So last week, a day and a half after I came back to Togo from Senegal, I got hit with some heavy flu symptoms. I immediately thought it might be malaria, which would be quite funny after the way I closed my last post, and would make sense from the ungodly amount of mosquito bites I got in Dakar. But alas, I waited it out for a day, hobbling around and staying mostly in bed, consulted the guidance of some contacts in Boston, and it seems like I had a case of food poisoning. Lucky for me, I got over the symptoms in about 36 hours and felt like a new person afterwards. The sad thing is, since I returned from Senegal, I had bought groceries and only made food for myself at home. So indeed, I had poisoned myself... of all the VERY sketchy foods I have eaten in the street in West Africa, I finally got food poisoning from something I prepared at home. At the time that I was sick, I'd almost preferred it was malaria, because that way, I would have been sure what caused it, and wouldn't have been surprised. But food? It may have been the tomatoes, I had just rinsed them with water and we have to wash all produce here with a bit of bleach...
Tom was away on vacation for a little over a week after I got back to Lome, and at first it was nice to be home and enjoy the apartment, but after a few days I admit I started to get cabin fever. I've never really been alone in such a big apartment before, plus we don't have lounge furniture yet so I go between the chair and table and my bed. I definitely have a new appreciation for some of our Foundation staff members who are alone in various parts of the world (Tom)... it can get quite lonely and tough to focus.
On a positive note, rainy season here in Togo is over! (Though a mini rainy season will reappear in about a month)
:)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Senegal: Oh I forgot to tell you, I have really bad luck when I travel...
I got back to Lome this afternoon from a week in lovely Dakar, Senegal. Though the trip got off to a rocky start, Dakar is stunning, and - mosquitos and heat aside - seems to be a very comfortable place to live.
So if I start from the beginning... Tom and I were invited to join a couple colleagues in Dakar to work with the national AIDS program there during a weeklong workshop to define their care scale-up plans for the next three years. So we booked our flight to Dakar from Lome, with a connection through Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.
Now if you knew me during Adventure Western Europe a few years ago, you would know that missing trains/planes and getting lost/stuck in unfamiliar places happens to be my forte.
When we checked in at the Lome airport, they were not able to give us our boarding cards for the Abidjan-Dakar connection and said we needed to pick them up at check-in once we reached Abidjan (which I knew from my previous visit happens to be a little tighter on security). When we got to Abidjan, some airport agent immediately starting guiding us around to try to check-in for our boarding cards - he was really high-strung and would grab our passports and run around while we chased after him. Our random airline had apparently closed check-in so we had to put in a little more effort to get our boarding cards. Tom got his card no problem, but they started flipping through my passport and realized that I did not have a Senegal visa. Senegal happens to be one of few, if not the only, country in West Africa where I don't need a visa as a Canadian. A very rotund lady with a stubbly beard was explaining that I couldn't go without a visa (trying to justify it by saying that if a Senegalese went to Canada, they would need a visa, which is clearly not the same thing), and got a colleague at the boarding gate on the phone who apparently confirmed this. They explained that Tom could go ahead as an American, but that I had to stay in Abidjan and then ripped up my freshly printed boarding card. We had about 30 minutes to spare before the flight took off for Dakar, and stunned I was really no help as Tom continued to argue with the bearded lady and others at check-in to let me get on the flight. The beard was referring to a guidebook that they use that says that I needed a visa (which still wasn't right), but after she walked away all stubborn, we realized that the most recent version said that I was exempt from needing a visa. It was too late to try to get on this flight at this point and Tom stayed with me so I wouldn't be alone in Abidjan, so we got lead around by high-strung man (who I later realized was not just a nice helpful man working at the airport, but expected us to pay him $100 for his help, which Tom unfortunately did) to a travel agency kiosk, drawing a crowd of people who had nothing to do but watch us struggle with our situation, and after more confusion and arguing, we ended up having to buy new flights to Dakar which didn't leave for another 8 hours. (Tom is currently trying to confirm that our travel agent doesn't pay the bill for our missed flight)
As we were trying to locate Tom's checked bag, we ran into the beard again - at this point after our planned flight had already left for Dakar - and she apologized to me, realizing that yes I really could have gotten on that flight, saying "Je suis vraiment desolee, I am deeply sorry... je pense que Dieu n'a pas voulu (I think that God didn't want you to get on that flight)." Ughhh...
