Togo

Another stamp in the passport! This weekend I visited Togo, or more specifically, Togo’s capital city Lome. Actually, I was required to leave Ghana to renew my visa, and Togo is the closest border to Accra. This was not only my first venture out of the country, but also my first time traveling alone! 4 hours in a tro-tro found me staring across the border at a different country, one with more recent civil unrest than Ghana, but with an even more beautiful coastline and the home of Voodoo.

I walked across the border (a first!), and although I tried to take pictures, my camera was met with hushed “Obruni! Put that away! The police will arrest you!” Although getting thrown in Ghanaian prison would make for a great blog and perhaps even a future book deal, I chose to not enfuriate and terrify my family and took the locals' advice. After one quick shot of course…

(if you look very closely, you can see the black star of Ghana over the border, kind of right above that lady's head....)

Lome has been referred to as the “Paris of Africa,” and immediately after crossing the border I understood why: Most obviously, everyone speaks French. But beyond that, the women sell baguettes on the streets rather than Fufu, cabs are overshadowed by Vespas, pretty flowers and trees line the roads, and the streets include lots of European style bistro seating. (I’ve been looking for shady places to sit and enjoy the streets of Accra since September; now I know they’ve all been annexed to Togo.) Amazingly, the streets also actually had street signs (what a concept!) in French. Lome even takes advantage of its beachfront locale. The palm-lined beach stretches wide out to the Atlantic, and most of the city’s streets are actually sand. (I avoided the beach though, because Lonely Planet told me that's where I was most likely to get mugged. That and people poop on the beach. Ew.) The city reminded me most of New Orleans. Very cool.

I stayed at a (very cute) Swiss French hostel called Le Galion on Rue Camomilles, with the nicest garden area to sit and read.

It was great to have my own bedroom for a night and I settled in happily before dark. The night was not as pleasant as I’d hoped, however, because my nice soft bed turned out to be infested with bedbugs. Around 4am when the first roosters started crowing and I was still swatting at various crawlers, I decided to cut my time in Lome short and leave Saturday afternoon.

This still left plenty of time for exploring, however, and I spent all of Saturday morning on a walking tour. Lome is smaller than Accra and I easily walked across all of it in a few hours, including a meander through the market where I saw a woman carrying 4 cow’s heads in a bucket. Not sure what you’d cook with them, but hey, there’s something for everyone.

One of the nicest things about Lome was the people. Togo seemed a bit more off the beaten path than Ghana, and there were even fewer tourists here than in Accra (which is saying something). As such, people didn’t seem as intent on getting my attention as they usually do. One quick nod, and they left me alone. This was a nice break from Ghana. Or maybe it was that I just didn’t understand anything people were saying (beyond Merci or Ca va mon cherie?) and I could enjoy the city blissfully unaware of any catcalls.

Some of the more residential, quiet, tree lined streets outside downtown:

(My photography skills leave a LOT to be desired. These looked so much better in person. So I guess you'll all just have to go for yourselves!.....and I can practice on the camera....)

For those who are interested in the tourist route, Togo is the original home of Voodoo. "Wait!" you might say, "I thought Haiti was the home of voodoo!" Well the African slaves who established voodoo in Haiti and the Caribbean were originally from Togo, and it's there that you can explore a great market filled with fetish trinkets and the like (leopard skin potion anyone?). I didn't make it to Togoville, the best fetish market, because I wanted to leave before dark, but it could be fun the next time.

I also noticed a lot of UN vehicles and police around Lome, and even crossed the border with a few UN officials. I'm not sure the specifics of their missions there, but I do know that I could happily live in Lome for a while. A very neat place, and I'm sure the rest of the country has plenty of awesome things to discover. So for any of you seeking employment with the UN: request placement in Togo!