Here I think a small deviation is necessary to discuss the merits of the Togolese roadside café. Some basic information - prices usually range from 250CFA to 1500CFA maximum, company is variable and menus are all pretty much identical, although we did come across one serving Quaker Oats! These menus include about 7 different varieties of each staple - spaghetti, rice/couscous, meat, omlette. The breakfast options also include coffee, with or without milk, hot chocolate, ditto, or a combination of the two, again with or without milk, plus bread. Some of the delicious combinations of meals include spaghetti and chips, omlette and peas, couscous with tomato sauce and peas and omlette and spgahetti. I can thoroughly recommend all of the above. (note - when they say peas, they mean an entire can of tinned peas, it turned out to be surprisingly tasty!) Consequently, having discovered one of these such cafés next door to our hotel, we commenced by spaghetti simple, which actually means spaghetti with tomato, onion and chili sauce, and followed up by breakfast, omlette sandwich (which means eggs cooked with tomato and onions in bread) and Milo café (coffee plus hot chocolat, plus condensed milk, which is the only milk used in these cafés!) - YUM. We later discovered a very pleasant alternative to this in Kpalimé - Quaker Oats simple - which means porridge and sugar! Rather filling though as you have to remember Togolese portions are double regular size, be it breakfast, lunch, supper or any kind of food.
So after a very nice breakfast with Obama, we asked an entire list of questions to the owner of the café (here, it's essential to note that this time, the company at the café was very useful indeed!) about where things were and how to get to them. During this, we discovered that 2 of the things we wanted to see no longer existed, but we got directions to the rest. These included the old grand mosque, the new mosque (Sokodé is a Muslim dominated area btw), plus the little market of Zongo, and the grand marché of Sokodé. This was indeed a morning of mosques - we saw about 8! All very very beautiful though, and we also eventually stumbled across the old grand mosque which looks unmistakably like just a normal house, so we'd already passed it a few times before we realised what it really was. Wandering round, we saw the little market, little wasn't an understatement, and also the big market where I bought yet another pagne... We also went into the new grand mosque, which includes a school and is actually a kind of Muslim compound they called it. About halfway through the morning, we decided to cover our heads with the scarves we'd brought for that reason and from that moment on, we had the nicest reaction we received for the whole trip. Every single person called out to us and greeted us, both in their own language and in French; people genuinely really smiled at us (and interestingly, the Togolese don't often have an extremely easy smile before you know them); and although I think we received more attention by covering up than by not, it was definitely the most whole-heartedly postitive attention. Plus, several people actually came up to us to say that it was good we were wearing scarves, and they liked what we'd done. Well, when in Rome...
After our touristy tour of the town, we went back to the hotel, collected our bags, and headed to the taxi station. Our next main destination was Atakpamé, but we'd decided to stop for a little in a village a little way outside, called Anjé/Anie as it was supposed to be very picturesque and we thought it would be nice to have a little break from sight-seeing. It's close to Atakpamé, so the idea was to leave Sokodé early, spend a little time in Anjé and head onto Atakpamé to find a hotel before it went dark. What an idea that turned out to be...
As always, on entering the taxi station with our bags, we were surrounded by 6 furiously gesticulating Togolese men (honestly, the animal kingdoms competitions in the mating season are nothing compared to how this can be sometimes...) all persuading us that actually we wanted to go to their destination, in their taxi and at their price. After trying and failing to negotiate properlybecause the prices seemed very high, we headed in the direction of the 'price board' (prices chalked on the wall by a board saying Anjé etc) to get the official version. Unfortunately, this time the drivers weren't exaggerating... So we made our decision huddle and after five minutes, decided that yes it was worth it to go to Anjé and we'd just spend 30 mins or so there having a drink, and then get a normal taxi brousse to Atakpamé. Bear in mind, this was 12ish and the journey to Atakpamé straight is marked at around 2.5/3 hours so we were doing fine for time. So we got our tickets from the man, eventually extracted the change, and sat down to wait.
2 and a half hours later, we set off for Anjé. And another thing, there was a yellow bus waiting at the start which was very very keen to take us. Alone. Naturally we refused point blank, despite all the excuses the driver gave. But guess which bus we ended up taking... Apparently everything happens for a reason...! After nearly 3 hours we still hadn't reached Anjé... So practised our now-honed skills of negotiation on the driver, who of course wasn't having any of it until we reached a price that he couldn't refuse. However, after that we drove straight through Anjé and onto Atakpamé, arriving there at 5.30pm rather the worse for wear to say the least.
Arriving in the town, we walked, found a hotel and just stopped. Unfortunately, the situation didn't massively improve after that. So relieved to have found somewhere to sleep, we jumped on the restaurant next door as the easiest and quickest option. Plus, we'd realised that it was a good 10/15 minute walk to get into the main town so this was probably the only option for us at that moment! Having made enquiries and been told that it was 3000CFA for chicken and chips or fish and chips, we judged this expensive, but worth paying just to have something. So we went in and sat down, ordered drinks, and then asked to see the menu. The waitress then informed us that there was no rice, it was pate. So we again asked to see the menu. And she repeated what she'd just said... It turns out that the chicken and chips we wanted was on order only, something we'd neglected to pick up earlier, and that it would take 30-60 mins. Now being familiar with the Togolese sense of time (or lack of) we decided to go for the pate, with fish. So that came. Cold. So we sent it away to be warmed up. And by the time it came back, we were far less inclined to eat than before. This resulted in a desperate foray to the all-night fruit market we'd passed on the way into town, one mango and a rather messy preparation in a room which had 'no cooking' clearly marked on the door. Pretty sure it didn't count as cooking though... Cheers for the penknife Daddy - if that's the only time I use it, it was worth it. We also had some cookies left that we'd bought in Sokodé so those were also much appreciated.
And it was a really good thing we got him, because the village was TINY and we definitely needed a guide to tell us where to go. It was very interesting to look around, and it turns out it was a MAJOR centre of communication for the Germans. Based on no model, it was begun just before the turn of the century, and between August 1st and 22nd 1914 a total of 229 telegrams were sent and received from there. Impressive to say the least! We also enjoyed the accompaniment of small children which were included in the guided tour, free of charge.
After that adventure, we headed back to Atakpamé, mentally girding our loins for the departure, as we had heard several nightmare stories about people trying to get a taxi out of there. Compared to the day before, the departure was not a problem. In about an hour and 15 minutes, we'd found a taxi, got seats, tickets, fruit to eat and left - speedy service! The journey however was marked as 2 hours in the guide book and took a total of 3 and a half... This did include an emergency petrol stop - when I say emergency, the engine cut out and so we glided to a stop halfway up a hill... Luckily, the little oil-selling men who are everywhere here came to our rescue and after a dodgy start we were back on route! And a major plus - this was now the 2nd bus we'd had with music, which was SO needed, especially about halfway through the journey when we realised we weren't at all where we thought we should have been by that point!So we eventually got to Kpalimé and headed straight for the nice hotel I stayed in last time, opposite the very lovely church. Sadly they only had expensive rooms left, but the difference was relatively minimal and bearing in mind it was already nearly 6 we thought we'd better just take what we could get! And guess what, we found another fantastic café, that we'd both been to before and consequently had supper, and breakfast there yet again ha.
Will write about Kpalimé in the next post, although not a huge amount to say, as we both already knew it so did simple things.
x
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