Voyage à Kpalimé!

Some more travelling (at last!) this weekend - set off for Kpalimé, which is a moutainous little city/town right next to the border of Ghana, and only about 2 hours away from Lomé. Having been used to leaving extra early for any travelling, it was very odd to saunter down to the taxi station at about 8.30, especially as I'd already been awake for 2 hours which is unusual! In comparison to normality, the taxis for places like Kpalimé are superly organised - they have an office, including a man to run it and a ticket! Am pretty sure I haven't had a single ticket for anything transport wise since I've been here, they tend to reserve them for things like the Post Office which has inherited much of the French bureaucracy... So we paid our fare (the equivalent of 4 pounds for a 2 hour trip...) and were directed to a taxi. It was in pretty good condition really, as it still had all its windows and windscreen, plus all four wheels, which is often a rarity. A 7 seater minibus, it already contained 3 people when we got on to make it 5, but here in Togo there's always room for more of everything! After about 2 hours, 6 more people, and a roof-ful of lugguage of various sorts, we finally set off for Kpalimé; departure only slightly marred by a skirmish between our driver (sporting a rather fetching pink princess mobile phone holder on his belt) and another possible passenger, who had in fairness already entered another taxi. This minor factor didn't stop our man trying his absolute hardest to persuade him that in fact he would have a far better ride in our taxi. The other man didn't quite seem to see it himself, can't think why...

So after a comparatively short wait, and an extremely bumpy and noisy journey, we arrived in the town of Kpalimé! Our next challenge was to find somewhere to stay. So we headed for the cathedral (the largest and only church we could see) to search for a hostel which was supposed to be opposite. And guess what, it was there! And they had a room! We did have to do some explaining though because the question 'do you have a room for two, with two beds?' was met with much consternation and Ewé speaking and general confusion. In the end, the lady just took us to see the possible rooms directly - we then understood the confusion as every room has a Togolese double bed which I am sure is bigger than a standard hotel double at home! One of them hardly fitted into the room and we'd been asking for two so you can imagine what they must have been thinking... After such an easy find, we headed straight to the market to find some lunch. I unfortunately (or fortunately...) fell into the temptation of freshly made botoquins - literally just out of the oil! - which are basically like Togolese beignets and so bad but so good! We finally settled on a little café/bar which we'd passed within the first minute, and got a plate of spaghetti with chili tomato sauce and some meat (non-specific... I stayed veggie) which was ENORMOUS and cost 1 pound...

We had then planned to visit the Artisanal Centre, and also to do a guided butterfly walk from a place my Lonely Planet had recommended. However, despite being mentioned in the LP, the place for the walks was apparently non-existent. After many many explanations, and being driven round for miles by two taxis trying their best to help the yovos in distress, we finally gave up and just headed to the Centre Artisanale instead. As they say, all things happen for a reason, and we were not just a little bit pleased when it began to rain (Togolese style of course...) as we'd ended up with the indoor option! So spent a pleasant couple of hours looking round the Centre and seeing the men at work. I was SORELY tempted by a wooden elephant that had actually been made before my very eyes but resisted... and regretted it! The level of skill there is so high, it's incredible, but the prices were of course elevated by at least 3 times sadly. Was asked several times if I'd like a 'cadeau' but having already experienced the Togolese cadeaux in Lomé I politely declined! In general, cadeau just means slightly lowered price, so as I know I'll go back to Kpalimé I can wait. What a sensible girl!

When the rain stopped, we walked back to the hotel and having stepped over an electricity cable which had come down on the way there, we weren't surprised to find a severe lack of electricity. This did however pose a few problems - in order to have any light at all we had to have the door open, which attracted the mosquitos and we were also trying to shower at the same time which is not the easiest thing to do in the pitch dark, let me assure you. Had a small incident involving my soap and the loo... but all was resolved when the helpful men came round with candles and matches! We then went out to eat at a sort of famous hotel/restaurant called Chez Fanny, owned by a French/Togolese couple so serves French food. Had garlic steak-frites, and realised just how much I miss meat like beef! The only meat we have here is chicken, sometimes a meat sort of more like duck, or the packet frankfurters for salads etc. Then followed it up with a sugared crepe with vanilla icecream - YUM.

On Sunday, we continued the good food with an amazing breakfast in the same little café, which consisted of coffee/hot chocolate, bread and omlette cooked with tomato and onions - again for the same price and again YUM! The day before we'd met a man at the Centre who had directed us to a village called Kouma Konda where he was a guide and he knew we could do exactly what we'd been wanting to. So, because we're on an adventure here, we took him at his word (which more often lead to difficulties than success with the men here!) and found 2 motos to Kouma Konda. Bless the man, as soon as we got there we were greeted as friends and everything was explained, and within 20 minutes we'd ordered our lunch and set off on our guided butterfly walk, also including coffee and cocoa explanations etc, as well as pointing out of all sorts of medicinal plants, PLUS a waterfall! It was amazing to be in the middle of the bush there - it was just so so green! And cold too! We saw so much - plants to cure impotency, rabies, skin diseases, as well as all the plants they use for the vegetal painting which is very popular there. When we got to the waterfall we were a little reluctant as the water was chilly as chips, but we did it and it felt so so good afterwards! Our guide offered to take us up Mount Klouto as well, where we'd bee able to see Lake Volta in Ghana, as well as all of Kpalimé and beyond but really sadly we were seriously running out of time. So we hiked back up the mountain, to our lunch waiting for us. Then we finally found motos to go back down, got our stuff from the hotel and bought some avacadoes from the market to bring home before managing to find a full taxi. We hopped in, and were away! A more pleasant (though hotter) journey this time, as I had the most beautiful baby EVER sitting right next to me :) he even held onto my finger :D

All in all, a really good weekend! More good news is that we spoke to the children about this extra English/Human Rights club I want to start and had already 60 put their names down from only 2 classes!!! I know that at least half won't turn up, but that makes still between 20 and 30 who are genuinely interested in learning. It's such a good feeling to have, and seriously encouraging. Going to go through the lists with my teacher when we have the other one and then form 2 groups to go once each a week as there will be too many to have just one group, at least at the start. Will let you know how it goes - hopefully will start next Thursday with one group, and am pretty excited after that, but am also feeling the pressure! Definitely enjoying school more now, and even though they're naughty and noisy, the children certainly win prizes for cuteness!