Kpalime

February 11-12

A group of us were off work this weekend and went on a trip to Kpalime (pronounced Pal-i-may).  I unfortunately worked the night shift Friday night, so I left on Saturday morning on no sleep (not a good idea, but I didn't want to miss out!)  We had some plans, we had a contact of a guide that could take us to a waterfall on Saturday and a guide to take us to the mountain on Sunday. We knew we needed to get to the bus station to take a "bus" for 2000 CFA from Lomé to Kpalime. But first, we needed taxis to the bus station. As funny as this sounds, the taxis were probably the most difficult part. We walked to the gas station where it is easiest to find a taxi. First we had to find someone who knew what we were talking about and where the bus station was.  Then we began bargaining with drivers for how much we should pay to get to the bus station. Finally, we ran into one of our day workers from the ship who knew where the station was and how much we should pay, and she helped us. There were 10 of us, so we piled into two taxis (4 in the back, 1 in front), and off we went! Easy as that? Of course not! Once again, the police spotted us white Yovo's and we were soon pulling over again.  The police said we could only have 4 people in each taxi (guess we don't learn well from previous mistakes, huh?). One person from each car had to get out and take motor bikes (they are everywhere here), and the drivers each left to pay the fine to the police.  [As a side note, it is typical that many people ride with a lot of people per taxi here, however we are white and are stick out like a sore thumb.]  Then we all drove off again, 2 on motorbikes, and the rest in our 2 taxis. We drove for a little while then we saw the girls on the bikes stopped on a side road. We soon pulled over to learn that they were going to get back in our taxis and we would drive down side roads the rest of the way to avoid police. We made it to the bus station.

rear-view mirror. doesn't do the bus justice :)

There, we were greeted by many Togolese men who directed us where to pay. We each paid our 2000 CFA for our bus ticket and piled into a large van with 4 rows of bench seating inside, what we were told was enough for 19 riders: 4 in each row, 3 in front (including the driver). Needless to say, we were preparing to squish.  With just our group, we were a comfortable fit. Then we sat in the heat and waited. And waited. After about an hour and a half, we finally had enough people join our "bus" and enough cargo on top that we proceeded. We made stops along the way to pick up more people and to drop some people off.  We ate our snacks we packed for lunch in the bus.  We made one stop for the bathroom (they get out of the van, lift their dress, and go...). We all stayed in the bus :) The bus driver agreed to take us to our hotel if we would call him the next day to make our return trip. We obliged and dropped our stuff off at the hotel. The hotel was nice, we had 2-3 per room, with wall mounted air conditioners, running water, a flushing toilet, and a pool! We talked to our potential guide who told us the only way to the mountain was by motorbikes (you ride on the back of a motorcycle driven by a Togolese man), and they rarely have helmets available so we had to decline. Since the mountain opportunity was gone, we decided to just wander around and look in shops. When we finally lost momentum (mine was lost long before this moment...), we sat and grabbed some waters and sodas. The group was then ready to wander to dinner, at which point my body gave up and couldn't go any further, so I returned to the hotel for a nap.

When I got back, there were chairs and tables and music set up all around the pool for a Togolese celebration.  There was loud music and food and dancing and singing (for part of it, "Happy Birthday" was sung in Ewe for about an hour straight).  We quickly learned we weren't going to get to bask in the pool as we had been looking forward to for the long, hot day's end.  Surprisingly, I was still able to sleep a little bit, and my body was just thankful to lay down. When the group returned about 3 hours later, we all gathered for some games and snacks then went to bed.  They had met someone at dinner that was going to be our new guide for the mountain the next morning.
We all set our alarms and woke up ready for another adventure. 

measuring rainfall

thermometers and measuring humidity

Sunday went much more smoothly :)  Our guide came to get us around 8:15. We were able to take a bus up the mountain most of the way, then hike a little higher, and walk back down.  It was beautiful, I was so happy to be among so many beautiful, green trees, to breathe in what felt like fresher air than Lome, and to be away from the clutter and noise of the busier city (not to mention be OFF the ship!) On our little hike up, we came across a weather man. He showed us what he does daily.... He checks the temperature every hour, then also checks the temperature in the ground for farmers, etc.  He also measures rainfall when it occurs.  Also, he uses a globe-like device to measure what time sunrise and sunset are. The sun shines through the globe and burns little holes into the papers, when the sun goes down the burns stop, so you know what time it was.

"sunrise, sunset..."

We stopped at a hotel on the way down for breakfast. When we came, the owner offered us a choice of beef or chicken and rice. One of the girls asked if there was any breakfast food like eggs and toast. He agreed and went to prepare the food. About an hour and a half later (as we were all struggling to stay awake and carry a conversation), he brought out two pots of hot coffee accompanied by steamed milk (!!!) and sugar cubes. Then he brought out large platters of fresh, toasted bread with butter and jam on the side.  After that came our own personal omelets! They were plain with some seasoning and the perfect size... SOOOO delicious. Maybe one of the best omelets I have had.  We were very pleasantly surprised and our stomachs and hearts were filled.  We traveled down the mountain and came across a waterfall on the way down, where we stopped to take some pictures.
 

after breakfast - rejuvinated! with our guide.

The hike down ended up being pretty long and we were not meeting our timeline (as usual) to meet our bus driver for the ride back to Lome. So we called them and they met us at the bottom of the mountain, took us to the hotel to check out and pee, then we paid our guide and proceeded to Lome. Sweaty and tired, we were surprisingly upbeat from the adrenaline of such a positive day and nurturing breakfast. I enjoyed the ride home, got a window seat (yay!) so I could feel the breeze and look out at the scenery, the people, the animals, and take in all of Togo.  Amongst the heat and dust and noise, it felt so peaceful.