Spring Break, Day 2

Monday, March 12

Tania woke me up around 7AM. She was off for a morning jog on the beach, and I was off on a mission to get coffee. Rachel didn't feel like getting up so early, so I went out by myself and walked down the Boulevard all by my onesies. In case you haven't figured out yet, few things are so satisfying as ambling about in a completely foreign environment all by myself. Lomé in the morning is just as lively as Accra in the morning. Everyone's was probably up since 5 or 6 AM, and their just now getting breakfast or going to work. I realized that the city was considerably cleaner than Accra. I even saw a few guys pulling around big carts on wheels hauling around trash.

I turned left on a side road and stopped at a little breakfast bar for coffee. There were stools on three sides where customers sit, and in the middle two men prepared people's breakfasts while the TV showed the news. I was served coffee in a bowl with a spoon, which I found very odd, but I figured, "Alright, I'll have coffee soup." It was actually instant coffee. Even though more people drink coffee in Lomé, it's still instant (and still satisfying when there's no other alternative). After coffee, I walked around a bit more down some dirt roads, and ultimately made a circle back to the hotel. When I came back, Tania wasn't back yet and Rachel was reading on the terrace. She looked very much in her element. I stretched and sang some, excited for a whole week of new places, new people, and new adventures.

When Tania got back, we all went to get breakfast. We didn't go far before we found a man cooking omelettes and oatmeal on a little table. He poured a ridiculous amount of sweetened condensed milk in my oatmeal, and I love him for it. A bowl of oatmeals, three omelettes, two baguettes, and two coffees cost us about $2. Pretty amazing, no? After breakfast, Tania wanted to call her parents, so we went to a telecenter. Telecenters are basically more personal and more convenient phone booths. You go in a make a call and then you pay for the call. No exact change necessary. Although we actually did have to get change because we discovered that no one would take our 10,000 CFA bills. 10,000 CFA is about $20, but in Togo, trying to buy something other than a very large purchase with a 10,000 note is like trying to buy a stick of gum with a $100 bill. People look at you like your crazy. Even the gas station didn't have change for our bills. We had to go to the bank to get smaller bills.

After Tania's call, we walked around the city. Lomé is much more like Kumasi than Accra in that people and buildings are a bit more condensed. The city is very pedestrian friendly, even though it's difficult to cross the street when there are twenty motorcycles coming at you, each an independent lane of potential death. The city was a bit more fast-paced than Accra. We saw almost no other white people in the city, and in general, we got harassed a lot less in Lomé than we would in Ghana. And when people did harass us, they gave up a lot faster. I should be careful when I say harass. No one means any harm. Most people are just trying to make a living so they direct your attention to what they are selling, and then some just want to talk to you because your white. I don't think it occurs to people that it gets tiring after a while having to constantly say, "No thank you" or "Non merci" or "I don't want your tanktops and CDs." But people in Lomé were better about it.

We went to the Museum of Togo, which was surprisingly cool considering its size. There were lots of ceramics (apparently beer pots are a big thing it the traditional culture), musical instruments, little fetish priest figures (I forgot to mention, most people in Togo and Benin still practice Voodoo), fertility gods with oversized genetalia, big Viking-like hats made of gourds with animal horns and sea shells, and then a little information on slave routes in Togo, as well as pictures of past rulers of Togo or Togoland, first German, then French, and now rightfully African. We started to play this large set of bells they had set up there. We weren't sure if it was ok to play them, but then the girl working at the museum came over to us and we taught her how to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She was fun.

When we left, we had a great conversation about Africans perception of America and being an American in Africa. It's a topic that I can never really get rid of because it affects every aspect of my life here. When talking to people, it becomes clear that they imagine America as this place where the gold just flows right into your pocket once you step on to the soil. It is true that one can make money in the US, but that doesn't mean your automatically happy. Life is hard for many in America, just hard in different ways. I actually met a woman later in the trip who told me her daughter lives in Atlanta, and when we asked if she had been there, she said, "Yes, I have. Life is very hard there." And because many people think Americans have unlimited amounts of money, some people just expect you to give them something or buy something from them that you don't want. It just becomes hard being the bad guy who has to tell everyone, "No," and then they look at you like you're the greediest person in the world. Maybe I am. I don't know.

Of course, we later had a discussion of aid to Africa. Tania was saying that she had been reading about how whites giving aid to Africa just gives Africans an increasing dependence on whites and probably also a bigger inferiority complex, neither one good. It's so hard to know the answers sometimes. On the one hand, I feel that one should give to those in need, but then on the other hand you just support the habit of begging. And then I think about my volunteer position at La Yahoushua Primary School. I am teaching the kids more than their teacher who never shows up, but still, how much of a difference am I making to these kids? There are plenty kids in New York City who need just as much love and help getting ahead in the world, many who I'm sure are in more depressing situations than the kids here.