So we killed 8 hours reading, watching DVDs on our laptops, eating duty-free cookies... When we checked in for our 11:15 pm new flight, they started joking that I could go and Tom could not go, which was not very amusing. We had heard that immigration in Senegal was a huge hassle, so we were not looking forward to our 2:30 am landing. Surprisingly, it was a BREEZE; after all of the chaos over me not having a visa, and our worries that we'd have to bribe our way into the country, they just stamped our passports and waved us along!
Finally, we were in Dakar! The next day, once we got in a car to go to the office where the workshop would be held, our first glimpse of Dakar by day was stunning - cliffs pouring into the bright sea, nicely paved roads and freeways, hundreds of people running and exercising on the beach, modern storefronts, beautiful houses, so many great restaurants, big grocery stores... We were thinking, what is this place and why don't we live here!
So to quickly run over Monday-Friday which was mostly spent working... We were introduced in the Terms of Reference as a team of expert consultants coming to help... umm and I got put in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation, and I think I know what that means? Again, like the rest of the summer, I was a bit daunted and needed to do some homework...
In general, the national AIDS program team there was very organized and motivated, and a lot of the time I really couldn't figure out how I could help them since it seemed like they had it all figured out. (Now I realize that I may be able to help out a bit, and will continue to do so from Togo)
I got to spend some time with some other Foundation colleagues that are based in Dakar or passing through, which was great. And the whole workshop was very well-catered - I got lots of Senegalese hearty lunches and deep-fried treats, mmm... (the caterers would even by freshly deep-frying french fries for lunch in the middle of this hospital)
In Togo, the sun sets at 6:30 pm which is very sad, but in Dakar it stays out until closer to 8 pm, which meant that even after a long day of meetings, the guys could run over to the beach and go surfing before nightfall.
Finally we reached Saturday where I could finally do some sight-seeing (on my own, Tom left on Friday for a week vacation with his family), since we had been busy at meetings all week. I hopped on a ferry over to Ile de Goree, an island just 20 minutes from the Dakar coast, which is just a very colorful little island with historical sites, cobblestone paths throughout, and a lively atmosphere.
I was convinced that I was leaving on Sunday morning - I had to book my return flight in Abidjan when we arranged the new flights and had requested that I return the following Sunday (we hadn't been exactly sure when I would come home, but again with their visa excuses they said it would be better for me to book the return flight right away), and didn't realize that my itinerary had said that I was returning to Lome on Monday instead of Sunday until after I had already gone to the Dakar airport at 5:30 am with all of my packed bags... I went to check-in and the lady was like, umm this is not for today...
I was staying at another volunteer's (beautiful) house in Dakar for my last couple nights, and the sliding door that I had let myself out of at 5 am did not open from the outside. So, when I returned to the house, I was locked out and so I just doused myself with bug spray and sat outside the house for 2.5 hours until I was confident that everyone inside would be awake so that I could get inside.
With another unexpected day, I decided to of course do a little more tourism and got on a very squishy seven-seater, which is just a very decrepit station wagon that fits 7 people other than the driver - and I had to take the middle seat (both ways) with about a foot's width of space to sit, not the most comfortable, especially in 95* weather. I went southeast along the coast to La Somone, where I heard they had a really nice lagoon. I went on a boat ride tour of the lagoon, did some bird-watching and walked around wtih thousands of tiny crabs, got some great sun and freshly caught seafood. I then got a ride over to Mbour, the main fishing town in Senegal with a huge, bustling fish market on the beach - hundreds of people on the beach running around with fish and rows of colorful fishing boats.
Finally, I made it back to Lome no problem today, thank goodness. Back to work and staying put for the next few weeks, as far as I know.
:)
Side notes on Senegal:
- unlike the other West African countries I have visited, Senegal is majority Muslim - I believe over 80% of the population. It is definitely a different vibe in terms of common views and daily rituals.
