy.. There didn't seem to be any obvious system and the constant wind blowing our documents away didn't speed up the process, if there was one..Anyways after the border nonsense i was DETERMINED to find a taxi moto (moped) to get to our hotel..So whilst everyone was changing money i spotted MY MOTO MAN. There he was...a giant piece of muscle with one of those haircuts that MC Hammer has, extremely tight denim jacket with old man glasses like mine on a moto. oh man it was too perfect! So we gathered up a mini moto gang with 3 other bikes for Evelyn and her two friends from Norway (Heidi and Anders) and off we went. Obviously moto man was the leader of the moto pack and drove in front...so we had warm air...Beach on one side with endless palm trees and a bright blue sky..It was a great
way to spend the first of December. Then we got to the hotel. Now Nichola had warned me that one room is really manky, and the other room has a sea breeze. So Evelyn the angel she is..chose the sea breeze room for us...unfortunately the others had to deal with a really off smell and cockroaches..which really sucked...but i cant say i haven't been there....
So after some beers we decided to visit a craft village where they make batik, sculptures, and paintings right infront of you. Finally shopping! I dont know what came over me..but its been a while and people were not hassling us to buy...which is a completely new sensation...so i got some small paintings for a dollar..and then some Christmas presents..and then went looking for a giant boubou for myself until realizing exactly the consequences of actually owning a boubou would be....then we hopped along for our 5th billion ride on motos..twisting and turning down small streets...nice way to see the city on a hot day...to a hamburger joint. This was an AMAZING hamburger...with fries in the burger..and REAL cheese...and they served good hummus..oh lord..i was in HEAVEN...then nap time before our big night out...(even
the pessimist in my office said the nightlife is great) so after a couple of drinks..glasses of rum with drops of redbull in them..we head out..only to get rejected because we are all wearing flip flops..not too worry because we just sat outside and danced and people watched the giant street party. It was a lot of fun...even the immensely disgusting toilet did not put a damper on the night..because the man dancing outside the toilet like he was having muscle spasms made the trip worthwhile..so to lure me away from the bar to find another toilet for Evelyn..i was promised hamburgers...oh yummy...but the best part about Lome is that you can go shopping at night! so left alone for two seconds i ended up taking a huge heavy elephant made out of tree home that i bought for 3 dollars. non non non nina...
Next day we head to Togoville..the origin of voodoo and a former slave port...and they also had a reported vision of the virgin mary so the pope came here...once in the seventies..and because his large boat was so holy it is laying to rot in a small corner in Togoville...so here i lug around
my heavy elephant on a pirogue crossing lake Togo...expecting to be creeped out..but instead was captured immediately by this man that insisted that we have a guide...which was fair enough because if we are going to visit a historical site we should know the history. but we just wanted to eat and rest for a bit..he decided to tag along and we ended up buying his lunch...which okay was going to be our tip...but for about 5 hours this man showed us around Togoville...and i was exhausted..we all were and it was 5 hours.....by the end delirious and sat on the thrown and pretend i was a voodoo priestess for a photo session...looking back definitely embarrassed (although the guide didn't seem to mind)..but priceless photos.. 😉
so we ended up checking in to the only hotel as the only guests and drinking gin and tonic in the pool..with excellent food for dinner...nothing creepy happened....at all..even though there was a cemetery right beside our hotel...but we went to bed early ..to wake up at six with our gang of motos waiting for us outside to take us to Aneho..and it was BY FAR the best morning here in Africa. Red
Voodoo Shrine
Look at the dead chicken around the neck! dirt road..bright blue skies...lush green forests...driving through tiny villages with everyone waving...utopia...only slight downside is that i had broken my sunglasses and there was constant sand in my eyes making them swollen and had dirt all over my face...very charming....
so we found a real taxi to take us all to kpalime 4 hours away for only 25 dollars for all of us..with no extra people squished in...so we then ended up in the idyllic mountains in the rainforest...eating togolese foufou..which was actually pretty good..then swam in my first ever waterfall....where swarms of beautiful big butterflies surrounded us...although getting to the waterfall anders and my moto collided and scraped my foot just a little..but it was enough to decide to not take another moto..plus my back was really sore from the stupid elephant that i was lugging around everywhere...
then we get to the auberge des papillions..or so we think...these men tricked us and told us that they would show us..and ended up taking us to their auberge...very naughty..but we had good food AGAIN.and actual local coffee..and went for a nightly shopping spree..where i ended up buying a HUGE (up to my chest) extremely heavy giraffe for 10
dollars...so we huffed and puffed in the morning about how mean it was to show us the wrong place when an old man (owner of the auberge des papillions) who had been wondering where we were seemed soo sad about being cheated by his neighbors...and of course its in my limited French vocab so 'you naughty boy' wasn't really getting our point across...but we found a lorry to take us to the main station 40 minutes away...in the back..with my elephant and giraffe....then from there..taken the WORST CAR in my life..the exhaust was in the car..and moldy stuff was hanging from the ceiling...and dust everywhere..only to exit and see someone sacrifice a goat and throw it at our feet as soon as we step out of the car Then we end up taking an even worse car if possible ..(could not believe it) that made soo much noise that all i could do was laugh...but there were actually large holes in the bottom and roof of the car...it was a rusty muck of a car...but the elephant and giraffe made it safely back to accra..and at every stop i found someone to offer to carry my giraffe so that didnt
become a problem...even though i had to tell this guy that was eying the giraffe that i would find him if he took it...(silence and hand gestures of a punch)...but now im back at work...and wondering how on EARTH am i going to get this giraffe back to norway..and paranoid to think what if my mother is right..that they stuffed my giraffe full of drugs for me to traffic!!!!
HOPE EVERYONE IS EXCITED ABOUT CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! only 2 weeks until im home for the holidays!
Write back and tell me what your up to lately.
Big lovin
nini
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