TOGO: THE MOTORBIKE GANG CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Upon arriving in Ghana, we got our visas stamped. That stamp allows us(foreigners) to stay in Ghana for 60 days before needing to either a.) pay more money to get a new stamp for another 60 days or b.) leave the country and come back. I had been in Ghana for almost 60 days, and so I decided it was time to venture out and try visiting the nearby country of Togo.
Togo is a french speaking country directly to the East of Ghana. I had been told that I needed to visit Togo for a number of reasons; primarily the food, motorbikes and beaches. My friends Jack, John and I decided to head out early Thursday morning. We caught a tro tro that took us to Aflou, which is a 4 hour ride from Accra. Aflou is right on the border of Ghana and Togo, so we got out there and walked across the border. We had heard that crossing the border was super intense, and drove most visitors to head to a bar straight after crossing due to the stress of it. Luckily for us, crossing the border wasn’t too stressful, mostly filling out forms and waiting for visas. Once we crossed, we exchanged our cedis(Ghana money) in for Cifas (Toganese money). Right away, people began approaching us and saying things in French. Neither Jack, John or I speak French, and quickly realized that would be a problem. It blew my mind that literally within the distance of less than 50 ft, we went from everyone knowing english to absolutely NO ONE speaking english.
We were asking around for the hotel we were going to stay at, Hotel Tano. A man approached us, who told us he would walk us to Hotel Tano, being that it literally was only about 500 ft from the border. The man’s name was FuFu, and he was our savior that week. He spoke a little english, enough to translate for us and help us get around. He turned out to be a worker at our hotel, and was such a sweet hearted man! We checked into our hotel, which was one room that consisted one huge bed that had to fit the three of us. The hotel was literally right across the street from the beach, with a beautiful view from the balcony. I would wake up early in the morning, go out to the balcony and read until the boys woke up. The first day, we walked across the street to the beach, where there were huts that served as restaurants/bars up and down the beach. (Restaurant= hut with a selection of rice or chicken haha) We relaxed on the beach, had a drink and eventually went back to the hotel. FuFu hung out with us that entire weekend, and knew of some really neat restaurants and nite clubs that he showed us. He bartered for us as well, as for most of the time the people try to give us the "obruni price" thinking we won’t know the difference. (Obruni price= ridiculously overpriced white person price)
My favorite part about Togo, hands down, was the motorbikes. In Ghana, people use tro tros and taxi cars to get around. In Togo, there are a few taxi cars, but mostly everyone takes Motorbike taxis. There are literally hundreds that swarm and take over the streets. You stand on the side of the road, and flag one down, it will stop and you hop on the back. There are handles behind you that are there to hold on to, but I usually wrapped my arms around the driver and held on for dear life, which the drivers thought was hillarious. Other people driving past would crack up as well, and yell " No afraid, no afraid" as in, don’t be afraid. And I wasn’t at all, I just wanted to hold on to something stable! We had been riding on the motorbikes all week without any trouble, and then.....I burned my leg. I was on the back of a motorbike, and was getting off of it, and for some reason I decided to get off on the right side, instead of the left like I had been doing all week. Subconsciously I must of known to get off on the left side the whole week, and I have no idea why I decided to get off on the right side that morning, but I did. Anyways, the exhaust is on the right side of the motorbike, and most of the exhausts aren’t covered there, so my leg
leaned against the exhaust, which was extremely, extremely hot. Instantly, I jumped up and my leg felt as if I had shoved a hot iron against it. The driver ran and got something to put on it, which helped the sting initially. He felt so bad, but I assured him it was entirely my fault that I decided to be an idiot and get off on the exhaust side.
That day, the burn turned dark dark purple, and it was so weird. It looked as if I had taken a purple marker and drawn a perfect huge oval on my calf. It had bubbled up a little, but not bad. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. We will get back to the burn later......
Our friend Jess had decided to meet us in Togo, so she crossed the border herself to meet us. Unfortunately, none of our phones worked in Togo, and she had no idea what hotel we were staying at. Naturally, she kind of freaked out (from what she told us) but asked the immigration workers if they had seen 3 white kids come through the day before. They said yes, and were very nice to her and searched through stacks and stacks of forms to find her ours, which showed what hotel we were staying at. So, she found us, thank god! Jess studies French, so she was a HUGE asset to have with us!
