tourism at its finest

A few weeks ago we were traveling north to Mango and the missionary we were with told us that the crash site of the former president's plane was nearby. Plane crash? Who doesn't like to see a good crash site every now and then?

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On our way back we decided to stop and see this fascinating tourist attraction. Now, I know it's not Epcot Center or anything but it's pretty exciting when you consider your options for tourism here in our neck of the woods.

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The missionary drove up to what looked like an empty parking lot and said "here we are." There was a building on our right and he said he would wait in the car while we went inside. I thought perhaps they had pieces of the plane in a sort of museum or something....

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We walked up the stairs and then in the middle of a big court yard was the actual plane right where it crashed so many years ago. Ha! Imagine that! The plane crashed right into the middle of a court yard and didn't even leave so much as a scratch on the building surrounding it! Sure.

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Actually, when the plane went down (back in the 70's I think) it crashed in the middle of an open field. Everyone on board except the president of Togo died. They say he walked away from the crash injury free. From that moment on the president thought himself invincible (that is until he died of old age several years ago).

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They built this big building around the plane crash as a monument to the president and his invincibility. There is also a huge statue of the president out in front of the building with him pointing to the ground with the quote, "It happened here." Profound.

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While we were standing there taking pictures and video of this "attraction" 2 uniformed Togolese military men came out of nowhere and started speaking rather sternly at us for being there. I took off for the van while cramming my camera into my pocket while Kevin and Komi (a Togolese friend who was with us) stood there trying to figure out what the problem was.

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I made it back to the van and told the missionary who was with us that Kevin and Komi had been hauled off into a little room by 2 not-so-happy military men.

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Come to find out, you are supposed to have a permit to be there because it is considered government property. And you are never, under any circumstances, supposed to take pictures! Who knew!? They really should have posted a few "keep out" and "no photos" signs if you ask me. Actually if they would post the "keep out" signs they wouldn't even need the "no photos" sign, now would they?

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Anyway, enjoy the pictures that nearly landed us in the pokey!

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By the way...I still haven't figured out how that tree grew right there in the middle of a plane crash.