by the sea in Togo

Ok, so technically Lomé is on the Bight (bay) of Benin, not the "sea" but close enough, right?  It certainly is much different from landlocked Mali!
We came to Togo primarily to buy a car.  Cars are shipped into the port from Europe and North America.
As long as we were going to be by the sea, and especially because our 6th wedding anniversary was during our trip, it made a lot of sense to spend a few days at the beach enjoying the tropical paradise. (it is absolutely lovely, but I will admit that we stayed in a non-luxury $35 per night hotel and it was safe but surrounded by ghetto shanty towns!)
Here are some pictures from the beach:

 We could see the shipping port from the hotel's private beach.  There's a fishing dock just next to the regular docks, and men go out daily in these little boats to fish.

 Something about gazing out to sea makes one feel very small.  JP put his feet in the water, but saved his swimming for a neighboring hotel's pool.

 Here he is!  JP took swimming lessons in Minnesota when we were last in the states, so now he can swim a bit!  Me, I am like a fish, or a mermaid, or whatever.  I can't remember learning to swim, I think I just always could.  I would never win a race for speed or form, but I could comfortably dog paddle around all day.

 We had the pool all to ourselves.  It is just next to the ocean beach, so we could hear the crashing waves and feel the breeze.  I said it could only be better if we had some drinks in coconuts, and JP jumped out of the pool and found a guy to get us some.  I think they came from the trees right there.  After we drank the coconut water, JP had the guy hack the coconuts the rest of the way open and he ate the inside.  I didn't know that the inside is soft and squishy if the coconuts aren't very old, did you?

 Just about in the center of this picture is me!  I swam a few times in the rough salty water.  I love it!

 

I like this view!  We made some nice memories by the sea.

downtown Lome twice

When we crossed the border from Burkina Faso into Togo, I was able to get a temporary visa at the border pretty quickly and easily for $30.  They said that once I got to Lomé I’d need to go downtown to get the visa processed/extended for staying longer than 7 days in country.  We wound up paying more in taxi fees going back and forth to the visa place than the price of the visa!  It wasn’t so bad though, and it gave us a reason to go to downtown Lomé twice.

The first time we went I had to pay $1 for the visa application form and then go to one of many photo shacks nextdoor to get some pictures taken.  They require 2 passport size photos, but I’m not sure what they do with them; there wasn’t a picture copied onto the visa like I’ve seen for some other countries.  When the form was filled out and the pictures ready, I turned them in with my passport and was told to come back tomorrow to collect my passport.
Since we were already in town (which is a long taxi ride away from where we’re staying,) we decided to check things out a bit.  We went to the National Museum, for lunch, and to a grocery store.  The National Museum isn’t very big, but it wasn’t very expensive, either.  A guy who worked there was our guide, and we were the only visitors at that moment.  The guide took us through the 2 big rooms filled with old stuff and explained about Togo’s culture and history.  It was pretty interesting and took 1 hour.
We went to a cheap canteen restaurant place for lunch to have some rice and sauce.  Every meal of African food I’ve tried in Togo so far has been too spicy for me.  In Mali we usually have hot sauce on the side, but it seems to be mixed right in here!  Then we went and found a grocery store because I wanted to see what they have compared to what we can find in Mali.  I stocked up on a few items that are much more expensive in Mali, and JP got some potato chips. :)
The next day we took another taxi into town and I got my passport back without problem. Then we went to a really nice Asian restaurant which was a great treat.  I had read on TripAdvisor that the Artisanal village here is pretty nice and the sellers are surprisingly not aggressive, so we went to check that out.  It was indeed nice.  JP got a giant mancala game and I watched some painters working and got talked into buying one of their pictures.  We also walked around in the big central market and visited the Catholic Cathedral which is on one side of the market. 

 

Here is a shot from the window of the taxi of some of the vast stretches of beaches, just lovely.

bus trip = swollen feet!

Here is what one of my feet/ankles looked like after 31 hours on a bus: (they both were this swollen)

and here is what my feet usually looks like:

It took 3 days for them to go back to normal!

