Justin In Ghana: Togo

A couple weekends ago, five of us decided to get out of the country for the weekend, so we headed to Togo. This involved spending Wednesday afternoon getting passport pictures taken and applying for a Togolese visa (and getting lunch at Frankies). On Friday morning, Joel, Anna, Sarah, Stephanie, and I grabbed a trotro heading for the border town of Aflao and hopped on. Once at the border (about 2 1/2 hours later) we got out and crossed on foot. After entering Togo, I was very glad we had Stephanie along because there wasn't an ounce of English spoken. We grabbed a taxi and headed to Hotel Le Galion in Lome where we got dinner, planned out the rest of the weekend, and stayed the night. On Saturday morning we woke up and walked along the beach which was only a block or two from our hotel. We came back and got breakfast and then decided to get a tour of the city on motorbikes. We rode past some pretty cool buildings downtown, through the market, and along the beach. It was an amazing ride and probably one of the best parts of Togo. We got back to our hotel and decided to head a little further East to stay the next night. We loved the motorbike ride so much that we decided to ride them to our next destination, Chez Alice, just east of Lome. After getting our bungalow, we walked down the road in search of some lunch, and with the help of a couple nice ladies, we were successful at finding some good spaghetti. Later, we walked along the beach and found a place to hang out. We met another nice Togolese lady who wanted to practice her English, and we stayed on the beach to watch the sun set. For dinner, we headed to a really nice hotel and got some delicious salads. We relaxed on the beach under the starlight before heading back to our bungalow to sleep. Our bungalow had two beds covered with mosquito netting. The three girls shared the bigger of the two beds and us guys had to share a twin bed that had a mattress made of foam...not comfortable at all. I felt like I was in a hospital bed that was folding up on me because my butt was sagging a foot or two lower than my head and legs. In the morning, we walked down the road to get a little breakfast, relaxed a little bit at Chez Alice, and then headed back to the University. It was a successful trip and a relaxing weekend. It was a little difficult, though, not really being able to communicate with anybody, although that was a feeling I'm glad I was able to experience.