The Mountain we hiked
So please forgive me I wrote this earlier in the week but have only just found the internet to be working fast enough to post it. Sadly pictures are a luxury you'll have to have one of this week (slow internet connection)- which is a shame as the veiw from my adventures was spectacular:
Wow the election curfews are now over- Yay we are aloud off ship.
No mucking around we planned a weekend away at Kpalame- a village at the base of some mountains about 2 hrs drive North West of the port of Lome.
Scavenging bread and nibbles from the last couple of days we were prepared with enough food to go (can’t just duck into eat anywhere here).
15 of us met our taxi driver out front of the port. 19 of us crammed into his van about the size of a Tarago van. In true African style 4 random Africans jumped in with us for the ride. The drive north took us out of the busy city, past a rather large political demonstration into lush green landscapes dotted by small villages. The villages though so close to the city are very primitive mud huts with thatched roofs. We are stopped at countless check points along the road- though our driver familiar with the area charged straight through one apparent check point with rope across the road. Apparently it is a fake checkpoint locals set up to get you to stop and buy something at their village or pay them a toll/bribe to get through.
One thing I have learnt is that people are out to milk you for all your worth if your skin is white and sometimes it gets super frustrating. We arrived at our pre booked hotel only to find that they hadn’t booked our 4 rooms and that they wanted us to pay a much higher price (about 3 times the quoted amount). After much discussion they agreed we could pay the previously agreed price if we ate 3 meals in their restruant – not happening given we planned to be up a mountain for most of them. After much negotiation or frustration they found us rooms at a local hotel next door and once again tried to hike the price up- so we walk away and sure enough they came to the party. Actually we ended up at a very nice hotel with some lovely hosts so all the drama was a God send anyway. We soon discovered we had 4 rooms as booked and though each was supposed to bed 4 people they only had one double bed or king per room. 4 in the bed :). Borrowing sun-mats from beside the pool we made several beds on the floor and were set.
At midday we embarked on a 5 hr hike up a very steep mountain nearby. Our guide for the day set a flying pace and about an hour in 2 of us had nasty heat exhaustion and several others weren’t doing so well. After several discussions with the guide and a break (with some miracle electrolyte drinks) we were back on track. The view the whole way up was amazing. It was like trekking through the thick growth of the jungle – thankfully we had our guide. We passed through three villages on root. All the villages were built into the mountain side. Gatherings of mud huts in close proximity. Some village children joined our walk . They kept directing the guide to local landmarks like a cool stream where we could dunk our heads in water, an avocado tree, cocoa bean- which by the way when not ripe are really citrusy in taste to suck on though grossly bitter if you bite. The local man are constantly armed with either a machete (often used for farming purposes) or a gun hopefully more for hunting than protection but who knows- interesting world.
When the going got really tough and a few got sick the guide just found a random local in the bush who could walk a couple of us girls back to his village and then give us a motorbike ride to the hotel- that met a resounding NO from all of us- helpful though the guide was you can’t be serious or can you.
Continuing on we passed by many women with huge tin bowls on their heads and babies tied on the back- how they make it up the incline is a miracle to me. The kids continued with us to the next village where we stopped to relax. Kids came from everywhere and we whipped out some balloons I had thrown in- that was cause for some fun.
Continuing on we watched huge dark clouds roll in across the plains- within moments our guide was cutting us all banana leaves for umbrella’s. Seconds later we were drenched and sloshing in inches of mud. It didn’t take long for the mountain to turn into a slip and slide. At one stage there was no seconds between lightening and huge bangs of thunder. Yep we were right where you’re supposed to be in a storm- right in the middle of the bush. Been soaked to the skin with rain instead of sweat was a nice change J. The pictures speak for themselves of the view!!! And we didn’t even make it right to the top cause of the storm.
Saturday we wandered around the local markets before heading to a waterfall- even that was a hike and a half!! Again the pictures speak for themselves- and hopefully next week there won’t be any parasites to make this a bigger story- one can never be sure in the waters here :).
This week has had some absolutely crazy days at work. Aside from the usual hospital patients and the new admissions we were inundated with screening patients on Monday. About 50 people with facial tumors came on board to be screened and scheduled for surgery. One poor women has about 5-6 giant tumours the size of a man’s fist all around her face. Cute little kiddies with cleft lips and palates rolled around under foot. Many were scheduled for surgery in the coming weeks. Some will likely get the news of cancer- looking at their biopsies today. If the cancer is contained maybe something will be done to remove it but if not they will be for palliative care. Some patients will find out they are HIV positive- it may not discount them from surgery but where metal plates need to be put in their body further tests need to be done first to determine how advanced their disease is and how likely their body is to reject the metal. One a 14 year old girl with a deformed leg will miss out on surgery – she is in the early stages of pregnancy where anaesthetic is too risky. By the time the baby is born the ship will have left- for her the bad news was probably a double whammy. But in all that little kids keep going home with legs cast from transforming surgery, cleft lips toddlers meander the wards with their little cats whiskers- sterry strips in a cross shape over their newly repaired lips, and adults admire newly created faces post tumour removal. Proud parents of the children lurk close by to encourage little ones with double leg casts who can’t stop trying to scratch through their casts- I can’t imagine how frustrating 2 cast legs must be- but then again I have never had my legs on almost reverse and tried to walk or had painful club feet. They have a road ahead but they have a hope they never imagined.
Well that'l do me- in usual ship style I have what is hopefully the flu and not malaria so i'm going to take my hot and cold sweats to bed for some ZZZZ.