- Senegalese people love to work out! I haven't seen locals exercising outside in any other countries here, with the exception of playing soccer in the streets or on the beach. In Senegal, the sidewalks are filled with runners, there are makeshift South Beach-style gyms outside, and a hundred people will crowd a 50-yard stretch of beach just to run back and forth.
- if I haven't already explained how awful mosquitoes are here, they are pretty awful. I got bitten especially badly this past week in Senegal, I have 8 swollen bites just down this one line on my forearm, and I think for the first time every I have a bite on my eyelid. Thank goodness for malaria prophylaxis, or I would have definitely had malaria 8 times by now (though there is still a chance I can get it while on prophylaxis, eek...)
So if I start from the beginning... Tom and I were invited to join a couple colleagues in Dakar to work with the national AIDS program there during a weeklong workshop to define their care scale-up plans for the next three years. So we booked our flight to Dakar from Lome, with a connection through Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.
Now if you knew me during Adventure Western Europe a few years ago, you would know that missing trains/planes and getting lost/stuck in unfamiliar places happens to be my forte.
When we checked in at the Lome airport, they were not able to give us our boarding cards for the Abidjan-Dakar connection and said we needed to pick them up at check-in once we reached Abidjan (which I knew from my previous visit happens to be a little tighter on security). When we got to Abidjan, some airport agent immediately starting guiding us around to try to check-in for our boarding cards - he was really high-strung and would grab our passports and run around while we chased after him. Our random airline had apparently closed check-in so we had to put in a little more effort to get our boarding cards. Tom got his card no problem, but they started flipping through my passport and realized that I did not have a Senegal visa. Senegal happens to be one of few, if not the only, country in West Africa where I don't need a visa as a Canadian. A very rotund lady with a stubbly beard was explaining that I couldn't go without a visa (trying to justify it by saying that if a Senegalese went to Canada, they would need a visa, which is clearly not the same thing), and got a colleague at the boarding gate on the phone who apparently confirmed this. They explained that Tom could go ahead as an American, but that I had to stay in Abidjan and then ripped up my freshly printed boarding card. We had about 30 minutes to spare before the flight took off for Dakar, and stunned I was really no help as Tom continued to argue with the bearded lady and others at check-in to let me get on the flight. The beard was referring to a guidebook that they use that says that I needed a visa (which still wasn't right), but after she walked away all stubborn, we realized that the most recent version said that I was exempt from needing a visa. It was too late to try to get on this flight at this point and Tom stayed with me so I wouldn't be alone in Abidjan, so we got lead around by high-strung man (who I later realized was not just a nice helpful man working at the airport, but expected us to pay him $100 for his help, which Tom unfortunately did) to a travel agency kiosk, drawing a crowd of people who had nothing to do but watch us struggle with our situation, and after more confusion and arguing, we ended up having to buy new flights to Dakar which didn't leave for another 8 hours. (Tom is currently trying to confirm that our travel agent doesn't pay the bill for our missed flight)
As we were trying to locate Tom's checked bag, we ran into the beard again - at this point after our planned flight had already left for Dakar - and she apologized to me, realizing that yes I really could have gotten on that flight, saying "Je suis vraiment desolee, I am deeply sorry... je pense que Dieu n'a pas voulu (I think that God didn't want you to get on that flight)." Ughhh...
So we killed 8 hours reading, watching DVDs on our laptops, eating duty-free cookies... When we checked in for our 11:15 pm new flight, they started joking that I could go and Tom could not go, which was not very amusing. We had heard that immigration in Senegal was a huge hassle, so we were not looking forward to our 2:30 am landing. Surprisingly, it was a BREEZE; after all of the chaos over me not having a visa, and our worries that we'd have to bribe our way into the country, they just stamped our passports and waved us along!
Finally, we were in Dakar! The next day, once we got in a car to go to the office where the workshop would be held, our first glimpse of Dakar by day was stunning - cliffs pouring into the bright sea, nicely paved roads and freeways, hundreds of people running and exercising on the beach, modern storefronts, beautiful houses, so many great restaurants, big grocery stores... We were thinking, what is this place and why don't we live here!
So to quickly run over Monday-Friday which was mostly spent working... We were introduced in the Terms of Reference as a team of expert consultants coming to help... umm and I got put in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation, and I think I know what that means? Again, like the rest of the summer, I was a bit daunted and needed to do some homework...
