Togo and Bacteria infection number 2

Finding my stride: After a month in Ghana

My fifth week here I felt a real comfortable connection. I knew what I was doing everyday and had a purpose of why I was doing it. I understood my place in the classes and I knew how to prepare for each class, with notes and getting handouts. Funny story about the handouts, for each class the professor gather’s information important for the class and requires everyone to buy a photocopy of the hand out, which is plagiarism in the United States. You think the handouts would be in the department’s building WRONG…some are and some are not. So for the first couple of weeks I wondered around trying to find where my handouts were. NOW, though, I can find all my handouts and I know when the professor for each class will actually teach AND when they will finish.

TOGO
Excited, thrilled, and determined…Alexandra (a girl from a different program CIEE) headed off to Togo with no expectations and excitement to use our French. Before going, we tried to prepare as much as possible…and with that…was exchanging the Ghanaian CD for the Togolese CFA. This was EXTREMELY CONFUSING. So about 500 CFA are an American dollar…so I exchanged 100 US Dollars to make sure that if I ran into trouble I wouldn’t encounter any difficulties.

Getting there by Tro-tro (mini-buses that the locals use)
Alexandra and I meet at Uponglo Station (which is near ISH (the hostel I live in)) at 7am and hopped on a tro-tro to Timus station, which is the MAIN bus station in Accra. We searched the station for a tro-tro that was going to the border city of Ghana, Aflao. We waited two hours as the tro-tro slowly loaded up with people. We then took the the four our journey to the border…which in American terms…with American roads…should only take 1-1.5 hours. BUT this is Ghana and the roads are FULL of pot holes and mostly dirt. There was the PRECIOUS little girl that fell asleep on Alexandra’s shoulder HOW CUTE. ☺ It is the little things on this adventure that make my day. Hehehe. Then half way there…EVERYONE (except the driver) got off the tro-tro. This was at the city Ada Foah…which I would like to check out sometime in May BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE THE SEA TURTLES HATCH THERE! Any ways…the rest of the trip there was a mate (someone that collects money and sits in one of the middle seats controlling when the tro-tro stops). AND THEN WE WERE IN AFLAO. Confused and crazied by the idea that we ACTUALLY did it…we got the courage and asked the driver, which direction to the border.

Cross the border

Luckily as we asked the mate where the border was…there was a senior high (high school in the United States) girl going to Togo to see her family that was willing to hold our hand (almost LITERALLY) through the border. Her name was Precious and her name fit how much I ADMIRE HER! Crossing borders is a stressful event. We approached the first building where we “checked out of Ghana” it was the same form that we filled out when we entered the country. Then, they stamped us out of the country and scanned our passports. After that, We went to the Togo building where THANK GOODNESS, the forms were in English and French…just so we could double check our French…this is NOT THE PLACE TO MESS UP. The two men in uniform hit on us at the border wanting to marry us. GROSS! We both said we were married…he he he he. We bought our visas and WERE OFFICALLY IN TOGO…the land that is ohh so small and FRENCH (and colonialized by Germany). We were also in Lomé, the capital of Togo.

Hotel discovery

After making it across the border Alexandra and I decided to take a taxi to the “supposed” hotel we were staying at…Precious helped us bargain for the taxi…even though we DID get ripped off…because the hotel was LITERALLY WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF THE BORDER. We checked into the hotel and took a look at our room. A nice Queen sized bed for us to share and a toilet that seemed solid. ☺ We went down stairs to find a place for some food…BECAUSE WHEN TRAVEL…YOU ARE ALWAYS HUNGRY!

Chinese…in Togo?

This nice gentleman (in his late 40s) recommended this Vietnamese place…and gave a back up of Chinese. YA WE COULD NOT FIND THE VIETNAMESE PLACE. We meandered for thirty minutes all around the area…hoping to run into said restaurant…NO LUCK. So we settled for this Chinese restaurant. This was the first time I had Asian food…since my last meal with my family in Colorado. I got hot and sour soup and spring rolls…BEST CHOICE EVER. Both were fabulous and filled me up completely. Filled to the rim we were READY FOR ANOTHER ADVENTURE.

Market adventure

We caught a taxi to the Grande Marché. He took us to the tourist section, full of arts and crafts. I managed to buy a bracelet…my first one in Ghana and a bead made out of metal. Alexandra bought a voodoo doll with nails sticking out of it, but claimed to protect her throughout her travels in Africa…and beyond. It was THRILLING and exhausting…to bargain in French. We then wondered to the REAL market where we asked about different fabrics and soaked in the atmosphere that was similar…yet different to the Ghanaian market. In lack of better words…it was more French. The city in general WAS CLEANER than Ghana. Yet, it was A LOT smaller…than Ghana. While in the market…I ALMOST DIED…good thing Alexandra bought that doll. There was a HUGE truck that crashed in the overhang of a store. This overhang came crashing down in little pieces. ONE OF THESE LITTLE PIECES AVOIDED MY HEAD BY INCHES…very scary indeed. Luckily I avoided the hospital…in Togo…by a little bit. By watching the Taxi driver’s every move we walked back to our hotel (or at least attempted to) from the market (once we got our heart’s content of bargaining). As walking back we conversed with locals in French and observed the culture around us. Before we knew it…we could see the border buildings…now this was NOT right. Our hotel was not in sight of the border buildings. LUCKILY…just at that moment, we spotted 4 white people loading into a car. We approached them and asked if they could point us in the direction of Hotel le Gailon. They said their house was right next to there so we hopped into their car (me sitting on Alexandra’s lap…poor Alexandra). We conversed in French with these friendly French people living it up in Togo. So…with some chaos along the way…we made it back to the hotel…thank goodness.