Big Bus Trip

Come along with us on our big bus trip!  I’ll tell you all about it…
 

On Friday we talked about trying to get tickets for the following Monday to take the bus to Togo.  JP made some calls and had a friend go to a few bus stations in Bamako to try to find some tickets on the bus.  It would be cheapest and easiest to get on a bus that would go straight through from Bamako all the way to Lomé instead of trying to piece together different segments of the trip.  So we would need to get a ticket in Bamako to save our places, but we could just get on the bus when it stopped in our town on the way.  Well, we learned that the tickets for Monday were sold out, and the next bus after that would mean waiting a few more days… or we could go on Saturday, as in tomorrow!
So a little change of plans there, instead of the whole weekend I had less than a day to get everything in order and set to go.  Saturday morning I was running around making copies, dropping off posters and fliers for upcoming English classes, going through the contents of the fridge to make sure that was in order, and getting everything else arranged for us to be gone for 2 weeks.  Oh, and packing suitcases.  All of the pre-travel preparations are for me the worst part of any trip, especially packing.
We were supposed to be at the bus station at noon on Saturday.  The bus had left from Bamako early that morning.  JP came home at 11:35 from getting his hair cut in town and jumped in the shower.  I’m not complaining, this doesn’t surprise me anymore, but his last minute-ness does add to my stress a bit.  The mechanic was outside waiting to bring us to the station at 11:40.
We somehow got to the station at noon and the bus wasn’t there yet. Phew!  We found a bench to sit on to wait.  We waited.  Then we saw a man making/selling sandwiches.  We hadn’t eaten lunch.  So we each got a sandwich.  The man cut everything (the bread, tomatoes, onions) with a big sword-knife.  I asked and he was fine for me to take a picture.

We ate our sandwiches and waited a bit more.  Finally at 12:45 JP went to ask the guy working for the bus company when he expected the bus.  The guy said that the driver had recently called saying they had broken down or had to replace a tire or something, and they were still about 3 hours away.  I said, “Let’s go home!”  We took a taxi home.  I was happy to be able to take a shower and have a rest.  It’s so humid this time of year in Mali that you can just sit still and be dripping in sweat even though it isn’t all that hot (mostly in the upper 80’s.)  I wanted to start the long trip feeling as fresh as possible.  I was expecting that there would be air conditioning in the bus, so once we got in the bus we might even feel cold!

At 4 we went back to the bus station (the mechanic came again to take us) and didn’t have to wait too long before the bus arrived.  They put our little suitcases under the bus and we brought our backpack and handbag up in the bus with us.  We found seats and sat down, and it was then that I looked up and around and realized that the bus did NOT have air conditioning.  I confess I experienced a little moment of panic and told JP that we should probably just get off the bus, that I didn’t think I could handle the expected approximately 30 hours straight of travel with no A/C.  The next available tickets were for 4 or 5 days in the future, plus they probably wouldn’t give refunds for the tickets we already had, so we stayed put. 
It was suffocatingly hot when the bus wasn’t moving and at least breathable if the bus was moving.  There were no windows that could open; the only air came from a vent on the ceiling that had to be propped open with old plastic bottles.  Except when it started raining and then they had to shut the vent so that water didn’t pour in.  Then it felt like we were suffocating again.  And it didn’t smell nice in there, so it was like gross stinky suffocating.

We had to cross 2 borders: the one between Mali and Burkina Faso, and then between Burkina and Togo.  That takes time when it’s a whole busload of people needing to get through.  We had to all get out and get back on the bus 6 times to show our passports.  At one place we all had to bring all of our luggage from under the bus and open it to show inspectors.

Thankfully the bus didn’t break down.  It was slow with all of the long stops, but it could have certainly been worse!  However, about halfway through the trip I was really regretting that we didn’t decide to fly.  It would have cost us at least $500 more to fly, but at that point I was thinking it would have been well worth it.
I made efforts at sleeping.  JP is a champ at sleeping on public transportation.  We found some rice and sauce to eat on the roadside on the way.  We didn’t find many places to go to the bathroom that could be identified as a bathroom. 
But JP did find a bathroom after much searching at one stop.  Everyone else was back on the bus after what was supposed to have been a quick stop, but JP wasn’t there.  I didn’t know where he had gone.  We all waited.  And waited.  It was at least 10 or 15 minutes of waiting that felt like eternity to me.  I was afraid they were going to make me collect our bags and get off the bus and then leave without us.  I could hear people saying in Bambara, “it’s the white lady’s husband,” and “maybe he is sick, “ “maybe he got lost,” and “maybe he has diarrhea.”  The bus company man came and asked me if I could try calling JP on his phone to figure out where he was.  His phone was on my lap, so that wasn’t going to work.  A few guys got out of the bus and went to do their prayers.  Finally JP came back and no one said anything to him and the bus started driving again.  He had been pretty sick and it took a long walk and lots of asking to find a bathroom (meaning a hole in the ground surrounded by walls and a plastic kettle of water as opposed to a bush.)  So that was the “exciting” moment of our trip.
Otherwise there isn’t much else to say.  It took us 31 hours to get there; it was midnight when we got to our hotel to sleep (after nice hot showers to scrub off all of the bus grime from a 31 hour trip!)  My feet/ankles/legs were ridiculously swollen, but I’ll make the next post to show you that.

not a moment too soon!

