The Road to Togo / Friday, Nov. 14

6:30 am -- Good morning! Caden comes by to visit. He loves the sticker book Gamma brought him.

8:30 am -- Departure. Driving around Accra, we saw the stereotypical scenes of roadside produce sales with women carrying baskets on their heads ..... wait, it's not a stereotype -- it's real!

Noon -- Picnic lunch at Akosombo Dam (see photos) and Volta Hotel . (Still in Ghana)

Afternoon -- Really rural! We passsed hundred of Ghanians and Togolese walking or ridiing scooters in places where it appeared that no one lived. But, Brett says that out in the bush are little communities.

Arrival in Togo. It requried three different stops in Togo before we were "legal." At each stop Brett gave an official a loaf of fresh bread he had purchased at a roadside stand. The last stop involved Joy and I getting Togo visas. (We were very thankful Brett is fluent in French!) The official made a 4-H project out of it. He certainly was not in a rush. In fact, throughout the day it seemed that few people seemed rushed and stressed. They just went about their business, apparently believing they would accomplish their task in due time. Maybe we stressed out Americans could take a lesson. If we didn't have so much "stuff," we might not feel the pressure to protect it or add to it.

That's not to say what we experienced was calm. In fact, while the people are low key, the sheer numbers made it feel very chaotic. Still, there were no instances of "road rage" all day long.

PM -- Stayed over night at the Baptist Hospital Guest House where Joy saw her first live gecko! He was on the wall, so she moved her bed into the middle of the room, I guess thinking geckos wouldn't find her there.

Friday reflections -- After two days here, the grinding poverty still seems to be the norm. Brett says that Ghana has a large middle class, but they are surely outnumbered by theh poor. What does the poverty look like?

1. Cities that have grown into huge metropolises with little or no planning. (Accra is a city of 2-3 million)

2. The third largest city in Togo had ONE paved road. Deeply rutted dirt roads were the norm.

These two glimpses illustrate a major problem: the lack of government resources to insure an adequate infrastructure. More illustrations later.

Brett hopes to get an early start tomorrow. He's anxious to be home -- single parenting is hard work!

Photo captions: TOP TO BOTTOM: A Togolese taxi / children in school uniforms / Very rural! / Joy and Brett enjoying lunch / the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River

PS I would like to post the photos at the end, but I haven't figured it out yet. Can anyone help me out?