After a Christmas with Muslims in Lomé, a week with translating and hosting two American relatives, and a week on the beach in Ghana… I’m back in action here in the Dapaong workstation!
Pre-visitors:
ARRIVAL OF GUESTS
Thursday the 26th, after meeting a few more cousins and then saying goodbye to everyone, his cousin took us in his car to the airport to pick up Gretchen and Mark! I had made reservations for a hotel room (on the beach, near the Peace Corps Office; far away from the cousins) the day before and when I called to verify the booking on the way to the airport, I found out that the women with whom I made the reservations apparently didn’t understand my French… Instead of 2 rooms (one for Gretch and Mark, and one for Emanuel and me) she booked one room with a spare bed (that comfortably fits one). I tried to keep my cool until we got to the hotel to fix things. In the mean time we were on the other side of town waiting on the arrival of my guests. The efficient airport customs of Lomé took over an hour for Gretchen and Mark to get through… And after 2 days of traveling on planes to get here, they looked exhausted. And I was so concerned about the hotel room that I almost forgot to introduce Emmanuel to them, I just started taking their luggage and helping them to the car. The first of my mistakes concerning my boyfriend and neglecting him while they were here… And the whole time he kept helping my every step of the way. Poor guy; I’m a jerk… So anyway, that night decided to cramp ourselves into the one small room because all others at Galion (the hotel) were booked already and I don’t know many affordable and clean hotels in the area. We settled in, and then got food and drinks at the restaurant/bar downstairs. And that’s where Emmanuel started to get annoyed because of my long conversations with my sister and Mark without ample translation. Just because I don’t understand half of what people say around me on a daily basis because they all speak local language too fast without translation, doesn’t make it any nicer of me to not have included Emmanuel more in the conversations. It's just rough when his English is minimal (and he doesn’t like practicing) and my 2 guests don’t speak much French.
Friday (27th):
Bought post bus tickets, explored the “grand marché” (big market), bought
Panye fabric for African gear and fabric for making suits, ate at the “fou-fou bar” (where Gretchen and Mark had their first taste of authentic African cuisine, and ate it with their hands as customary), visited the Peace Corps headquarters, talked awhile to my boss Rose, went for delicious vegetarian Turkish food and then got drinks at the hotel bar.
Saturday (28th):
Woke up early, checked out of hotel, caught a cab to the post office and then enjoyed a nice long 13 hour bus ride through the entire country from Lomé to Dapaong. Emmanuel was nice enough to offer his home for us all to stay in Dapaong (because apparently they have a few spare rooms I didn’t know about), so Gretchen and Mark didn’t have to worry about paying and staying in a hotel room. We were all pretty hungry after trying not to eat or drink too much during the bus ride (it doesn’t stop often or long enough when it does stop, making it difficult on the bladder if full), so we went to eat at Emmanuel’s uncles restaurant. We shared a huge plate of braised fish, salad and fries.
Sunday (29th):
Mark woke up sick to his stomach with cramping and nausea… So it was just Gretchen who accompanied Emmanuel and me to church (even his mom didn’t go because she was busy celebrating a marriage). I’m not sure if I mentioned this prior but I now go to church every Sunday that I am in Dapaong. When we got back, Mark wasn’t looking any better, so he ended up spending the day in bed while Gretchen and I ran around town doing errands. By the afternoon, the seamstress of Emmanuel’s sister came to take measurements for Gretchen and Marks clothes they were getting made out of the fabric they bought in Lomé. All meals were supplied by Emmanuel’s lovely mother.
We had breakfast at Emmanuel’s mom’s restaurant and then hopped in the car we rented for the day to the Nano caves! Mark was feeling a bit better but not 100 percent… So he was a good trooper for making it in the car ride there (with a terribly rough road) and the hike up and around the cliff caves. There were 2 boys that helped us get up to the top and then once there, the guardian of the caves met up with us to give us the proper tour. At first the guy didn’t recognize but he did after I said I was the one who made him crawl in the crawl-space (back in June when Alyssa was here), and that I was also the one who came over a year ago with all the other Savanes PCVs with my arm splinted, leg with a hug moto burn and bandaids all over the place (I had the bicycle accident and moto burn the day before)… He laughed and gave us the “good tour” because he remembered that I was a good tipper. And it was funny because Emmanuel pretended not to understand what the boys and everyone were saying when they were speaking in Moba (because he wanted to see if they would talk about us), and then at the end of the tour someone called Eman and he answered in Moba… All the helpers were so surprised and started asking why he didn’t tell them he was Moba! It was hilarious. The best part was that they actually did talk about us and you could tell they were so embarrassed to have been discovered. The car ride from Nano to Tami (on the back roads) was rough. The car was just as ghetto on the inside as it was on the outside and the windows wouldn’t close so we were all covered in orange dust by the timed we arrived to my village. Oh and at one point we got a flat tire, but thank god Eman was there because he helped the repair go faster. Eman didn’t stay in village with us because he wanted to celebrate the New Year with his family and friends in Dapaong, so he left with the driver, Lucien. There was no water in my containers when I got there so I rushed to get someone to fetch us some. While Gretchen was waiting, my host brother Boris (Mamba) went over to introduce himself. Gretchen stated her name and then explained in her best French that Larba (I) am her sister. Boris responded that “Larba est ma soeur aussi” (she is also my sister). After bucket showers and street food, we were ready to explore the market a little. Then my friends from the clinic treated us to drinks at one of the other village bars (there are 4, the one at my house being the biggest, newest and most popular).
