plane crashes aren't supposed to be funny...

Last weekend we visited a town called Kara. It is relatively large compared to most towns/villages in Togo so it has lots of things to offer. Well, the word "lots" is also relative and in this case it equates to the number 3. Yes, there are 3 things to do in Kara and we did them all in one day - actually, we did them all in one morning....

After we visited the animal park (see post below) we drove to the site of the presidential plane crash. Now, my faithful blog readers (yes, I'm pretty much just talking about you, mom) should remember a post from 2008 when we went to this historic site during our first year here in Togo.

The story is that the former president of Togo was flying north from the capital city of Lome to the airport in Kara. They were almost there when the plane crashed in an open field. "Well, then, how did it get inside this massive building?" Good question. The plane crashed in 1974 and in 1976 the government (I'm sure the president himself) built this building around the plane crash to memorialize the event and celebrate the fact that he survived a plane crash (without a scratch on him, I'm told). Come to think of it, if I ever survive a plane crash and walk away without a scratch, I want a building to be built too. A big one.

Anyway, I have heard different stories but one version is that everyone on the plane died except the president....another version is that there were 2 or 3 survivors in addition to the president.....and one more version is that the other people on the plane were all found with bullets in the back of their heads and this crash was staged. Now, I don't know which version is the truth and the truth may actually be a different story altogether. No one knows, but that didn't stop us from going to see this historic site (for the second time, no less).

I leave you with a picture of one of the wings, taken from the "viewing platform" no less. This wraps up our visit to the presidential plane crash. I would recommend a visit to anyone. It's clean (as far as crash sites go), they have planted some nice shade trees right in the middle of the crash so you can get out of the sun and it wasn't very crowded. Okay, so we were the only people there, nevertheless, a good time was had by all.

fun with african animals...

This past weekend the Mango team drove a couple hours south to a town called Kara. We went to a game park called Djamde Reserve. Our guide told us that the reserve was about 1200 acres (actually he told us in "hectares" and I had to ask Kevin to translate for me...). The reserve used to be a private game park for the former president. Our guide said that the former president would go there and "hunt."

We saw several different types of animals including wildebeest...


This thing that I don't know the name of...

This monkey...

This dancing ostrich.....which, by the way, lays eggs the size of Nebraska.....

This tortoise....who (we were told) can live for 300 years.....too bad I won't be around to verify that fact....

And this horse with stripes! :) Okay, it's a zebra and we saw about 15 of them! They were beautiful!

safari...mango style

Well, yesterday we decided to to go out for a little adventure (and I do mean little...). We've always heard that there are hippos in the reservoir outside of town so we thought we should go take a look for ourselves. We drove about 30 minutes in a John Deere "Gator" with Kevin as our safari guide.

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The first thing we saw at the reservoir was a herd of cattle. I said to Kevin, "Drive closer to them so I can get a picture!" He did just as I asked and I snapped a couple of shots and then they started walking in our direction so I said, "Get me outta here!" I have to pause here and laugh at myself for a couple reasons.....1) I wanted to take pictures of COWS and 2) I was afraid of them. In my defense, they did have horns, you know.

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The next thing we saw on our safari was a big hole. Yeah, I know, not very impressive but we're in Mango, not Kruger National Park! Just after the hole sighting we saw cow birds. I guess it makes sense that where there's a cow, there's bound to be a cow bird. You can quote me on that if you'd like.

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Kevin got a great shot of part of a bone and some footprints (or should I say, hoof prints?). I've included the fascinating picture of the bone for your viewing pleasure. And then, there they were....the famous hippos! And on this particular day they were way too far out in the lake for us to be able to see very well! Kevin did take a picture (bottom right) but I'm afraid you'll have to add some imagination to it this time.

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And so there you have it. Our grand safari. At least it was free!

a little construction update...

One of my jobs here is to go out to the property a couple of times a week and take pictures of the progress being made on the construction. Well, being that I have won the "Most Pictures Taken in a Single Day" award from the Tourist Association of North America, (that includes Canada and Mexico) this is a job that I can totally do......maybe.

