Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Togo: Love Your Beaches, Scared of Your Voodoo & Monkey Attacks!

What’s the best way to say goodbye to a place? Relax on its beaches of course! Before checking out of Le Galion Hotel, I spent a couple hours reading on the Lome shore and yes, my guilty pleasure is a good ole’ Nicholas Sparks’ book!


Lome, Togo

We soon made our way to Chez Alice (chezalicetogo@hotmail.com), a German-run hostel 12km outside of Lome in Aveposo. Unfortunately, the street was under construction, so few clients meant no music or dancing like usual Wednesdays, but at least we (finally!) had peace and quiet! All except for the noise of the monkeys!

The little guy may look cute until he attacks you!

We took a 500CFA (~$1US) taxi to Lake Togo where we would canoe over to Togoville, Togo’s “voodoo” island. It would be here that those who practiced voodoo were taken to Haiti as slaves. The driver initially believed the canoe would sink if I drove, but to his surprise, I was one of the best rowers he’s seen! Note: If you get a private “tourist” canoe, it’s 4.000CFA (~$8US) one-way. Otherwise, I highly recommend taking public transport as they were paying 200CFA (~$.40) each!

I was a pro!

The Artisanal market at Togoville is only one room but proceeds go towards a local organization and you can find a few gems. After exploring the German Cathedral, we headed off to the voodoo market. We could have paid 2.000CFA (~$4US) to see “voodoo-in-action,” but decided to pass based on the creepiness factor.

Togoville's port (top), stage at the German Cathedral (middle), and voodoo market (bottom)

Back across Lake Togo, we searched for the elusive promise of water sports, but it turns out everything but the paddle boat was broken. So while the other girls napped on the shore, I jumped in an 800CFA taxi to Aneho, home of arguably the best beaches in Togo. With a chicken sandwich at La Cote du Soleil, I could agree!

Beach at La Cote du Soleil, Aneho, Togo - beautiful!

Short on cash, we had a delicious street food dinner of spaghetti, turkey, and French fries – all for 300CFA (~$.60US) mind you! Tomorrow, Benin!

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