Hotel Equateur Lome

... to mind the heat until 9:30. So, when it got to be 9:30 and none of us had had both breakfast and water that morning we got kind of freaked out about it. We hadn’t passed any towns or huts since Tsevie essentially. The landscapes were pretty amazing, though. The countryside of Togo is a very vibrant green and we were in the maritime region technically I think so you could see out pretty far. This was the one day when we went up ...

This was probably the hardest part of the hardest day of our trip across Togo. <br>We left the hotel at 5:30 but started our walk IN TOGO (there was a short distance btwn the hotel and the border, then we had to go through immigrations) at 7:30 am.<br><br>I was a little surprised about how abrupt the shift was from an English-speaking country to a French speaking country. It was literally as if we crossed the ...

This isn't really an update, more just a quick note to say that I have not in fact been kidnapped or decided to disappear and am indeed still in Togo. I've spent the last three weeks in a little village working in an orphanage and teaching English to pre-teens (which, I've discovered not entirely to my surprise, I do not enjoy even a tiny little bit, which doesn't bode well for the next few months in France...)!<br><br>I did TRY to ...

... while travelling. The first step was a motorcycle trip through the bush. Then we were the hopped on a huge bus that was going to Accra, and we were the only two passengers. After watching French Kung Fu movies for a couple hours, we arrived in Accra and took a tro tro to Ledzi's house. That night, we went to a 'jazz&#8217; concert in Osu. I quickly learned that a &#8216;jazz&#8217; concert in Ghana means a live band is playing, no matter what style. We watched some the band play ...

... Early the next morning, we continued our studies with Kwasi. This week, we learned the drum parts, lyrics (in Ewe), and dances to three West African pieces: Gahu (a greeting song), Borborbor (recreational), and Agbekor (for war). I found learning the lyrics (which are never written down) was the hardest part. I realised that the more familiar I am with Ewe, the easier it will be to sing (and understand) these pieces.<br><br> On Tuesday, Dagbamete hosted a music ...

... there. He was indeed, and when I went, he was beign VERY strange and asking me who I was with and why and would I please leave and go with him and generally being all creepy and jealous... so I quickly told him sorry, but you&#8217;ve got the wrong idea... and there ends (more or less) the story of The Cousin.<br><br>The story of the Brother, however, that has only just begun! The next day, I got FOUR missed (or rather, "missed"...) calls while I was at work in ...

Breakfast by the pool, what a great way to start the day. The rooms were not worth the price that we paid but you have to splurge some of the time. After checking out, we went to the market to find a place to get pictures for our visa for Togo. We decided to look at the port as it is one of the largest in West Africa. We were unable to get down to it due to how busy it was; the guards said to come back on Saturday or ...

... of the questions they are asking themselves. Are we discussing how the staff of The Social Centre can prepare to apply for fonds mondial; or are we discussing how The Social Centre can prepare to apply for fonds mondial? It was crazy! And then - the reports! Ok, it is perfectly understandable to write reports after going on visits (oh, I should explain that, a lot of what the Social Centre does is visit people in need for whatever reason ...

... family (mama, 2 teenage girls, 2 younger girls) sleeps in the living room, so I can't leave or come back once they're asleep (which is very early). There's an outside toilet, and no running water. I have now mastered the art of showering from a bucket (bless them, they heat up water for me every morning) and flushing the toilet with a teapot. I have a bucket in my room as well for night time emergencies!<br><br>There's no fan in my room, so I'm very glad it's cooler here than ...

... at the end, watching me. It wasn&#8217;t Kwame or Jaguar, the two guys that were cool. It was the other guys that worked in the woodcarving shops. Uncle Sulley&#8217;s guests bought some things. We ate lunch. Then, when Uncle Sulley was buying hides, one of the wood carvers, King George (gotta love the names), came up to us. He said that he had been looking for me because he thought I left, and he was asking the people in the other shops if they had seen me. He ...