In general, the national AIDS program team there was very organized and motivated, and a lot of the time I really couldn't figure out how I could help them since it seemed like they had it all figured out. (Now I realize that I may be able to help out a bit, and will continue to do so from Togo)
I got to spend some time with some other Foundation colleagues that are based in Dakar or passing through, which was great. And the whole workshop was very well-catered - I got lots of Senegalese hearty lunches and deep-fried treats, mmm... (the caterers would even by freshly deep-frying french fries for lunch in the middle of this hospital)
In Togo, the sun sets at 6:30 pm which is very sad, but in Dakar it stays out until closer to 8 pm, which meant that even after a long day of meetings, the guys could run over to the beach and go surfing before nightfall.
Finally we reached Saturday where I could finally do some sight-seeing (on my own, Tom left on Friday for a week vacation with his family), since we had been busy at meetings all week. I hopped on a ferry over to Ile de Goree, an island just 20 minutes from the Dakar coast, which is just a very colorful little island with historical sites, cobblestone paths throughout, and a lively atmosphere.
I was convinced that I was leaving on Sunday morning - I had to book my return flight in Abidjan when we arranged the new flights and had requested that I return the following Sunday (we hadn't been exactly sure when I would come home, but again with their visa excuses they said it would be better for me to book the return flight right away), and didn't realize that my itinerary had said that I was returning to Lome on Monday instead of Sunday until after I had already gone to the Dakar airport at 5:30 am with all of my packed bags... I went to check-in and the lady was like, umm this is not for today...
I was staying at another volunteer's (beautiful) house in Dakar for my last couple nights, and the sliding door that I had let myself out of at 5 am did not open from the outside. So, when I returned to the house, I was locked out and so I just doused myself with bug spray and sat outside the house for 2.5 hours until I was confident that everyone inside would be awake so that I could get inside.
With another unexpected day, I decided to of course do a little more tourism and got on a very squishy seven-seater, which is just a very decrepit station wagon that fits 7 people other than the driver - and I had to take the middle seat (both ways) with about a foot's width of space to sit, not the most comfortable, especially in 95* weather. I went southeast along the coast to La Somone, where I heard they had a really nice lagoon. I went on a boat ride tour of the lagoon, did some bird-watching and walked around wtih thousands of tiny crabs, got some great sun and freshly caught seafood. I then got a ride over to Mbour, the main fishing town in Senegal with a huge, bustling fish market on the beach - hundreds of people on the beach running around with fish and rows of colorful fishing boats.
Finally, I made it back to Lome no problem today, thank goodness. Back to work and staying put for the next few weeks, as far as I know.
:)
Side notes on Senegal:
- unlike the other West African countries I have visited, Senegal is majority Muslim - I believe over 80% of the population. It is definitely a different vibe in terms of common views and daily rituals.
- Senegalese people love to work out! I haven't seen locals exercising outside in any other countries here, with the exception of playing soccer in the streets or on the beach. In Senegal, the sidewalks are filled with runners, there are makeshift South Beach-style gyms outside, and a hundred people will crowd a 50-yard stretch of beach just to run back and forth.
- if I haven't already explained how awful mosquitoes are here, they are pretty awful. I got bitten especially badly this past week in Senegal, I have 8 swollen bites just down this one line on my forearm, and I think for the first time every I have a bite on my eyelid. Thank goodness for malaria prophylaxis, or I would have definitely had malaria 8 times by now (though there is still a chance I can get it while on prophylaxis, eek...)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Cote d'Ivoire: Are there tourists here, and what do they do?
I returned to Togo from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire on July 7. Well, really I flew from Abidjan to Accra in Ghana and then got right to the bus station to get on a very nice tro-tro to the Togo border. And thankfully, I did not get conned into giving any customs agents any money this time! I am really starting to figure this out...
Security at the Accra airport was really light - I can't remember the last time I didn't have to take my computer out of my bag through security check. Coming back through the Abidjan airport was quite different though; not only was my bag searched at security check, but at the boarding gate we all had to have our bags searched again - they pull everything out and shake containers and all that - and get patted down!
