TOGO - magic, markets, motos & mountains

We’re basically running over that line that separates Ghana from Togo. “Faster faster, the border is closing!” and “Write quickly, you’re late” is chasing us while we’re filling out the immigration form. 

It’s 21.30 and the border is closing in 30 minutes, the guy who hands out the visas has already gone home, it’s dark, people speak french. Everything is exactly as it should be. Our bus ride from Accra took a little bit longer than we expected. Luckily we’re still allowed to spend a night in Togo without visas, so we end up at this very french place called Le Galion where everyone is drinking red wine, smoking cigarettes and eating baguettes. For real. Togo is a very different place from Ghana, we will soon come to realise. 

First of all, it’s so clean everywhere. And quiet. Quiet. No taxis, no big speakers pounding the beloved Nigerian top 10 songs that we’ve become so familiar with. Togo is just what we needed for a weekend.

 

We spend the first day in the capital, Lomé. Picking up our visas and visiting the market, buying textiles and just wandering around. Lomé is really pretty and we only saw a little part of it, but because of our tight schedule we decided to leave for some mountain air and trekking already on Friday afternoon, ending up in wonderful Kpalimé, about two hours north of Lomé. We straight away met Mawuko, who offered to be our guide for the next days trek. And that was probably the best thing that could have happened to us.

Waking up around eight on saturday morning we had breakfast at our guesthouse and then left on a few motorbikes up the hill (again, no taxis in Togo, only motorbikes). Just the drive up to the village from where we would start our trek was incredibly beautiful. Mawuko then took us through the village and up on small paths in the landscape. On the way he showed us all the different fruits and plants we could find on the way, telling us about how he used the plants for healing and curing of diseases. We ate cocoa and passion fruits that we found on the way and picked ginger while all these pretty butterflies were sailing by our eyes. 

After a couple of hours we reached this majestic waterfall surrounded by green cliffs as walls. We were the only ones in this little green room of ours and we stayed here for a while, swimming, eating avocados and pineapples. 

After a while we started walking back to the village where we started, and when we got there we decided to have a little after trek at a small bar overlooking the mountains.

Since this day was so amazing we decided to get up with the sun to do a early morning trek on Sunday too, before the long trip back to Ghana. Mawuko took us to what used to be this old German village surrounded by mango trees back in the colonised days.

This trip turned out to be all we had hoped for and more. We're already talking about going back and do a longer camping trek with Mawuko. If you ever get the chance TO GO TO TOGO, GO! Make sure you travel with someone speaking french though, without Annas' it would have been a bit more challenging. THANK YOU Maria, Pernille, Peter, Anna, Heidi and Mads for this amazing weekend!! I wouldn't mind spending 100 hours (instead of 10) travelling to places with you guys when it turned out this good.

Elin

Too early to be sentimental?

Is it good or bad that I'm already starting to feel a little bit sentimental here in Ghana? We are already on our fourth week and time is really flying by like the fastest of birds while I’m still in some sort of “we just got here”-state of mind. Everything we do is so interesting and so inspiring and touching that you don’t really have time to reflect that much of it, even if it at times can be overwhelming. I guess it’s now that we kind of have to stop and just take a breath and really appreciate each other and all the adventures we meet here. At least I know I have to. 

Last friday we had this amazing “tour the chambre”-party where everyone from each room teamed up and decorated it and served different drinks and played games. It was so much fun. We walked the plank in the pirate room, we danced around the midsummer pole in the midsummer room, and we drank exotic drinks from coconuts in the Hawaii room. I loved how dedicated everyone was and it is such a fantastic group of people here. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend this autumn with anyone else than all these wonderful beings.

ENOUGH of sentimental-I love you all so much-talk and back to the weekend. We went back to Busua to surf on Saturday and came returned to Cape Coast on Sunday. Every time we’ve been going there it's been kind of a mission. Exciting and really annoying and not so planned stuff always happen (you'll get the details another time).

That’s the cool thing about travelling though.. You’ll always look back on the craziest and hardest situations as the most memorable and entertaining ones, at least I usually do. And when actually sitting in the water on a surfboard with nice people around you while the sun is going down and some of your other friends are playing football with the local kids on the beach, all the trouble you’ve just been through makes that experience even better. 

Power-cuts are the new thing in our lives, I kind of like it.

We found a little DIY-skate pool in Busua where one of the local kids showed us his skills.

This beach can be found after a 10-minute walk through the jungle, you never really know what's at the end of it. I love that walk. 

This week has been packed with super inspiring lectures by Anders Burman who is teaching module 2 on Political Ecology. We have another one tomorrow morning, and then most of us are going on new adventures since the long weekend is coming up. I’m going to TOGO! Stay tuned for more on that. 

Elin

field trip

It's 6.30 and we're all packed up in the bus. A two hour ride awaits before we would reach the Norwegian company Norpalm's palm oil plantation. 

At our first stop we got a short introduction on the history of Norpalm and some information about their staff and work. After that we got a little tour around the plantation, seeing all from how they plant the palm oil seeds, how they process the nuts and how they use their machinery. 

Ida planting some seeds

Safety first!

After visiting Norpalm we took the bus to a nearby community where we met with some small scale farmers. They showed us the traditional Ghanian way of producing palm oil, which was really interesting after visiting a big company like Norpalm. At first we watched the artisanal mill at and then we got divided into groups, walking around the crops with the local farmers. Our "guide" took us to his house, showing us all the different fruits and vegetables he harvested around it. That was probably my favourite part of the day.