German Man with PASTA

As we entered the hotel, the nice man in his late 40s was still sitting in the same place. He invited us for drinks. We said sure…WHY NOT…YOU ONLY HAVE ONCE TO ENJOY IT EH? We talked for an hour about his life…he has traveled ALL over the world and was able to give us recommendations on when and where to travel in Togo and Benin. He was fluent in English and happily chatted in English, which was relieving after spending earlier bargaining in French. We ordered pasta…which I GOT REAL CHEESE WITH…and we gobbled down the GREATNESS. We then headed for bed…exhausted for the delightful day.

Ocean sunrise (or sleeping “in”)

Alexandra woke up for the sunrise as a slept in a bit more. As I was crossing the street…from my hotel to the ocean…there was a HUGE RACE going on and besides that ALMOST everyone on the beach was running. TOGO IS THE PLACE FOR RUNNERS…LET ME TELL YOU! But once I got out to the ocean I witnessed the blissful beauty of this Togolese sun and ocean combination. Alexandra and I sat on a turned over boat and enjoyed watching people and the ocean. We ate sandwiches and watched Togolese fishermen pull a boat to shore. It was EXACTLY how the sawyer crew I was on this summer pulled down trees that were stuck into other trees.

Beach adventures

After our taste of the ocean we walked across the beach for a couple miles watching and observing everything that came across. We ran into a coconut man…very plentiful in Ghana as well…where we enjoyed a coconut and ACTUALLY WATCHED A MAN CLIMB UP A TREE FOR COCONUTS…CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? We then got popcorn off the street and Alexandra got a bread donut (basically sweet fried bread). We declined the French sandwiches…but I plan on coming back to have them…especially if the salad on them is AVOCADO…so good. ☺ As we were on the beach we accidently created a crowd of boys curious and ambitious for something. It was interesting. These beaches were MUCH cleaner than Ghanaian ones…yet there were piles of trash in certain sections…and MANY TRASH BINS (which is a RARITY in Ghana).

Another hotel…with A/C treat
We then found this VERY FANCY HOTEL. The place we were staying at was a little hotel with people having extended stays there…the hotel we wondered into for a brunch was VERY FANCY! Our hotel was 4 US dollars a night per person…and this hotel HAD TO BE FOUR TIMES THAT. We had orange juice and fruit and basket in the A/C.

Crossing the border PART 2

We then headed back to our hotel and checked out. We then walked to the border…a VERY quick journey. We went through the Togolese section and said goodbye to French…for now and then checked into Ghana, which gives me another two months in the country. So every two months I either need to leave the country or I need to pay a 40 CD fee…might as well get an experience and travel outside right?

Discovery of a…BUS YES, YES, YES…WITH AIR CONDITIONING

After the border was crossed we luckily ran into a bus that was going to Accra…GLORIOUS. So we paid 10 CD for the trip (it costs 9 CD for a tro-tro so one extra CD was worth it). We went in and out of sleep taking pictures along the way. When I arrived back at ISH it was GLORIOUS to be home because I was greeted by all of my ISEP friends and I got to catch up on their weekends. This is indeed a home for me now. ☺

Bacteria Infection PART 2

So…suddenly Sunday night…after the WONDEROUS JOURNEY TO TOGO…I became SEVERLY ill. (please don’t read the next sentence if you don’t like to hear about bodily functions) I vomited and had many bloody wet stools…so in the morning…IT WAS THE HOSPITAL AGAIN. I waited in and out of rooms for 5 hours and then ended up in the treatment room where I was hooked up to an ivy of water and antibiotics. For the next 5 hours I was in and out of sleep and confusion. Miss Katie was a TROOPER…a THANK YOU AND SHOUT OUT TO HER! She waited 10 HOURS AT THE HOSPITAL WITH ME AND EVEN took my urine sample to the lab room. WHAT A FRIEND…IN fact, her and Emma have been troopers helping me through the hospital visits.

The treatment room

So in this room I was on a hospital bed where I was hooked up to an ivy. This ivy changed from water, to antibiotic, to water, to antibiotic, to water, and water again. This process took 5 hours and in that 5 hours I saw MANY THINGS. One man came into the hospital with SEVER MALARIA. He could barely get out of his wheel chair, let alone get onto a bed. He was rushed to a special room where they could give him treatment immediately. This was scary to see indeed! You always hear about the sever cases, but never see them. Then, there was a girl that came in. She was 18 years old and was vomiting ALL OVER THE PLACE. She almost vomited on me AND my shoes, which is NOT sometime I wanted while I was sick. Her vomiting did not help my nauseated stomach and I can now understand why they have separate rooms in hospitals. The nurses, while I was in the treatment room, were EXTREMELY NICE and helpful for what I was going through. The only problem was THEY DID NOT KNOW HOW TO PUT A NEEDLE IN MY ARM! They had to do it 3 TIMES…which was a very TIA (This is Africa) thing to happen. They told me that they didn’t understand a white person’s veins…oh boy, but they were very sweet to me. Finally I was released for home with plenty of antibiotics. Since I didn’t eat all day I gobbled down some oatmeal and slept for 13 hours straight.

Tuesday Feb. 28
The good news is I feel A LOT BETTER today! I have been sleeping and eating the entire day…and I hope to be doing something productive soon…like by this weekend because my program (ISEP) is going to Kumasi…and that is NOT a trip I want to miss out on. Kumasi is the second largest city (Accra the city I live in right now is the largest) and is known for it’s art work: wood carvings, fabric, and beads.