Tuesday (31st):
I woke Gretchen and Mark up to Pancakes and coffee. The pancakes were uhh village style, sans eggs (because there are no eggs in village without chickens in them) but they seemed to enjoy them. I taught them how to handwash their underwear in buckets and how to bucket wash the dishes. Then while they went on a tour of the village, I cooked them up some Pate with Ademé sauce. After eating (with our hands again hehe), we went over to the Tami-Zongo school, with Director Daniel, where I am trying to raise money for desks.
We woke up the sound of kids screaming “BONNE ANNEE!” for treats. We gave Gretchen the responsibility of handing out the candy she brought from the States. We then went over to Director Daniel’s house for breakfast and our first drink of the day. And Gretchen had a nice sized entourage that seemed to keep growing the longer she was in Tami. We went back to the house and I told Gretchen and Mark to keep busy (get drinks and go on another tour) while I killed and cooked 3 roosters to hand out to friends who gave to wish me a happy New Year. With the help of my younger host brother, Boris, I finished all 3 chickens… I didn’t count the time but it took forever but it came out amazing. I got complimented by everyone that tasted the meat. Then it was time to eat and then party. We drank and danced at my bar until my 2 guests were all tuckered out. Gretchen was like Tami royalty; everyone loved her and wanted to dance with her! I won’t be surprised if people tell me they want her back and for me to leave haha.
Thursday (Jan 2nd):
Rushed around cleaning and packing and then went into to Dapaong to pick up the clothes they had made. Gretchen left before us because her moto guy (my friend Albert) was in a rush to get to Dapaong himself. He got a flat tire on the way and we took the other route to Dapaong so we didn’t pass them. Long story short, we all got there just a bit staggered is all. When the seamstress came, she showed up without clothes… They were finished yet. She pleaded to let her have more time and that she would send them to Lomé so they would be there for us after our Ghana leg of the trip. We agreed, not happily though. Eman’s mom made us z vegetarian lunch and then the director and I rushed to hand over a piece of paper (the desk budget proposal) to his inspector and then to the post office (where there were 9 packages we stuffed on a moto, some random stranger helped us get them to the workstation) and then back to Tami to pick up our bags. We saw mama Rachel on the way there, so Gretchen got to meet her (Mark took the other way with the director this time). Then two friends and another guy brought us across the border to a small town, where we then took a truck to Garu (a slightly bigger village). We didn’t have any Ghana currency and didn’t know the exchange rate. But the lovely woman at the “guest house” was nice enough to help us with both problems (well the exchange rate was solved using handy iphones of Mark and Gretchen).
Friday (3rd):
Car to from Garu to Bawku (1.5hrs). Then took a van from Bawku to BolgaTonga (“ hours). Bought bus tickets and then had the longest walk around town looking for food ever! The heavy backpacks and heat didn’t make the 3 hour wait and walk around any more pleasant. Then finally the bus departed (after many luggage issues), and we spent 16 hours in that bus down to Accra. There were police stops just about every 30 minutes to “counter thieves”… I made a nice friend on the bus, who became my “pee time” buddy and gifted me water at the end to wash off my face. The man sitting on a stool the whole ride next to me, on the other hand, wasn’t as nice. He tried to fondle me at one point in the ride and stopped abruptly when I smacked this crap out of him. And at one point our driver got beat by a policeman at a checkpoint because he didn’t slow down fast enough… And we had to wait 2 hours for another caravan of cars to join.
Saturday (4th):
Got to Accra and then went straight to the beach in El Mina. Gretchen and Mark picked the nicest hotel/resort and we bathed and ate… Very well earned. The room and hotel was fabulous, I even had two beds to myself!
We spent the next couple of days at the resort pretty much. Soaking up the rays, swimming, eating, and taking hot showers! We got out to visit the El Mina slave castle at one point too! It was a nice historical stop and had great views of the area.
On Wednesday, I met a friend at the bus station to pick up the clothes… But they didn’t fit so Gretchen and Mark decided to just leave the fabric behind because they were tired of the whole mess. We went to the Artisan Market to pick up souvenirs, went to the PC office to do errands, and then back to the hotel to checkout, eat and then head to the airport!
Thursday I had a GAD meeting from 9-12, and then sped over to the American Embassy to get a Power of Attorney document notified (for my stupid SallieMae loan that is giving my trouble), and then caught a night bus to Dapaong that arrived Friday morning around 4.
Friday I ran around doing errands as co-house manager, and some personal errands as well. Like trying to get my Togocell number back because I lost my simcard in Ghana…
And last night I was able to spend time with my friend Sandra, who is Togolese but lives in France with her French husband, because she flew into town for a friend’s wedding. I met her through a previous PCV, and it is through her that I met my current boyfriend, Emmanuel.
So I’m heading back to village shortly and back to the grind!
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