TOGO...

Getting here was quite an experience, the first French we encoutered was shouted at us by a scary border official because we had not bought our visas in advance, but in fact once we,d tipped him a little the problem was resolved and he was soon asking if we were married or not!? our first destination in Togo was Kpalimé, a laid back town in the hills. We spent an enjoyable three nights there, visiting waterfalls, butterfly parks, qttending church on Sunday and seeing the local villages.

We arrived in Lomé, the capital yesterday. It is a different world entirely! Its quite reknowned for petit crime and the beach although beautiful is notoriously dangerous, but we are watching our backs. Actually its quite interesting to see the crazy dynamic of life here compared to in sleepy kpalimé.

We are extending our 7 day visas at the sevice immigration today so we can visit the north of togo this week. it is meant to be entirely different; hotter, Muslim, less touristy (not that we've seen any tourists really since we've arrived here anyway). After that we will head to Benin in a week or so.

Karin and I are struggling by with our poor French. I think we have already improved loads, but it is hard work. Nobody speaks English, so whenever you want to ask anything it involves constructing sentences and much concentration to hear the answer especially with the heavy Togolaise accents. Hopefully, it can only get easier though...