The Trip

Colin got all packed up, said his final goodbyes, and we took off for Kara. We made it in safe and sound and didn’t lose a single bag along the way. So far so good. We spent the day hanging out with Christian and running some last minute errands so that we would be ready to roll out for our 6h wake up call. Everything was going as planned, for the first time ever in Africa.

That didn’t last long, Christian told us right before dinner that his sister would be coming to Accra with us. Somewhat confused, Colin and I asked how and why? Not that I have anything against Judith, but for reasons soon to be made clear she wasn’t invited. Apparently Boniface didn’t like the idea that only Christian was going with us and assumed that money was the only reason. He generously forked over 40,000 CFA for her to accompany us. I kept all of the anger and frustration in until we got to Lomé (which was an uneventful trip) and Colin and I were alone at the Cellule. But once we were, I exploded.

1) We found this out from Christian as if we had no choice, not from Boniface. 2) Neither Christian nor Judith have ever left the country let alone traveled for pleasure. 3) They are both extremely sheltered (their parents have steady sources of income, the live in Kara less than a 10 minute walk from the university, they were raised in the traditional Togolese style of complete obedience and propriety, and compared to most of their peers their lives are relatively easy). 4) Judith was given 40,000 CFA = 120 CEDI (half of the hotel bill for the 4 of us) 5) She is a girl and doesn’t walk more than the 1 km to the university at a time.

To clarify, the original plan was for the 3 guys to skimp on meals and take cheap transportation to Accra where we would squeeze into a budget double hotel room, walk everywhere, snag some souvenirs, find a place to celebrate new years, eat some decent food, and relax. We had this thing planned out and budgeted for a week in advance before finding out about the tag-along. We were now and the group dynamics were so incredibly different from what both Colin and I had wanted. The idea was that Colin and I would be the only familiar thing to Christian thus giving him only one option for communication – us. Put his sister in the mix and he feels more comfortable talking in his native languages with her than with us at all. They were like a married couple and I hated it. Not only that, but the only time they engaged us in conversation was to ask when we were going to the market so they could buy things that their friends asked them to purchase or whenever they were asked a question. I now know what my parents felt like in high school – the one word/short phrase responses just about drove me insane. By the end of the trip it literally was silent between the siblings and the whities.

Shortened for my convenience (I started storytelling, it turned into a book, and I didn’t like the negative overtones) their antics included asking to stay in a hostel (nearest one was 5 miles from the center of town a.k.a where all of the interesting stuff is, using the bathroom at just about every stop, not eating meals with us or at the same times, not talking with us, `not spending New Year’s Eve with us, `spending the entire second day in Accra in the hotel room/getting her hair done, constantly asking/stopping to buy things that their friends had given them money for, getting Colin and I scammed, sitting outside of every major attraction that looked like it would cost money/did cost money, and lastly forgetting their passports (that had to pay fines at every major police stop).

Christian for the most part was a good sport and tried to stick to Colin and my plan (we asked them every morning if there was anything they would like to do or change). He came back to the bar after walking Judith back to the hotel on New Years even though he was obviously tired, he also walked the 20km on the 1st with us to try and find a beach (which we never found), and he also came to a bar for a soccer match that Colin and I wanted to catch. And had it been just him with us, things would have been very different.

Judith on the other hand, was exactly what you would expect from a girl who has never left Togo and has only been to Lomé a handful of times. Not that I can blame her, but she was just like a gradeschool girl who had just found her mom’s makeup. First time out of the country on someone else’s dime, living in a hotel (was like the Ritz for them, but more like a truckstop motel for Colin and I) with a huge mirror/telephone/running water. She showered multiple times a day, got her hair done (took 2 hours and cost 1/5 of “her” money), and “lived it up.” Again, I wasn’t mad at her. Hell I would probably have done the same thing had I been her…follow up a 30+ km day of walking with another 20 or go and get a makeover? Not exactly a tough choice for a 24 year-old girl on a free trip. But that is precisely why she was not invited – foresight. Well foresight and money with the emphasis on the former.