So I crossed the border from Ghana to the east and I'm now in the Republic of Togo, a tiny country. Both a and its almost eaually sized neighbor to the east, Benin, are the birthplaces of Voodoo and despite Christianity and Voodoo most people still privately adhere to some form of Voodoo practice. Contrary to what you may think, Voodoo is not about dolls and evil spells although that form of Voodoo known as black magic here, does exist though most people consider it quite pathetic.
Like Ivory Coast, Togo is a Francophone nation although there are some English speakers here as a result of the largest ethnic group, The Ewe people, being a cross border tribe with Ghana who also are a majority in the East of Ghana.
This nation is very much a dictatorship and the son of former president is now in power and he is unliked here in the capital as he is a northerner (north is mainly muslim and non-Ewe) whose father came to power in a coup.
In fact I practically met the president! Sort of, not really. As I was walking down the main street I always walk on I noticed people clearign the street as if there was an air raid siren followed by a soldier waving his AK-47 in the air while blowing his whistle.
People were quickly clearing the streets just like out of a film where there is about to be a mafia hit and the whole neighborhood knows it except the target. Except in this case I knew I needed to clear the streets as it was obvious and before I knew it a girl about 16 years old that didn't speak any English and only pigeon french grabbed me from the back of my neck and yanked me into an alley way and locked the hatch on the door. I kept trying to peak over the gate to see what was going on as this sort of stuff interests me but even to this she responded ne regaredez pas (Don't Look!). I kept trying to peek over and she kept pulling me down. I found out after the all clear whistle that it was the presidential motorcade and the young president doesn't like being looked at in addition to the the fact he is in the capital which is smack on the south east and despises him.
It was an interesting experience to say the least.
The people of Lomé and Togo are very nice and despite the unbelievable poverty here, people still go out and drink beer, so,ething not done ni Ghana by the locals.
I have been in the capital city Lomé for two weeks as I'm studying French via my "40 Lessons to learn French" book which is a very good book and my good friend Edem gives me a French test every two days based on the material I covered in the book. I barrage him with questions pertaining to grammar rules and of course proper pronunciation (the hardest thing for an English speaker learning French).
The great thing about Edem's French is that it is educated and proper because despite what perception you may all have, many here speak a pigeon French and/or pigeon English. Edem's wife speaks Ewe and hardly a word in French. Learning French from a pigeon speaker (they don't always realize they speak improperly) is very bad because you learn everything according to the local pigeon style, so Edem is a blessing.
As always the food here is 4 stars above Ghana's cuisine in everything from coffee, to meat and fish as a result of this being a former French colony instead of a British one. The people here are MUCH poorer then in Ghana but they still eat for enjoyment as well as subsistence unlike Ghana.
Another interesting side note concerns the new US embassies popping up in every single West African capital and the enormous size of them which is hard to put in words as they simply dwarf entire areas in sheer size. The embassy here in Togo is brand spanking new and is somewhere around the size of the Pentagon. The US embassy in Accra , also brand new, is even bigger. The first of the new West African US embassies was built in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and that one is only 3-4 years old.
An Italian friend of mine I met in Accra, works for a major Italian construction company and has lived in Ghana for 20 years won a contract to lay foundation for the new US embassy in Ouagodougo (capital of Burkina Faso) which is now completed. It is also a monstrosity of a building.
Most Africans are generally welcoming of these new super embassies, they brag that there US embassy is bigger then so and so, on the other hand they ask me if I know why the US needs such a big embassy in Togo or Ghana and I have no answer for them.
The Africans love the US in both Bush times and of course Obama but Clinton is still a god here.
Anyhow I will load up some pictures and attempt load videos though it can take five hours here. I check my email twice a day here while I'm in they capital here studying French, in a week or two I'm going up to Kpalime which has West Africa's tallest peak (3,000 feet lol) but it should provide some needed relief from the brutal humidity here as well as it is coffee country with lush hills.
Ohh and by the way I stepped in my first shit puddle, for almost three months I've avoided them but one got the best of me and it took some shampooing and blow drying to get the smell out.
Update: I will try hard to add photos and videos to this post so I'll send out notices each time I do