The food in Togo was amazing! They had cheese, real cheese! Which is non-existent in Ghana. And hamburgers, which I don’t even really like at all in the states, but after not having any type of American food in so long, the hamburgers were phenomenal. And the bread, oh the bread! French Baguettes were sold along the streets by various venders, and I am almost positive I had a baguette in hand at all times. Needless to say, the food was my second favorite thing about Togo, and at times I am tempted to take a 4 hour tro tro ride to Togo simply for lunch.
On one of the last days, Jack and I decided to spend an entire day at the beach. We got there early, and layed down in the sun. Early in the morning, the fishing boats go out and lay the nets deep in the ocean. Then, they row the boats back in, and begin to pull in the nets. This process takes hours, and pulling in the nets looks extremely difficult. There will be up to 30 men pulling one long rope, singing chants to be on the same rhythm. Jack and I were laying there, and there were about 3 different groups of fisherman around us pulling ropes in. We felt weird laying there in the sun while these men were working so hard. Jack decided to hop up and offer to help. The men thought that was great, and taught him the songs and let him help pull in the nets. He probably helped for over 2 hours, and it was really cool to watch. I would of helped, but my lack of upper body strength meant I would probably just be in the way haha. Jack was way into it, and at the end we got to see all the fish that were in the nets. Tons of huge stingrays and eels! They gave him a huge fish for helping, which we ended up giving to FuFu to cook. He said pulling in the ropes was one of the most intense workouts ever, which would explain why all of the Ghanian and Toganese men are so fit!
It was nearing our time to leave Togo, and my burn had gotten worse. While at dinner the last night, the middle of the burn tore open, causing the wound to be exposed. It was extremely painful, and the locals told me to put toothpaste on it to keep it clean for the time being, which burned intensely! Once back in Accra, I got the supplies to clean it myself, and kept it bandaged during the days. But, it still got worse, and ended up looking pretty nasty. I went to the hospital where they cleaned it for me, which was definitely more painful than expected because the nurse took cotton swabs soaked in iodine and scrubbed it (open wound) and took off the remaining skin. It was pretty infected, and I have been on anti-biotics which have finally started working! The infection is going away, and is almost completely gone. And it is finally starting to scab over, thank god! My friends have been great and help me clean it and change the bandages, since I get really nauseous looking at stuff like that. But, overall Togo was fantastic, and I cannot wait to go back and ride more motorbikes! And I will not make the mistake of getting off on the wrong side of the motorbike again!
Upon arriving in Ghana, we got our visas stamped. That stamp allows us(foreigners) to stay in Ghana for 60 days before needing to either a.) pay more money to get a new stamp for another 60 days or b.) leave the country and come back. I had been in Ghana for almost 60 days, and so I decided it was time to venture out and try visiting the nearby country of Togo.
Togo is a french speaking country directly to the East of Ghana. I had been told that I needed to visit Togo for a number of reasons; primarily the food, motorbikes and beaches. My friends Jack, John and I decided to head out early Thursday morning. We caught a tro tro that took us to Aflou, which is a 4 hour ride from Accra. Aflou is right on the border of Ghana and Togo, so we got out there and walked across the border. We had heard that crossing the border was super intense, and drove most visitors to head to a bar straight after crossing due to the stress of it. Luckily for us, crossing the border wasn’t too stressful, mostly filling out forms and waiting for visas. Once we crossed, we exchanged our cedis(Ghana money) in for Cifas (Toganese money). Right away, people began approaching us and saying things in French. Neither Jack, John or I speak French, and quickly realized that would be a problem. It blew my mind that literally within the distance of less than 50 ft, we went from everyone knowing english to absolutely NO ONE speaking english.
