Closer and Closer to HomeIt would be sad to leave the beaches and beauty of Grand Popo, but our trucks had a boat to catch and frankly, we were all getting a bit weary and cranky. In addition, Mike has been sick for a few days and really needs to see a doctor, if only to reassure him that he doesn’t have malaria. The next big city on our route was Lomé, Togo so we decided to stop there for a day or two to take care of personal stuff like banking, getting Mike to the doctor, updating the website, checking email, etc. Luckily the drive was very short, so we’d be in Lomé by early afternoon. In addition, we had heard that the situation in Cote d’Ivoire was shaky and that in no uncertain terms, we should not ship our trucks from there. We were told to ship them from Ghana. This would mean we’d have to pull this together in two days, so we had to get moving!

We got up and decided to have breakfast at the auberge before leaving. We all gathered on the porch overlooking the ocean and enjoyed a meal of scrambled eggs, ham, toast, fresh fruit, fresh juice and a really tasty drink made of what was explained to me to be crushed flowers (they looked like orchids), sugar, vanilla and water. Man, was it good. Tummies full, we hopped on the intercontinental superhighway that links Benin and neighboring Togo. For a change, the road was extremely good and was our first dual carriageway in many miles. The drive to Lomé went quickly and after a stop at a very nice (and quick) Internet café we arrived at a nice campsite on the ocean called Robinson’s Plage.

Robinson’s Plage was a reasonable place, but their facilities for camping were fairly limited — basically you parked and camped in an unused section of the parking lot. No one was complaining, though, they had cheap beer, cute girls and a killer view of the ocean. The only problem was that it was incredibly hot and humid. This didn’t sit very well with Mike who seemed to be feeling worse and worse as the afternoon wore on. It was decided that we needed to find him a doctor, so Mike and I drove into downtown Lomé to find one. No luck. It was too late in the day and a Friday to boot. By now it was late and getting dark, so rather than head back to the campsite, we decided to grab an air-conditioned hotel room in the city. We were really glad we did; within twenty minutes of checking in, the storm clouds rolled in and nasty downpours of tropical rain came in sheets that soaked everything in sight. Lightning lit up the sky and some of the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard made us super happy that we had chosen a hotel room over camping on the beach! Concerned about the rest of the group, we were able to ring Robinson’s Plage to check on them, but they seemed none worse for the wear. What troopers!

The Hotel Sarakawa where we chose to stay was as close to Disney World as I’ll ever get. The rooms were beautiful and the grounds were just amazing with two or three pools and several really nice restaurants. It did start to dawn on us that we weren’t really experiencing the "real" Africa by staying here, but you know what? For a few nights out of two months we had stayed in nice hotels (okay, really nice hotels by African standards) but every now and then I (and most of the guys) like some comfort. Maybe we’re wussies, but a nice hot shower, a comfortable bed and lounge chairs by the pool are sometimes far too tempting. In addition, the hotel had real phones and we had to work out shipping arrangements for the trucks, too. Luckily, the day before we had gotten a message to our shipping agents at home. They had miraculously received it and even more miraculously they had taken care of all the arrangements. Our trucks were to be loaded on to a boat in Tema, Ghana and leave on Wednesday — three days away!

That night, Mike was feeling marginally better, so we decided to grab some dinner at a recommended Italian spot. Maybe it’s because so much Spam had tainted my system, but this was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten! The owner, an Italian who reminded us of Roberto Begnini (of Life is Beautiful fame) literally ran around the restaurant to ensure everyone was happy. Believe you me, after eating a great pizza, some wonderful antipasti, delicious bread, a huge dessert and drinking a few too many beers and the complimentary amaretto after the meal we were very happy! If you’re ever in Lomé, Togo head straight for the Ristorante da Claudio — you won’t be disappointed!

Togo was really shaping up to be a great place for Westerners. Sadly, we found out why. The U.S. and some European governments backed the government here for years because President Eyadema was quite friendly to capitalism and Western ideology unlike neighboring Benin and Ghana (at least in the 70s). They felt that Togo was a jewel in West Africa and a haven of freedom in a rapidly "Red-shifting" area. In actuality, contrary to popular belief in the U.S., President Eyadema was anything but democratic and Togo was and is a police state, almost completely ruled by the military. There was a reason that the Togolese people seemed to be happy . . . if they complained too loudly, the government would very likely just make them disappear. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that the U.S. started to notice that something was amiss when opponents of the Eyadema’s government secretly dug up the bodies of several people murdered by the national police force and left them on the steps of the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. threatened to pull investment from Togo and the government let up just a bit — they even let people protest without shooting all the participants. Even so, security is still very, very tight and there are several police checkpoints in the city of Lomé after dark. It was actually really eerie.

All this said, you can imagine we were a bit concerned when we heard that there was to be a large protest the following day. To add further complications, Togo generally closes its border with Ghana during protests in order to prevent Ghanaians from coming over and "stirring up trouble" as well as preventing any Togolese from escaping should the police be looking for them. Turns out, this was the case and the border with Ghana was closed "indefinitely" and we had no option but to wait it out. We made a contact at the U.S. Embassy who was kind enough to pass along his mobile number so we could check with him for updates. So, that night we went to bed not knowing whether we’d be able to leave Togo in the morning. Sleep didn’t come all that easily.

The guys who had stayed at Robinson’s Plage met us at our hotel in the morning and we filled them in on the news. They were dismayed, but all in all, Togo wasn’t that bad a place to be stuck (at least during the day — no trigger-happy police with submachine guns!). We did some souvenir shopping and checked in with our embassy friend at various points through mid-day. Finally, around 2PM, he said he had heard a rumor that they were letting people through so we decided to go for it. As we made our way towards the frontier, it was obvious that something was up. Trucks were parked along the highway for about five miles into the downtown area — obviously waiting to be let through into Ghana. It appeared that we had quite a wait on our hands as the border was seemingly still closed.

Funk dat. We decided to do like Africans and just cut and jump the queue. We drove up a few side streets, down a few dead-ends and finally came upon what appeared to be the frontier. Some French guy was yelling at me, telling me the border was closed and I was an idiot for trying to go through (gotta love French people), but hey — why not give it a try? Money talks here, ya know. After some sweet talk, a hefty bribe to the customs "official" and a smaller one to Togolese immigration, we were through! Now all we had to do was get through the Ghanaian side and we were home free. As I’m sure you guessed, though . . . nothing is ever that easy . . .

-Paul Shumway