After Benin, there was Togo.
In Benin, we had met Edith and Grant in Abomey. We had gone on safari in Pendjari Park. We had seen the tata sombas of breathtaking Natitingou. We had swum in a waterfall where I had a panic attack half way across the pool and had to be rescued by Mat, which by this point had become kind of a funny story.
And that’s just Benin! If I included all the adventures from the beginning of this journey, it’d look something like this:
The pyramids, temples, hot springs, and a three-day boat ride across the Nile (the two of us with our friend, Wes)
The rock hewn churches, Awra Amba, the hike in the Simian Mountains, traditional music and dance clubs, meeting Mengesha, Messay. Alem, and countless other angels lighting our way and helping us out
FINALLY meeting my family (!!!), seeing drill monkeys in Calabar, going to Kalakuta Museum (Fela’s final home), and discovering a few gems at the Jazzhole in Ikoyi.
In each place, we met people who inspired us with their generosity and openness.
So, Togo found us awash with the joy of our adventure. We only allotted four days for Togo. I was interested in discovering the country, but I was anxious to get to Ghana!
We splurged on an air conditioned suite at a guesthouse in Kpalime (pronounced: PAL-ee-may), thinking that we would take some time to rest comfortably since we were nearing the halfway point of our trip. The owner of the guesthouse, a 60 something year old Togolese man, set us up with a pair of drivers (motorcycle taxis) to take us to our top destinations: a butterfly trail and a hike in a botanical forest.
The next day, we were surprised to find that our drivers both looked younger than eighteen years old. They were tentative and I noticed they put a lot of effort in making sure they seemed like they knew what they were talking about. They grew on me fast! 🙂 They took us on a quick trail with butterflies darting by our eyes every few steps. So many beautiful colors, it was hard to keep up. The trail led to a natural pool with a small waterfall. It was very shallow and I could see the bottom. I waded in the cool, refreshing water and wished our time wasn’t so brief.
Butterfly trail
Wading in the waterfall after the butterfly trail
Soon it was time to move onto the botanical forest. The motorcycles climbed winding mountain sides, giving us amazing views of the city. Some difficulties with one of the bikes delayed us for awhile, but soon we were on our way again.
Stalled for awhile
Views from the mountain
Motorcycle selfie!!
We arrived at a park with a pathway lined with art and framed boxes of butterflies and insects for sale at the entrance. The air was cool with the shade of the trees. I was immediately impressed with our guide’s knowledge of the forest. He told us about healing plants and showed us natural colors found in plants that can be used as paints. He made Mat a butterfly tattoo with all of the colors we found. I was kind of jealous until he made me this tattoo that I liked much better than Mat’s anyway!
My tattoo!
Pineapple in the wild
Sour apple, soursop, guanabana…delicious however you call it!!!
Wish I could remember the name of these fragrant flowers!
The guide blew my mind from the jump!
Soursop flowers- beautiful and medicinal
The ubiquitous banana tree!
Both Mat and I had joked with our motorbike drivers that on the way home we would do the driving. And whaddya know? Our young friends decided to take us up on the offer! They handed us the keys, gave us a quick lesson, and we each drove a few miles on the open road.
This was a rare part of our trip where we stayed somewhere briefly enough to actually JUST BE tourists. Being in a country for four days isn’t enough time to get used to life, become familiar with streets, or find hidden gems. So we were just your average tourists for a few days. Anyone who has traveled for longer than one month knows how essential these moments are.
The next day we said goodbyes and made our way to the bus station to go to Ghana. We got to the station at 9AM expecting to catch the early bus. But after buying our tickets, we waited another five hours before we left. We grabbed the two front seats on the bus, but then we found out that we were directly beneath a goat tied to the roof! We had prime seats for watching the baby goat skid down the windshield the entire ride.
The open road after a glorious day
After hours of riding we finally crossed over into Accra. Did we really just ride in a van for 8 hours with a baby goat strapped to the roof?? (I didn’t even talk about the chicken under the backseat either!) We hadn’t eaten in almost ten hours. We had no reservations for a place to stay for the night so we spent some time finding a place. The streets were dark (not unusual) and we were tired from our day of travel. At long last we found a decent place to lay our bags and venture out for dinner.
It was the end of January 2015 and I felt I had finally found my travel groove. It was no longer a vacation, but a way of life. And I loved it. I had no idea that what lay ahead in Ghana would inspire me more profoundly than anything I had seen thus far.
Did we just ride 8 hours with a baby goat tied to the roof??? Ghana, here we come!!!
Truth And Travel 