"Did you get a car yet?"
That's a question I've been asked a lot of times in the past year.  And with good reason.  We did fundraising for a car when we were in the states, and that was over a year ago now.
We were able to buy the car in the picture from another expat in Mali.  It is not the car we fundraised for.  This was just an inexpensive temporary solution.  This car is a 20 year old Toyota Corolla Station Wagon.  We are so thankful to have been able to use this car for the last while, but we are really looking foward to having something newer and more dependable (and with good air conditioning!)  We plan to go to Togo next week to get a car.

This photo could be a joke, like "how many Africans does it take to fix a car?" or something like that.  That's JP at the left, I think he's just there to lend moral support to the mechanic.  The other guy without his head under the hood is the guard for the guesthouse we were at. 
JP drove to Bamako to get me and my mom.  We had to push start the car after we stopped to get something to eat the night we arrived. Fun.
The next morning the car wouldn't start, so JP got out of going to the zoo and mom and I took a taxi while JP tried to get the car fixed.  It turns out that the starter needed replacing.  Cars are pretty worn out after many years on hot, dusty Mali roads - beyond the worn-out-ness that any 20 year old car would have.

The starter only cost $30 including labor to replace.  When we got on the road for the 6 hour trip home it was clear that the car had some other issues.  JP had gotten really sick the night before our trip home, so he just scrunched himself in to lay in the back seat of the car and I drove the whole way with the car having serious issues.  Welcome to Mali, Mom!  It wouldn't accelerate properly, which is terrifying on a highway where it is necessary to pass slow moving trucks and there is oncoming traffic in the other lane.  The car was not fun to drive, but we made it home.  The mechanic took it, which meant more time of my mom's trip in Mali without a car to use.  We got the car back a few days and $300 later, though, and it's doing much better (for now at least.)  Thankfully, a friend offered to let us use her much better car for the trip to take my mom back to Bamako to fly home.  That was such a blessing and we really felt the difference in riding in her car. 

So not a moment too soon!  We are ready to buy the car that so many people have generously contributed to in our fundraising effort.

been busy traveling!

Well, I am finally posting something on my blog again... I think it's better to put something than nothing, so here's something. :)  Here is a summary of what I've been up to in the last two months:

**End of June:  traveled to Bamako by bus myself to fly to France.

**Then:  flew to France!  I love Mali, but after 14 months in country I was pretty excited to go somewhere where it's not so hot, I can sort of blend in, and they have plenty of cheese and chocolate (and almost any other food goodie you could want, though peanut butter is a bit hard to come by!)

**first weekend of July:  stayed with friends who were in Mali for a long time but are in France now, it was very good to see them and to go hiking around in some fresh green nature next to a lake.

**July: did a summer French language course and met some awesome people there.

** end of July after French school:  flew by myself to Poland for a few days of cheap backpacker type tourist fun

**first part of August:  I met my mom in London.  We spent a few days there and then a few days in Paris before flying together to Mali.
We were in Bamako for a few days and home for a few days and had a good time in spite of JP and I both getting really sick for a few days each.  Thankfully my mom didn't catch our sickness!

**Now:  trying to get my brain and life organized.  We are planning a trip to Togo next week and I need to be ready for English school registration when we get back.

So that's the quick version.
The photo is of me at the Palace of Versailles just outside of Paris.  It feels almost scandalous for me to wear a knee-exposing skirt after always making sure my knees are well covered in Mali.  I actually wore this skirt so much that I'm pretty tired of it now because after I left French school I didn't get my suitcase back for 13 days (thanks KLM!) so I didn't have many clothes to wear!

end of the school year

 We've just finished kids' club for the school year.  The shoebox gifts were finally given to the kids after all.  It seemed safe to give them out on the last day because we will have a break after this, so I don't need to fear having 50 rowdy kids from the neighborhood coming in looking for presents.  In the bottom photo you can see kids holding their shoeboxes in black plastic bags.  We thought it would be better to send the kids home with their boxes hidden like this.  They also didn't open them up at club, which I also think is a brilliant idea that prevented problems.  The only problem I did face was that once the kids left, women with babies came looking for me to ask if they could have a box for their babies.  The presents weren't meant for babies, and we only had a limited amount, so I had to say no.  I hate being the mean guy, but you can't make everyone happy all time.