Day 1 in Cote d'Ivoire
Precious, who is based in Accra, and I got on our plane to Abidjan, which was delayed a few hours, and arrived in Abidjan around 8:30 pm. I seemed to attract a small Ivorian boy to play a game with me in the immigration line at the Abidjan airport - I can't tell if he was playing some kind of hero-villain game, charging me and saying "Caught you!", or putting a voodoo spell on me. We went to the hotel to meet our other two travellers, Shaloo (based in Benin) and Adam (Niger), after a long shouting match between myself and the taxi driver who was trying to insanely rip us off, turned off his meter, and then in the end was trying to explain to me that he was a dad and really needed the money (to which I responded that I was a mom too and didn't care), and finally I still let myself get horrendously (but a tiny bit less) ripped off.
We went to go get a late dinner, and following the advice of the hotel security guard of a place to go for “live music”, ended up at Saint-Germain which was really a discotheque with loud dance music and dim red lights. After a while, we kind of noticed that Precious and I were the only expat girls and that the club was filled with expat men and Ivorian women in very skimpy outfits, so we started to notice what kind of place it was…
CdI is the first country I’ve ever been to where I needed to carry my passport with me at all times; vehicles are frequently stopped on the road at night be policemen who want to check everyone’s Ids and maybe the trunk too.
In response to my last post, I finally opened up the Lonely Planet guide for CdI while waiting at the Accra airport to leave for Abidjan, and the chapter opens with a disclaimer that the LP authors didn’t even go to CdI at the time of writing because it was one of two countries (other than Somalia) that the British foreign office advised not to visit because it was too dangerous (this would have been in 2005 right after the civil war), so they had just relied on journalists and friends for travel info. Great! In summary, we realized that we needed to exercise extra caution than, say, in Ghana.
Day 2 (Happy 4th of July!)
We checked out of our first hotel, as it ended up being one of the nicest hotels in Abidjan and too expensive for us. In the daytime, walking around a little bit, we started to think that we might just be the only tourists in Abidjan… (by the lack of tourist attractions and the curious looks we got from Ivorians)
Abidjan is different from Lome and other cities I’ve seen in Ghana; after much investment before the civil war, it has skyscrapers, modern storefronts, and all nicely paved roads and freeways.
After lunch, we tried to find the museum of contemporary art which proved to be very difficult since our taxi driver and everybody he asked along the road didn’t know where it was (turns out the LP is too outdated and the museum doesn’t exist anymore). One person we spoke to on the roadside asked us what people do at an art museum.
Finally we gave up, but since we were in the vicinity of the US Embassy and couldn’t think of any other tourist attractions to see in the late afternoon, we decided to go see if we could join a 4th of July party – they must be having one? After much wait at the gates, an American lady came out and chatted with us for a bit about living in Abidjan, then decided to invite us in to their party (apparently these parties are not a free-for-all but invited guests only), but then realized it might be impossible since we had all of our bags with us from the hotel and looks like strangers can’t just tote big luggage into US embassies anymore these days. As we were about to leave though, she said that they would make an exception and let us in with our bags. Inside the massive US Embassy, they were having like a big backyard party with beach volleyball, tug of war, and lots of cookout style food, yay America! We met some nice people and made ourselves comfortable.
After checking into a new and cheap hotel, we went out to the very nice Havana Club for food and drinks, then to a reggae club for some good live music, a dance club, and finally one last nightclub for a few minutes before Precious and I decided to head back to the hotel and leave the boys to party.
Side note on Abidjan:
- And this really goes for my experiences in Ghana and Togo as well, but if you ask for help people are very friendly here. When our ride home had trouble finding our hotel on the way back from the nightclub, we asked a couple security guards who then called their friends to find out and when they figured out the directions, hopped into their truck to escort us to the hotel to make sure that we found it OK.
Shaloo quote: “They should play more classic films about Africa here, like ‘The Land Before Time’.”
Day 3
After a lazy morning, we went to lunch and then went to go check out the Cathedral of St. Paul, a worthwhile (dare I say, unfortunately, the only?) tourist attraction in Abidjan. It’s a very modern structure that is a big statue of St. Paul with his cape stretching back over the church.
