On Tuesday morning, at 4:45 am we left, again, for the STC bus station in Accra in hopes of getting on the bus to Lome, Togo. Fortunately, there was no traffic and we were there in plenty of time to get on the bus and by 6:30 we were on our way out of the city, finally! The bus ride was a lot longer than any of us had planned and we didn't arrive at the Ghana-Togo border until 11:00 am. More than half of the road along the way was unpaved and the giant potholes made the ride not for anyone with a weak stomach. I did get to see a lot of the countryside and how it changes as you go eastward into Ghana's Volta Lake region. The lake takes up a large part of the eastern region of Ghana and stretches north over half the length of the country.
It was absolutely beautiful, and my photo taking abilities in a moving bus do not do the scene justice. We also drove through a lot of small villages, where the bus was forced to slow down due to a variety of different types of speed bumps/hills that act as speeding enforcement on the 'highway.' By the time we reached the bus station in Aflao, which was right on the border, we were all exhausted and not ready to be bombarded by cab drivers and money exchangers. One cab driver tried to charge us 4,000 CFA ($10) to drive us to the border, which was actually only about a quarter mile away so we ended up walking. But, he almost succeeded in completely ripping us off because of our lack of knowledge about the CFA (currency of French West Africa). Crossing the border was an experience. First, we had no idea where to go and were aimlessly walking around waiting to be yelled at and directed by the border officials. Also, it seemed like there were a lot of people who were allowed to cross without even being looked at twice, so I was a little flustered. After about a half hour we made it to Togo! Finally. On the other side of the border there were taxi drivers and money exchangers, just like in Ghana, but suddenly everyone was speaking French. This small detail caught me off guard, but thankfully I took french in highschool so I could communicate (ha!)... Actually I resorted more to hand gestures and the fact that one of my friends is still taking french at NYU.
Lome is very different than Accra, and because it was a French colony, definitely has resemblances to a French city. In fact, many of the tour guides on Lome called it "the Paris of West Africa" The boulevards are wide and EVERYONE rides around on mopeds. The main boulevard runs right along the edge of the beach, and the road is pretty much all sand. The beaches are pretty much empty, except for the few fishing canoes and soccer players. It is impossible to go swimming because the waters are too rough, but there were large groups of men pulling in giant fishing nets on shore. We walked along the main boulevard until we came to a beautiful hotel with a cute pool and bar out front. Unfortunately, the price wasn't exactly what we were going for so the owner told us to check out Hotel Galion down the block. The hotel had an equally beautiful location and a nice bar and restaurant, but the rooms were not exactly what we were expecting... It was cheap though, only about $30 a night for all four of us in one room, with running water and two fans! We decided to skimp on the room so that we could have more money for food and other activities. After arriving at the hotel and unpacking our things, we explored the rest of the city a little. We came to a giant hotel, called Hotel Palm Beach that had a beautiful pool on the roof, so we decided to take the rest of the day off and lay by the pool.
It was the most relaxing afternoon I've had in a long time, and we got to see the sun start to set from the roof, which was amazing. By the time dinner rolled around we were all exhausted so we just went to a little restaurant by our house where all 4 of us pizza! It was the first time in 2 months since I've had pizza, so it was definitely a treat. After dinner we were listening to live music at the bar at our hotel and we met a recent NYU graduate who is currently in Togo for the Peace Corps! It was really exciting to talk to an American who wasn't in my group and hear their experience and perspective of West Africa.
Wednesday, we woke up early to go to the markets in Lome, which were very similar to the markets in Accra, just harder to bargain because of the language issue. Then, we explored the city a bit more and enjoyed some french food. I had a Croque Madame and we split tiramisu and chocolate ice cream sunday. We wanted to go for a walk on the beach but our hotel owner advised against it because apparently foreigners are often robbed on the beaches at night, and we didn't want to take our chances, so we just turned in early. Unfortunately, one of the girls I was traveling with got sick on Wednesday night so we had to head back on Thursday morning. The trip back over the border was much calmer at 6am and we made it back to Accra in about 4.5 hours. Even though we were only gone for about 3 days, I was completely exhausted and ready to be home in my bed! I'm looking forward to the quiet weekend of fall break that I have left! -Kalin
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