Lomé and on to Ghana

 Thursday-Friday, February 27-28         Lomé and on to Ghana

On Thursday morning we walked from our hotel to the center of Lomé where there is a large square with a monument to Togo independence (1960):

The monument is clever—looked at from another angle, there is a human figure: 

Togo is known for its fabrics, and we went to the Grand Marché to wander and shop: 

There were many stores selling huge bolts of very colorful fabrics: 

I bought a shirt, which was a 20 minute process including four salespersons and my fellow travelers.  The fabric I first liked came in a shirt which didn’t fit me, although the four people trying to sell it insisted it did (I had to pull it tight across my chest to even try to button it).  Ultimately, I found one in a fabric I liked which did, actually, fit.

We briefly visited Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lomé before leaving for the Ghana border. 

On Friday we began our exploration of the Akossombo region, stopping in the town of Odumasse where the Krobo people are famous for their bead-making.  We went to the shop of Cedi, who manufactures beads mostly from recycled antique glass beads and from recycled bottles.  One kind of bead uses termite saliva, a thing we didn’t know actually exists.  The owner of the factory showed us the process: 

He could use a kiln with precise temperatures but prefers to use a wood furnace.  He says he can be precise with the temperature by adjusting the fire:

 Some of the beads are multicolored: 

And, of course, there’s a shop: 

On the grounds we stopped to watch a woman using a machete to peel and chop casava with a frightening technique: 

She says she’s never cut herself.  Amazing control.  We then drove way off the main road on a dirt road until we reached the drive into the small village where we met with a prominent local voodoo priest.  The white, red and black flags and banners have meaning—the white is for the spirit god of air, the red for the god of justice and the black for the god of the earth: 

As we walked into the village, there were fetishes everywhere: 

The priest has seven wives and 33 children, 13 of whom are in training to become a priest, but only one of whom will succeed his father.  During our audience with him, occasional people came to visit him and kneeled in front of him for his blessing before rising: 

On our way out of the village we passed by this structure, which was puzzling, to say the least, in that there doesn’t seem to be any piped in running water here: 

Tomorrow we’re off to Kumasi, the center of the Ashanti.