Well, this last week was a really good one. I had the opportunity to head up north to Basaar to meet some relatives that I had never met before. It turns out that I have family in Togo...kind of funny, I know. My dad's cousin married a Togolese woman, so even though their family lives in the states, her brothers are still here in Togo. So, last friday, I headed up to a town called Basaar to meet her brother Seidou.
I asked my Togolese friend Raphael to come along since I had never been there before and didn't really want to travel alone. He also speaks French, which was an added bonus for traveling since my French is still lacking. We got to the bus station around 4:30 in the afternoon and then did something I've become accustomed to in Africa...we waited....and waited...and finally left around 8pm when the bus was full. But because we left so late, we didn't actually get there until about 2:30am.
Seidou, me, and Rafael
Raphael and I shuffled out of the bus with all the half-asleep passengers (including us) and called Seidou. He sent his nephew to come pick us up on the motor bike...he found us pretty easily...I guess I stand out among all the Africans...I never really have figured out why though :)
It's a little awkward meeting family for the first time...I mean, you know you're related, so that relieves a bit of awkwardness, but it's always a little odd meeting people who are somehow related to you, yet from a different culture....and even though they spoke some English, they were definitely more comfortable with French, so it was all an interesting combination. Seidou and his wife were so sweet and hospitable to us, though. Even at 3am, they came out and chatted with us for a bit and then showed us to our rooms. I was really excited to see that I had a queen size bed all to myself (our beds on the ship are tiny bunk beds)...that was a special treat! And they even had a flushing toilet and running water in the shower...not hot, but hey, it was much better than a bucket bath. I really hadn't been sure what to expect (especially since we're in Africa), so I was very pleasantly surprised by the nice accomodations.
Saturday, we had some fun get-to-know-you time with the help of my friend and translator, Raphael. It was fun eating the African food and the traditional meals and drinks. I even got to drink the traditional Choko-chok drink that apparently brought Andy and Anna (my dad's cousins back home) together. I had never heard the story before, but Seidou told us tha Anna used to sell the drink and Andy would come to buy it quite frequently. After awhile, they got to know each other better as he would come to buy the drink, then became good friends, got married, and the rest is history. I think I may have expressed a little too much excitement about the drink the first day because the second day, we drank it 5 times (good thing it was the non-alcoholic version!)...they seem to have it everywhere all over town...it's really sweet and most of the time you drink it out of a wooden bowl.
Drinking some choko-chok
In the afternoon, we visited the market since it was the big market day. We definitely have a big market in Lome, which I have visited lots of times, but the one thing that really struck me that I had never seen before was the animal section of the market. There are people who have their goats and chickens on ropes out on display for someone to buy and cook for dinner...and then you see others walking home holding a live chicken in their hands or leading their new goat home...little do they know that they're being led to the slaughter...kind of sad, I know...but hey, it's Africa...it's normal to eat goats here.
After our visit to the market, we headed to a mountain with hopes of hiking up....but, only a little ways into the "hike," we were greeted by a man who told us we needed special permission to go on the mountain (I think it's because there is a place where people do Voodoo on the mountain) but that he'd be happy to go with us the next day. So, we arranged a time and headed back to the house.
View on our mini hike
That night, we watched the Ghana vs. USA game of the world cup...let me just tell you, it's hard to root for your own country when you're surrounded by Africans in Africa who want the African team to win...I was a little sad that the US lost, but hey, at least we made it as far as we did.
The next day, we had quite a little adventure climbing up the mountain. We were hoping to see monkeys since there are apparently quite a few there if you come at the right time (according to our guide who lived right next to the mountain), but we only saw one monkey at a house at the base of the mountain. The hike was pretty steep, very green, and quite interesting since there was no actual path. We were pretty much bush-wacking half the time and every now would find a faint trace of what may once have been a path. Every now and then, Napo, our guide would point to a plant and say "Don't touch that one, it's bad!' I knew better than to get anywhere near it! We made it to the top of the mountain and had a great view of the humble mountain town of Basaar.
We made it to the top!
(the view is overlooking Basaar)
Our tour guide was disappointed that we hadn't found monkeys (but not as disappointed as I was!), but he was adamant that if we tried again the next day and left a little earlier, we would find lots of monkeys on the mountain...so even though I was leaving to head north to Dapaong the next day, we worked it out so that I'd still have time to catch a zemidjan (the motor taxis) to the next town to meet up with the bus heading north from the hospital.
Unfortunately, though, we came back the next day, climbed the mountain again (it wasn't any easier the second time...still very steep!) and found...no monkeys! I wasn't too disappointed though, because we spotted one that had escaped from the trees that was roaming around at a house at the base of the mountain.
Afterwards, we visited Napo's friend, who had two monkeys he'd caught on the mountain. I had fun putting them on my shoulders and feeding them bananas. It may not have been the smartest idea ever to play with monkeys in Africa when I haven't had any rabies shots, but hey, you've gotta take risks sometimes right? :) Thankfully, I didn't get bit...I don't think there were even any attempted bites...the monkeys were a lot of fun and the family was very entertained watching me and my cousin attempt to get them in a good position for a picture...I think we succeeded though!
This little guy looked confused...guess
he'd never seen a white person before :)
Later that day, we heard singing and music (including lots of drums) from the house and I asked what was going on...turned out, there was a soccer game at the local stadium...just a high school match, but my cousin was happy to take me...I love that they don't even need tv to advertise what's going on in town...you can hear it from your own backyard! (although I do have to say that most of them have tvs...don't know what they'd do without them during the world cup!)
The soccer game was a lot of fun to watch....I mostly just liked being at the stadium and seeing all the people getting excited for their teams..kind of reminded me of high school football games back in the states...although I will say I've never seen a bunch of goats run across the field during a football game back home :) Gotta love Africa!
After the soccer game, we went back to the house to watch more soccer...another world cup game! Soccer has definitely become a new interest for me since I've been in Africa...partly because I started playing with some friends here on the ship..we usually play mondays and wednesdays..not to mention, my BSF (best ship friend) LOVES soccer...so her passion has rubbed off on me a little...I have to say, it was nice to be able to watch the game with Seidou and his family and not have to worry about finding all the right words to say in French since I no longer had Rafael there to translate for me.
Practicing my African momma skills with my
cousin's baby
Monday, I said my goodbyes and headed out for Dapaong....off to the next adventure!
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