Field Trip Part 1

Week 10 of training included a 3 1/2 day field trip. Our journey took us north and we spent the trip in the Central and Kara region of Togo. We left Gbatope at 7:00 in the morning, that was Wednesday November 18. Now that it's November, the harmattan winds have begun their four months of sweeping over the country. The harmattan winds are dry, dusty, hot winds from the mighty Sahara that descend southward. With the winds it's relatively chilly in the mornings and at night and oppressively hot during the day. Everyday the sky is caked in a haze and the hills look covered in fog. The farther north, the more powerful the winds. So I have a lot to look forward to at my post. Two weeks ago in the drive to post visit the countryside was clear and the sky blue but now it's an orangish haze. The first stop on our trip was Datcha, a tiny town just south of Atakpame. There a PCV showed us one of her current projects, an ECOSAN toilet. Basically a community latrine that conserves your waste for compost. I love the idea and I'm going to look into whether or not it might work at my post. We continued on up north to Kara where we were staying the next two nights. I was pretty familiar with Kara as I had been there during my post visit (because it's my regional capitol and closest internet - 3 hours from my post) so I was able to lead people around. We had hoped to stay at Hotel Kara where there is a swimming pool but the President had rented it out as there was a funeral for his son who just died. Kara isn't as big as many of the cities in southern Togo but there is far more infrastructure because the people are Kabye, the ethnic group of the President. There has always been a bit of a north - south rivalry between the Ewe of the south and the Kabye of the north. This has played out through Togo's political history of which I will not go into because there are sensitive matters. Interesting fact I can tell you - Togo was the first African country to experience a military coup following independence. Anyways we stayed at Hotel Concorde which was very nice - air conditioning. I've never slept on a firmer bed. I swear there was no mattress, it was just a box spring I was sleeping on. That night we ate some delicious pintards (guinea fowl) which is the best meat I've eaten in country so far. Of course I have to try dog, which my Konkomba teacher Isaac says is the very best meat. Security issues related to the President being in town kept us in that night. So a bunch of us crowded on my bed and watched Almost Famous on my computer.