Hotel les Acacias Lome

... worthy of one of travelpod's red pegs, personally)<br><br>We were in so much pain by 3pm or so that when we saw our first sign for Tsevie, we decided we would definitely stay in the first hotel we saw along the road. That hotel was hotel Melissa--we paid 14,000 for it (3500 per person--which is a little more than 10 cedi or $7.04 U.S. dollars, since 10cedi=3000=$7.04)<br><br>We all showered and laid in bed for about an hour and then headed out to look for food so we could eat before ...

... ACROSS TOGO in one weekend. <br><br>The country looked like it would be about 50 miles across at the narrowest point, but that point was far north and wouldve taken us 8 hours or more just to reach by car--and there would be no immigration center for us to get our passports stamped there...so we settled on entry into Togo at the Lome border. <br><br>We didn't have reservations at hotels and knew that the cities in which we planned to stop on the ...

... day to sort things out at the airport (I was also including some extra time for the usual Ghanaian lateness). Somehow, Kwasi convinced me that I should leave at noon, which still sounded reasonable. My flight was at 5:30 pm, and the village is 2 hours from the airport. Then, at 11:30, Kwasi took the car to go to Akatsi on an errand! He returned at 1:30 and I quickly got in the car and left. This meant that I only arrived at the airport at 3:30, and, after sorting out some baggage ...

... drum assistants (and a future master drummer), is from this village. He and his father have trained the youth in Dzogadze to perform traditional Ewe music. The afternoon featured a performance of Agbekor (which we had been learning with Kwasi and Ledzi in Dagbamete). It was wonderful to such a great performance of this piece.<br><br> Sunday was dedicated to the shrine in Dagbamete. Everybody in the village goes, and the ceremony goes from 9am to 8pm. There was ...

Today we have sun, yeah! It has been cloudy and rainy for days now. We had breakfast at the hotel. Omelettes once again!! When we left the hotel we asked if they had a map of the city. They said no but that they could find us a guide for the day. So for a negotiated price of 25$ we had a nice man join us in our vehicle. What a treat! <br><br>He guided us to Sanga and Van Damme's neice&#8217;s place ...

... because &#8211; well, let me explain &#8211; I&#8217;m probably overstating my morals here because, I mean, if he was a millionaire.... but I mean a millionaire in GOOD OLD BRITISH POUNDS thank-you-very-much (maybe I'd settle for Euros, what&#8217;s the exchange rate like these days?) not in CFA &#8211; I most DEFINITELY can NOT be bought for a few euros!!! <br><br>No one tried to persuade me to keep those gifts.<br><br>After that he started calling me every ...

... AND WHY. Not an open question to everyone, just me!! Avoiding answers is not accepted. Luckily, Brigitte saved me from my being mighty uncomfortable (ha, I am so British...) by detailing for everyone her own preferences! So, in conclusion, I have left, and I have a new job. Which I will write about some other time because it's nearly 9 pm and thus the gate will soon be locked. Also coming soon - the story of the landlady's brother. It's a good one.

... br>On Thursday, my friends went to Cape Coast. Aunty and the family went back to Anyako for another part of the funeral. I went back to Medie. Alfred&#8217;s sister made banku for me as a "welcome back" meal. Friday morning, Uncle Sulley had some other guests that had arrived at the airport. They&#8217;re pretty cool. We all hung out and got to know each other a bit. <br><br>Originally, we were planning on going to Ashema on Sunday to perform at a wedding, but the ...

... was really nice. Then we ran into EK&#8217;s daughter, who was on her way back home from choir practice at school. We asked her and her friends to sing a song for us. It was very sweet. I have it on video. The ground is covered in shells. We picked out some really nice ones as souvenirs. It started getting dark, so we walked back to Todia&#8217;s house. Aunty came to visit us. I was cooking dinner, so I didn&#8217;t really get to talk to her, which kinda sucked.<br><br ...

... local schools up in the highland country of Western Togo. As anyone can imagine we were the center of attention, it seems that every kid and most of the adults in town came to inspect the foreign visitors, including the school principle and local Police and military. Apart from having a rock thrown at my tent as I was going to sleep it was a good experience.<br><br>As this is only a small country we will only be here for 3 days transiting through before crossing to Benin.