With poor weather, we went and hung out over some drinks, and then decided to fulfill Shaloo’s wish to see a movie at the cinema; we checked out a couple cinemas and gave up when the manager refused to show English subtitles (Precious doesn’t speak French) because the Lebanese customers would get mad.
After dinner, we grabbed a drink at a reggae bar then called it a night.
Day 4
We went to lunch at the best patisserie/bakery in town, yay! To get a little outside of Abidjan, we decided to go to Grand Bassam just less than an hour away, which was the first colonial town in CdI and is right on the beach. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and rainy so it wasn’t the best beach day but we enjoyed some drinks and snacks by the beach under some shelter. We then checked out some pottery and craftwork before getting back on a bus to Abidjan.
Security at the Accra airport was really light - I can't remember the last time I didn't have to take my computer out of my bag through security check. Coming back through the Abidjan airport was quite different though; not only was my bag searched at security check, but at the boarding gate we all had to have our bags searched again - they pull everything out and shake containers and all that - and get patted down!
Day 1 in Cote d'Ivoire
Precious, who is based in Accra, and I got on our plane to Abidjan, which was delayed a few hours, and arrived in Abidjan around 8:30 pm. I seemed to attract a small Ivorian boy to play a game with me in the immigration line at the Abidjan airport - I can't tell if he was playing some kind of hero-villain game, charging me and saying "Caught you!", or putting a voodoo spell on me. We went to the hotel to meet our other two travellers, Shaloo (based in Benin) and Adam (Niger), after a long shouting match between myself and the taxi driver who was trying to insanely rip us off, turned off his meter, and then in the end was trying to explain to me that he was a dad and really needed the money (to which I responded that I was a mom too and didn't care), and finally I still let myself get horrendously (but a tiny bit less) ripped off.
We went to go get a late dinner, and following the advice of the hotel security guard of a place to go for “live music”, ended up at Saint-Germain which was really a discotheque with loud dance music and dim red lights. After a while, we kind of noticed that Precious and I were the only expat girls and that the club was filled with expat men and Ivorian women in very skimpy outfits, so we started to notice what kind of place it was…
CdI is the first country I’ve ever been to where I needed to carry my passport with me at all times; vehicles are frequently stopped on the road at night be policemen who want to check everyone’s Ids and maybe the trunk too.
In response to my last post, I finally opened up the Lonely Planet guide for CdI while waiting at the Accra airport to leave for Abidjan, and the chapter opens with a disclaimer that the LP authors didn’t even go to CdI at the time of writing because it was one of two countries (other than Somalia) that the British foreign office advised not to visit because it was too dangerous (this would have been in 2005 right after the civil war), so they had just relied on journalists and friends for travel info. Great! In summary, we realized that we needed to exercise extra caution than, say, in Ghana.
Day 2 (Happy 4th of July!)
We checked out of our first hotel, as it ended up being one of the nicest hotels in Abidjan and too expensive for us. In the daytime, walking around a little bit, we started to think that we might just be the only tourists in Abidjan… (by the lack of tourist attractions and the curious looks we got from Ivorians)
Abidjan is different from Lome and other cities I’ve seen in Ghana; after much investment before the civil war, it has skyscrapers, modern storefronts, and all nicely paved roads and freeways.
After lunch, we tried to find the museum of contemporary art which proved to be very difficult since our taxi driver and everybody he asked along the road didn’t know where it was (turns out the LP is too outdated and the museum doesn’t exist anymore). One person we spoke to on the roadside asked us what people do at an art museum.
Finally we gave up, but since we were in the vicinity of the US Embassy and couldn’t think of any other tourist attractions to see in the late afternoon, we decided to go see if we could join a 4th of July party – they must be having one? After much wait at the gates, an American lady came out and chatted with us for a bit about living in Abidjan, then decided to invite us in to their party (apparently these parties are not a free-for-all but invited guests only), but then realized it might be impossible since we had all of our bags with us from the hotel and looks like strangers can’t just tote big luggage into US embassies anymore these days. As we were about to leave though, she said that they would make an exception and let us in with our bags. Inside the massive US Embassy, they were having like a big backyard party with beach volleyball, tug of war, and lots of cookout style food, yay America! We met some nice people and made ourselves comfortable.After checking into a new and cheap hotel, we went out to the very nice Havana Club for food and drinks, then to a reggae club for some good live music, a dance club, and finally one last nightclub for a few minutes before Precious and I decided to head back to the hotel and leave the boys to party.