Moving back to the day... We passed by a little craft markets with all kinds of beatiful wood carvings, brassworks, jewelry, drums, clothing, and any other little whatnots you can think of. Then we came to the real market, called the Great Market, which is one of the shining features of the city. You go into the market through a narrow lane between women selling food and then you are forever lost in the labyrinth on the Great Market. The whole time we walked through, we were constantly in a tight squeeze between people walking the opposite direction and market vendors on both sides. There were tons of little sidepaths that just led further into the labyrinth. We walked for so long, seeing everything from fresh grapes to cosmetics to fried cheese (which we bought and fell in love with).

After leaving the market, we walked to the beach since it was so close. Going to the beach (le plage) reaffirmed what I mentioned earlier about Lomé being much cleaner than Accra. The beach was practically spotless, a stark contrast to the dumping grounds of Accra's beaches. There were people along the beach sitting under palm trees, just chillin' out on the beach. I then bought one of the best sandwiches I've ever had in my entire life. I had a large baguette with avacado, beans, sausage, tomato, onions, and oil. And it was only 50 cent! Amazing. I ate it with much pleasure, and then right when I got done eating it, a travelling coffee vendor came by. It's like he was reading my mind. He came by with two big thermoses of coffee and and little glasses that he put the coffee into and then washed right after. I wish coffee would walk my way more often. I later saw some men pushing wheelbarrows around with coffee, tea, milk, and sugar. Such a great idea.

Then we stopped in at a supermarket. Lomé, like Accra, only has a few supermarkets, and going to them is just comforting. Supermarkets always are. I bought some milk, dark chocolate, and playing cards for the beach. We were kind of far from the hotel at this point, so we took zemidjans (the motorcycle taxis) back to the hotel. I was kind of scared at first, I won't deny. The drivers don't have helmets for passengers (or themselves for that matter... road saftey not on people's minds here... they don't even have seatbelts in the cars and they look at you funny if you do put a seatbelt on), which isn't good. I saw almost no other people holding on to their drivers, but I just wanted to feel secure on the bike, so I held on to the drivers soldiers. The ride was pretty amazing. Over the course of this trip, I discovered that I'm in love with riding motorcycles and I really want one. Travelling in cars separates me so much from the surrounding environment, but when riding a motorcycle, you couldn't be more in the environment, the wind hitting every part of your body, everything zooming by in full color, and all the while you're completely aware of how easy it would be to die... pretty amazing.

We hung out on the roof of the hotel for a little while, just enjoying looking down on the city, the buildings, people, water towers. It's so nice to look down on life from higher heights. If I were on a mountain maybe I could see a forest below, but I am on a building, and so I see the forest that man has built. I found half of a donkey's jaw on the roof. I'm not joking. It was just sitting in a big pile of rubbish. I don't know that it's a donkey, but we asked some guy what he thought it was and he pointed to my shirt which had a donkey on it. Either way, it's my awesome random trip souveneir - half a donkey jaw.

We left Lomé around 4:30 and took a taxi to go to a beach right outside of Lomé. The guidebook listed a place where we could camp on the beach, which sounded really awesome. Well, it turned out that that place didn't have tents. Instead, you have to bring your own tent and you pay them to be on the beach. Heh. So we went to another place that had little huts with fences around them. It was so cute. It was like a little home made of wood and straw with a sandy front yard and a big barrel of water next to the hut. Inside the hut, there were three single mattresses and a fan that didn't work. Works fine for me. We went for a little swim right as it was starting to become dark. The water felt amazing as always. The beach was absolutely gorgeous. The waves were spectacular, taking me all to all new heights. We later found out that night that there had been a ceremony performed earlier that morning where a cow was slaughtered. They slaughtered the cow because they've been having trouble catching fish recently, and they had the ceremony. We also found out that anyone in the water after 6 PM (which we were) could be arrested by the chief because of the ceremony. For thirty minutes, I could've been arrested by the chief. Unlikely, but still...

We spent the evening playing cards and eating dinner. I had fish with spaghetti. It was definitely the best fish I've ever had in my life. It was out of this world. And the spaghetti sauce was so good... mmm. Then we ate mango and chocolate until we couldn't take it any more (in truth, we ran out). Then we layed in the sand and looked at the stars. I meditated on them for a while. I thought about the universe, our solar system, and then I started thinking about earth and how lucky earth is to have so much amazing life everywhere that keeps recycling itself. Then we all fell asleep right there on the sand. We all eventually went into the hut, all on our own at different times. I fell asleep in the hut, but then I woke up a few hours later because I was so hot - the puddle of sweat again. Somehow, Rachel woke up at that exact moment as well and we both went to the door (we knew, we didn't have to say a word) and then went back to sleep on the sand. Ahhh... much better. The whole night was kind of strange because the guy who worked at the place wouldn't go to bed until we did (for safety?), and he ended up sleeping right outside of the fence like a little guard or something. Anywho...