We were asking around for the hotel we were going to stay at, Hotel Tano. A man approached us, who told us he would walk us to Hotel Tano, being that it literally was only about 500 ft from the border. The man’s name was FuFu, and he was our savior that week. He spoke a little english, enough to translate for us and help us get around. He turned out to be a worker at our hotel, and was such a sweet hearted man! We checked into our hotel, which was one room that consisted one huge bed that had to fit the three of us. The hotel was literally right across the street from the beach, with a beautiful view from the balcony. I would wake up early in the morning, go out to the balcony and read until the boys woke up. The first day, we walked across the street to the beach, where there were huts that served as restaurants/bars up and down the beach. (Restaurant= hut with a selection of rice or chicken haha) We relaxed on the beach, had a drink and eventually went back to the hotel. FuFu hung out with us that entire weekend, and knew of some really neat restaurants and nite clubs that he showed us. He bartered for us as well, as for most of the time the people try to give us the "obruni price" thinking we won’t know the difference. (Obruni price= ridiculously overpriced white person price)
My favorite part about Togo, hands down, was the motorbikes. In Ghana, people use tro tros and taxi cars to get around. In Togo, there are a few taxi cars, but mostly everyone takes Motorbike taxis. There are literally hundreds that swarm and take over the streets. You stand on the side of the road, and flag one down, it will stop and you hop on the back. There are handles behind you that are there to hold on to, but I usually wrapped my arms around the driver and held on for dear life, which the drivers thought was hillarious. Other people driving past would crack up as well, and yell " No afraid, no afraid" as in, don’t be afraid. And I wasn’t at all, I just wanted to hold on to something stable! We had been riding on the motorbikes all week without any trouble, and then.....I burned my leg. I was on the back of a motorbike, and was getting off of it, and for some reason I decided to get off on the right side, instead of the left like I had been doing all week. Subconsciously I must of known to get off on the left side the whole week, and I have no idea why I decided to get off on the right side that morning, but I did. Anyways, the exhaust is on the right side of the motorbike, and most of the exhausts aren’t covered there, so my leg
leaned against the exhaust, which was extremely, extremely hot. Instantly, I jumped up and my leg felt as if I had shoved a hot iron against it. The driver ran and got something to put on it, which helped the sting initially. He felt so bad, but I assured him it was entirely my fault that I decided to be an idiot and get off on the exhaust side.
That day, the burn turned dark dark purple, and it was so weird. It looked as if I had taken a purple marker and drawn a perfect huge oval on my calf. It had bubbled up a little, but not bad. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. We will get back to the burn later......
Our friend Jess had decided to meet us in Togo, so she crossed the border herself to meet us. Unfortunately, none of our phones worked in Togo, and she had no idea what hotel we were staying at. Naturally, she kind of freaked out (from what she told us) but asked the immigration workers if they had seen 3 white kids come through the day before. They said yes, and were very nice to her and searched through stacks and stacks of forms to find her ours, which showed what hotel we were staying at. So, she found us, thank god! Jess studies French, so she was a HUGE asset to have with us!
The food in Togo was amazing! They had cheese, real cheese! Which is non-existent in Ghana. And hamburgers, which I don’t even really like at all in the states, but after not having any type of American food in so long, the hamburgers were phenomenal. And the bread, oh the bread! French Baguettes were sold along the streets by various venders, and I am almost positive I had a baguette in hand at all times. Needless to say, the food was my second favorite thing about Togo, and at times I am tempted to take a 4 hour tro tro ride to Togo simply for lunch.
On one of the last days, Jack and I decided to spend an entire day at the beach. We got there early, and layed down in the sun. Early in the morning, the fishing boats go out and lay the nets deep in the ocean. Then, they row the boats back in, and begin to pull in the nets. This process takes hours, and pulling in the nets looks extremely difficult. There will be up to 30 men pulling one long rope, singing chants to be on the same rhythm. Jack and I were laying there, and there were about 3 different groups of fisherman around us pulling ropes in. We felt weird laying there in the sun while these men were working so hard. Jack decided to hop up and offer to help. The men thought that was great, and taught him the songs and let him help pull in the nets. He probably helped for over 2 hours, and it was really cool to watch. I would of helped, but my lack of upper body strength meant I would probably just be in the way haha. Jack was way into it, and at the end we got to see all the fish that were in the nets. Tons of huge stingrays and eels! They gave him a huge fish for helping, which we ended up giving to FuFu to cook. He said pulling in the ropes was one of the most intense workouts ever, which would explain why all of the Ghanian and Toganese men are so fit!
It was nearing our time to leave Togo, and my burn had gotten worse. While at dinner the last night, the middle of the burn tore open, causing the wound to be exposed. It was extremely painful, and the locals told me to put toothpaste on it to keep it clean for the time being, which burned intensely! Once back in Accra, I got the supplies to clean it myself, and kept it bandaged during the days. But, it still got worse, and ended up looking pretty nasty. I went to the hospital where they cleaned it for me, which was definitely more painful than expected because the nurse took cotton swabs soaked in iodine and scrubbed it (open wound) and took off the remaining skin. It was pretty infected, and I have been on anti-biotics which have finally started working! The infection is going away, and is almost completely gone. And it is finally starting to scab over, thank god! My friends have been great and help me clean it and change the bandages, since I get really nauseous looking at stuff like that. But, overall Togo was fantastic, and I cannot wait to go back and ride more motorbikes! And I will not make the mistake of getting off on the wrong side of the motorbike again!
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