Side note on Abidjan:
- And this really goes for my experiences in Ghana and Togo as well, but if you ask for help people are very friendly here. When our ride home had trouble finding our hotel on the way back from the nightclub, we asked a couple security guards who then called their friends to find out and when they figured out the directions, hopped into their truck to escort us to the hotel to make sure that we found it OK.
Shaloo quote: “They should play more classic films about Africa here, like ‘The Land Before Time’.”
Day 3
After a lazy morning, we went to lunch and then went to go check out the Cathedral of St. Paul, a worthwhile (dare I say, unfortunately, the only?) tourist attraction in Abidjan. It’s a very modern structure that is a big statue of St. Paul with his cape stretching back over the church.
With poor weather, we went and hung out over some drinks, and then decided to fulfill Shaloo’s wish to see a movie at the cinema; we checked out a couple cinemas and gave up when the manager refused to show English subtitles (Precious doesn’t speak French) because the Lebanese customers would get mad.
After dinner, we grabbed a drink at a reggae bar then called it a night.
Day 4
We went to lunch at the best patisserie/bakery in town, yay! To get a little outside of Abidjan, we decided to go to Grand Bassam just less than an hour away, which was the first colonial town in CdI and is right on the beach. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and rainy so it wasn’t the best beach day but we enjoyed some drinks and snacks by the beach under some shelter. We then checked out some pottery and craftwork before getting back on a bus to Abidjan.
We went back to the cinema since the manager had said the day before that we could have a private showing of a movie in English while the cinema was usually closed that night. It was too good to be true though, and the manager backed out in the end. We did get some great Ivorian food for dinner though!
The next morning, we parted ways at the airport and Precious and I headed back to Accra. I’m glad I got to see a different city, and think it would definitely be worthwhile to return to CdI again in the future with hopefully better weather, more time to see the interior of the country, and a knowledgeable Ivorian guide.
Now back in Lome, I’ve gotten back to work and will actually be heading out for country #4 tomorrow – SENEGAL! Tom and I will be heading to Dakar to do some work there for the week, and I am looking forward to seeing Dakar and seeing what work is like in a new setting. Hopefully I will have a little time to explore the city while I am there.
:)
The next morning, we parted ways at the airport and Precious and I headed back to Accra. I’m glad I got to see a different city, and think it would definitely be worthwhile to return to CdI again in the future with hopefully better weather, more time to see the interior of the country, and a knowledgeable Ivorian guide.
Now back in Lome, I’ve gotten back to work and will actually be heading out for country #4 tomorrow – SENEGAL! Tom and I will be heading to Dakar to do some work there for the week, and I am looking forward to seeing Dakar and seeing what work is like in a new setting. Hopefully I will have a little time to explore the city while I am there.
:)
Friday, July 3, 2009
Togo/Ghana: Back on the road
I came back to Accra from Lome on July 1st (Happy Canada Day!), going back through the hustle and bustle of the Ghana-Togo border and the very bumpy roads stretching 30 miles or so from the border. Being back in Accra, it almost feels like I just came home, being in familiar territory. It has also reminded me of how different it is from Lome, being anglophone of course, but also with more urban development, traffic stop vendors, public transportation and cars (and much less of those crazy motorbikes). I am back to visit Sofia as her time here in Africa ends, but I am quickly heading out this afternoon to get on a plane for Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire!
Visas here in West Africa are a real pain sometimes, considering that I've hardly ever needed a visa to travel anywhere else except here, and consulates can be tough to find in Togo, but alas after a little hassle I secured a visa for Cote d'Ivoire. I am going to meet three other Foundation volunteers that have just finished their work here in different parts of West Africa and are celebrating their victorious end proposals (now that my work is actually starting to get very busy, and I'll actually have to try to open up the laptop this weekend) by making a trip to the Ivory Coast. None of us have been there before, so we might need to read up a little bit on our flight over there...
