An African Adventure...

This past weekend, I was able to get off ship. I had mentioned before, but some friends and I went to Kpalime (pronounced, pal-a-may). It was about a 3hr drive, complete with amazing scenery! Everything is so green here! The driving here is always an experience though. There are many potholes in the road...so you are constantly being thrown different directions in the car. The brakes are not used gently, but often slammed on - in order to miss a pothole or a biker. Needless to say, we got good at bracing ourselves. And coming back to Lome in the dark, was even more interesting...haha. But overall, it was one of my favorite days here!!

The initial plan was to leave at 9am. At 10ish, we found out that one of the drivers starting coughing up blood and died..."but dont worry, we have another driver for you" is what we were told. As you can imagine, we were like...wait, what?! Someone died?! That's awful! And they just shrugged it off...like it was no big deal. Slightly different approach than Americans have with death... Well, we ended up leaving Lome at 11. We made great time and made it there quickly. Along the way, one of the girls had to use the bathroom...so we proceeded to stop at a complete strangers house. They were very welcoming, and we just laughed..."we are stopping at a strangers house...haha, only in africa." So, our first stop was to visit this mission on Mt Agou. A lot of people have hiked this mountain...but we weren't going to have enough time to do the entire hike. So I was thankful for this small hike, and to see a little glimpse of the mountain view! Next, we went to one of the translator's (there were 2 that went with us) sister's house...pretty much just to tell her that we were coming for dinner! But she was great, super excited to meet us and also very welcoming. After this, we headed to the waterfalls (our destination)! It wasn't a very long hike...but it was amazing! The mountain was soo beautiful...the pictures don't do it justice. We were able to swim and stand under the waterall, which was SO fun!! Not to mention, we were also drenched in sweat by the time we reached the waterfall...so it felt extra refreshing. We were the only people we saw there...on the hike and at the falls. So it was nice to be at a local gem, not a big tourist attraction. Just sitting there on the rocks, listening to the water crash down, staring up at all the plush green mountain around us...was very serene. And needless to say, I loved it...

Then, we headed back to the sister's house for dinner. Side note: curfew on the ship is 11pm...it is currently 7pm when we arrive at her house - and with good traffic/no car problems...it takes at least 3hrs to get back to the ship. So we had mentioned this to our translators, you guys know about the curfew, right? To which, he responded..."dont worry, God is in control" ...and proceeded to turn back around and continue talking to his friend. haha...we kinda laughed and said, yeah we know He is...but we still have to be back at the ship by 11. We weren't quite sure if they understood us, but it all worked out. Anyway, the traditional African meal was prepared for us and was amazing! I was slightly worried...and lets be honest, saying that I was worried is an understatement...about the food, but it was really great!! We had fou fou (pounded yams) with some sort of soup. Pap (prounounced pop)...which was some sort of with corn tasting stuff that they peel off a leaf. (i obviously dont know exactly what it was, haha) The pap was served with a red sauce. And with African style, we ate with our hands. The fou fou and soup was my favorite...I didnt care for the Pap. Fou fou looks like and has the consistency of stretchy mashed potatoes (if that makes sense)...so you pull a chunk off and just dip it into the soup! Very, very good stuff... And to make things even more fun, we were able to pound some fou fou!! Pictures are at the end of this post... the African ladies there got a kick out of watching us try this. And to say they simply laughed, would also be a huge understatement! haha...it was fun though!

We arrived back to the ship, right at 11pm. As we laughed about the day, there were several things that we enjoyed. One being how we would randomly stop throughout the day (usually, i think they were asking directions), and one of our translators would get out of the car and leave. Keep in mind, our driver speaks only french and we all spoke only english...so we couldnt ask him, where the translator was going! We decided that he went and bought food for himself...but it always took 10-15mins. It became quite humerous to me actually! We would stop. He would leave. We would sit in the hot car (car was turned off) with 3 people in a small backseat of a car. We had no idea where he went or what he was doing. We were just sitting, waiting, getting lots of odd looks from the locals that would meander by our car. haha...it was great! He then would eventually come back to the car...and proceed to say "are you happy?...your happiness is my happiness...your happiness is my reputation". hahaha....needless to say, it became my quote of the day, because we heard it numerous times!!

It was a great day and definitely one of my favorite adventures since being here!! Here are a few pictures from the day...

During hike on Mt Agou

Random street shot with part of Mt Agou in background

An African bookstore...

An African shoe store...

At the falls

Street shot in Kpalime


The pros pounding Fou Fou...

The Yovo's pounding Fou Fou... *Yovo is their term for white person...so its very common to hear kids yelling, "yovo, yovo!!"

Today's love: reflecting back on the adventures, opportunities, and friends I've met during this time...