Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2008
From: Michael Redman
Subject: GK COS Trip Update - 9 APR '08

Hey all-

I rolled into Lomé on MON night / TUE AM @ about 1230a. It was a long haul, but one of the best bus situations I've ever been in on this fine continent. When we started out, I had a cluster of three seats to myself, and I kept it the whole way down (didn't even have to throw any elbows or anything). Very convenient for conking out for minutes at a time (barring no interruptions from massive potholes), since I had gotten about 5 hours of sleep in the last ~44 hours before I left Niger. Still, they were running the bus hard*--no wonder they often break down. No mere pothole or speedbump was gonna slow us down. (Yet we still rolled into Lomé 3½ hours later than predicted.)

Later this morning, Inch'allah, I will be heading to the Ghana embassy to pick up my passport with the shiny new Ghana visa. I didn't have any trouble at the embassy yesterday like Djimi, Seabass, Alex and Alison had (and for that matter, Kevin, Boo, Kate & Khoi, in February)--I must have just showed up on a good day (both times). Also, Alison & Alex talked about the good cop, bad cop team at the embassy here in Lomé, so maybe the bad cop just happened to be out yesterday morning?

So, assuming that happens, I'll probably stick around here today, do some chores, then head up north tomorrow morning. I've wanted to see the Wli (vlee) waterfalls ever since the first time I went  to Ghana, so now I just might get to.

It'll be fun walking around and carrying my Nigerien crap on my back, in addition to the laptop and the satchel with all my important stuff in it (i.e., a leyda bi [black plastic bag] full of money). So far the only close call I had was when my laptop went missing from the overhead storage at the Niger / Benin border. I flipped out and started maniacally working my way up the aisle--only to see that it was still in the overhead bin, it had just slid forward 10 feet because of all the bumps on the Dosso-Gaya road. Needless to say, I kept the laptop on me at all times after that :)

Also, I was hanging out in the room I'm staying at here on the west side of town, and I stumbled back away from the room as I was re-packing my satchel, I felt a crunch as I set my foot down. I had stepped on my camera. I flipped the switch, and the screen flickered on with this cool black and whit abstract pattern. It was cool until I realized that it was actually the cracked and broken LCD screen. Well, crap. I guess I can still take pictures (happily, there is a manual viewfinder), but no telling the quality until I can connect it to a computer. Considering the camera's pretty touchy when it comes to low-light images, it'll cut down on the quality of pictures I can bring home. Lame! (But, because I'm ridiculous, I actually left two of the exact same camera at Kevin's place, and there are some Niger PCVs coming down on vaca soon, so I'm gonna see if I can wrassle something up there. I'll keep ya posted.)

That's about all. Lomé's pretty much like Niamey weather-wise: hot & muggier, and fairly shabby, as far as national capitals go. Then again, I'm not wandering too much with as much cash as I'm being forced to carry. But at least I'm catching up on some rest!


Drop me a line sometime!

- GK

* For you, Boo!

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