Cote d'Ivoire has also had a rather tumultuous history, but I hear Abidjan is really lovely, so more to come on that after I get back to Lome on Tuesday!
The last couple weeks in Lome have been getting progressively busier as I've started getting more work on my plate. My feelings range from some days feeling like I am getting the hang of things and putting together what I've learned so far, to feeling totally lost and not knowing what anybody is talking about. I guess that's to be expected!
One of our visiting colleagues is a clinical advisor, and I followed her to two hospitals in Lome as we are starting to build a national clinical mentorship program. Though I wasn't exposed to many patients, it was interesting to see the difference between the two hospitals, hear about the challenges they are experiencing, and listen to our advisor suggest ways to better organize HIV/AIDS treatment. One head pediatrician had some especially passionate thoughts about the need for more children to be born from able women - that women didn't have the right to choose to have just one or two children, that they should have as many as they can... after I picked my jaw up, I couldn't help but laugh...
I've been eating very well in Togo :) at nice French and Lebanese restaurants - possibly too well as my cash seems to run out rather quickly...
Side note on Lome:
- there are noticeably less taxis in Lome than in Ghana, which can make it a little more time-consuming to make your way home in the evening - though we are pretty spoiled to make frequent use of our unofficial Clinton Foundation driver, William (who has invited us over to his home three times for huge avocado salad lunches and wildlife DVDs). Instead, there are zemidjans, or taxi-motos, everywhere that are very cheap but do not strike you as being all that safe... Cars and motorbikes seem to share the road reasonably well, but there is at least one point in each car ride that I take that I feel like we've escaped a collision. And both in Ghana and Togo, my vehicle standards have definitely lowered, when you feel like the strength of your car is equivalent to a cardboard box, and the taxi driver laughs at you when you try to make your seatbelt work...
Visas here in West Africa are a real pain sometimes, considering that I've hardly ever needed a visa to travel anywhere else except here, and consulates can be tough to find in Togo, but alas after a little hassle I secured a visa for Cote d'Ivoire. I am going to meet three other Foundation volunteers that have just finished their work here in different parts of West Africa and are celebrating their victorious end proposals (now that my work is actually starting to get very busy, and I'll actually have to try to open up the laptop this weekend) by making a trip to the Ivory Coast. None of us have been there before, so we might need to read up a little bit on our flight over there...
Cote d'Ivoire has also had a rather tumultuous history, but I hear Abidjan is really lovely, so more to come on that after I get back to Lome on Tuesday!
The last couple weeks in Lome have been getting progressively busier as I've started getting more work on my plate. My feelings range from some days feeling like I am getting the hang of things and putting together what I've learned so far, to feeling totally lost and not knowing what anybody is talking about. I guess that's to be expected!
One of our visiting colleagues is a clinical advisor, and I followed her to two hospitals in Lome as we are starting to build a national clinical mentorship program. Though I wasn't exposed to many patients, it was interesting to see the difference between the two hospitals, hear about the challenges they are experiencing, and listen to our advisor suggest ways to better organize HIV/AIDS treatment. One head pediatrician had some especially passionate thoughts about the need for more children to be born from able women - that women didn't have the right to choose to have just one or two children, that they should have as many as they can... after I picked my jaw up, I couldn't help but laugh...
I've been eating very well in Togo :) at nice French and Lebanese restaurants - possibly too well as my cash seems to run out rather quickly...
Side note on Lome:
- there are noticeably less taxis in Lome than in Ghana, which can make it a little more time-consuming to make your way home in the evening - though we are pretty spoiled to make frequent use of our unofficial Clinton Foundation driver, William (who has invited us over to his home three times for huge avocado salad lunches and wildlife DVDs). Instead, there are zemidjans, or taxi-motos, everywhere that are very cheap but do not strike you as being all that safe... Cars and motorbikes seem to share the road reasonably well, but there is at least one point in each car ride that I take that I feel like we've escaped a collision. And both in Ghana and Togo, my vehicle standards have definitely lowered, when you feel like the strength of your car is equivalent to a cardboard box, and the taxi driver laughs at you when you try to make your seatbelt work...
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