It was a long but really interesting day. I think we all were very happy seeing the Ghanian side of palm oil, since we back in Sweden often discuss whether to use it or not..

Elin

Fanti

“Akua, Akua! Is your name Akua?”

Someone is shouting my name at the market. I turn around and see a laughing woman.

“Yes! Yes, my name is Akua. How did you know?” I respond.

She just smiles and tells me that her name is Akua too. 

You see, here it’s not important on which date you were born, but on what day of the week that you came to this world. I was born on a Wednesday, and therefore my name is Akua. Since I found out about this there’s been more than one lady calling me by my Akan name without me telling them about the day that I was born. Maybe it’s just something they can sense and feel, the people of Ghana.

Or maybe I just really look like a Wednesday.

Akan names	Female	Male
Sunday	Akosua	Kwasi
Monday	Adwoa	Kwadwo
Tuesday	Abenaa	Kwabena
Wednesday	Akua	Kwaku
Thursday	Yaa	Yaw
Friday	Afus	Kofi
Saturday	Amma	Kwame

Tonight we had language class in Fanti and I loved it. It’s so nice wherever you go in the world to just know a few words in that tounge, even if you're not expected too. It works as an ice breaker and you’ll receive a smile and a little bit more respect every time you say meda ase instead of thank you here. I'm sure some of it will be useful for tomorrows field trip that we're doing. We will leave early morning to Norpalm, a Norwegian company that produces Palm Oil. We're also gonna meet with some of the small-scale local farmers that will show us the traditional Ghanian way of producing palm oil. We've today prepared some questions for tomorrow and hopefully it will be a rewarding day. You'll here about it soon.

Different palm tree, but still. Every day view at Brenu beach.

DAYIE! (Goodnight in fanti)

Elin

week one

So a intense but wonderful week has passed in Ghana. We arrived to Cape Coast just in time for the Fetu Afahye Festival, which means we’ve experienced way more of the Ghanian culture than I thought we would have by now. 

There’s around 30 of us studying Global Environmental Management. 30 individuals from different parts of Scandinavia and Ghana, with very different backgrounds, both academically and personally. Some’s been studying for years while others been working or traveling. 

We spent the first week at the study centre at beautiful Brenu beach just getting to know each other and getting to know Ghana. There’s been information on tropical diseases, how to do the special Ghanian handshake and also today we had our first environmental lecture with Mr. Esia-Donkoh. There’s been a lot of interesting discussions already.

On friday we had our welcome party and I think everyone was kind of surprised the way it turned out. I didn’t really know what to expect when we left in the bus from Nana Bema (where we live) but I sure did not expect that we all would end up dancing at a Gas station with hundreds and hundreds of locals for hours. It was amazing. Although I wish we would have had tonights dance lesson before the party… I’ve realised Sweden is far behind Ghana when it comes to rhythm and moving..

Due to late night dancing we were all kind of tired on Saturday and mostly enjoyed the festival in town, watching the parade with the chiefs of the surrounding communities and all the beautiful costumes. A few people went out dancing on Saturday too but I went to bed really early since a few of us were leaving to Busua, a beach town about two hours from Cape Coast, at four in the morning to still our surf abstinence. It was all one big adventure, jungle trekking, lots of surfing, slack lining, eating 1000 bananas and playing around on the beach with the local kids. We’ll probably end up going there as often as we can. It was just one of those days that were absolutely perfect. Actually, most days has been like that since we arrived here. It’s just those small things or moments that has made me fall in love with this place. Like the fact that I already have this amazing lady at the market from who I buy all my fruit, or the fact that there’s music playing everywhere, leading to people dancing everywhere. Cape Coast is such a beautiful, colourful and alive city, as well as it feels like everyone know and appreciate one another. 

I think we’re all very happy calling this our home for the next few months. I can’t freaking wait. 

Simple things

It's those simple things. Like waking up reading that text from a friend on the other side of the globe asking about boys and inviting you to stay with her until you get sorted if moving there. Those simple things. Makes my day.

Oh. And I'm moving to Ghana on Friday. Messy, yes. Beautiful, oh yes. 

kärleken

The mother we share

Sometimes you meet people that will be stuck in your mind forever just because you learned so much from them or because you shared something so special that no time can ever take it away from you.

Sometimes when I think about certain moments from my travels I almost feel embarrassed. Not embarrassed maybe, more like I'm blushing and I get a little bit nervous and there's a thousand butterflies in my stomach. Just because those moments are so damn beautiful and so damn cheesy-movie-alike that I don't know what to do with myself.

Sometimes it's about a lover, sometimes it's when you realise that this human being will be your sister and best friend for the rest of your life. Sometimes it's about when you have that experience of acceptance with a local family and your soul feels fulfilled. Sometimes it's a swim under the full moon and sometimes it's someone reading poetry in the middle of the day.

When you look back on it it's so overwhelming. And then you realise that there's even more to come and suddenly it feels like your blood is floating on the outside of your body and it's filled with so much oxygen it turns in to a shade of red you've never seen before.

Between oceans

It might seem like I've got it all under control. Every next step planned, my shit sorted out. But to be honest everything is fucking chaos. It's just spontanious decisions reflected of my constant need of not getting stuck. My need of moving. Not moving as in being on the run every single day. Just moving my soul to different places and moving bits of my heart into other peoples hearts. That might sound a bit messy.

But everything is a mess. It's my beautiful mess. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Always alright

SO FREAKIN GOOD
makes me wanna dance down the street