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The top 2 pictures are of the rebar (is that how rebar is spelled?) operation. Now before I go any further into my very accurate and technical explanation of these pictures I should warn you that my interpretation of these photos may differ slightly from someone else's explanation like, for example, an engineer's explanation....but I will do my best.

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Okay, back to the rebar operation. Rebar is very heavy (is everybody with me so far?). It is used to reinforce things. You know, like boundary walls around hospital compounds in Togo. It comes in long sticks when you buy it from the man in town down the road from the CAP station. 200 sticks of rebar don't fit on the back of the water truck very well. As a matter of fact, half of them fall off the back of the water truck when you are trying to drive back to the property and you have to get out of the truck and try to slide them back on one by one and 3 school boys see you acting like a nut and come over and help you get the rebar sticks back onto the water truck. But that's beside the point.

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Anyway, the workers tie this rebar together somehow and make "mats" - I'm sure that what I heard Kevin call them....rebar mats. Then they carry them on their heads way out to the other side of the property and put them down on the ground beside the long hole that some other workers dug. At some point I'm sure this rebar goes into that hole but I haven't been there to see that happen so I can't explain the process yet. I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat waiting for the next chapter of my new book, "Rebar for Dummies."

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Okay, the middle 2 pictures are of the block making/watering operation. Workers make each block by hand. They mix the cement with sand and some other things I'm sure and then put the mixture into a mold, bang on it with a shovel and then another worker turns the mold upside down and dumps it out. It's a lot like making a sand castle at the beach using one of those sand castle molds that your parents would buy you at the souvenir shop by the beach and then complain about the price and say they could have gotten it cheaper in Lakeland at Walmart. Or maybe that's just my own experience, I don't know.

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Well, once the blocks are all dumped out and lined up they have to "cure." Don't quote me on that one but I'm pretty sure that "cure" is the word I've heard used in relation to this process. Then the next day, which happens to be Saturday, you want to do something fun so you go back out to the property with your husband and "water" the blocks. You don't water them so that they will grow into bigger blocks, you water them to make them stronger. Don't ask me how that works because that's right where I stopped asking questions.

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The last 2 pictures are of Kevin driving the aforementioned (yes, that is one word) water truck and Kevin with 2 workers looking at the long hole where the rebar goes.

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I trust that you now have an accurate picture of what is taking place here. Feel free to share what you have learned with your friends and co-workers. No charge.

we've moved...

In keeping with our semi-nomadic lifestyle, we have moved....again. And if all goes according to plan, we'll be here for about 6-8 months. Don't want to stay in one place too long you know! Anyway, we have now moved over into the actual house (you may remember from an earlier post that we were staying in a bedroom out back, detached from the house). We have our own bedroom and bathroom and as you can see we have a lot more room now!

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Remember the "toilet in the shower" from our last place? Well, we had to give up that convenient feature when we moved over here but Togolese bathrooms rarely disappoint and this one is no exception. Take a look at the shower head....yep, right over the dresser (everyone has a dresser in their bathroom don't they?). You just stand in the middle of the room, turn the water on and there you have it! Another very convenient design! You can clean the entire bathroom as you shower....whether you want to or not. Who needs shower walls anyway? And shower curtains? A waste of time if you ask me.

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Oh, if our bed seems a little high well, that's because it is. The mattress that was on the bed when we moved in doubles as some rare form of torture so after tossing and turning the entire first night I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went to the bedroom next door and took the twin mattresses that were in there and simply put them on our bed! I'm nearly a genius.

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The only trouble is that when Kevin sits on the side of the bed to put his shoes on or something his mattress flies up in the air and he nearly lands on the floor - every time. You'd think he would put his shoes on somewhere else but I'm not complaining - it's very entertaining to watch.

the evolution of pizza...

Upon our arrival in Mango, and much to our dismay, we discovered that there was no New York Style Pizzeria in town. In fact, there never has been. Shocking. So what are 2 pizza lovers to do? Yep, you guessed it....move to another country!

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Just kidding. Before contacting our travel agent I decided that first I should try to make pizza dough from scratch (with the help of a recipe, of course). So that's just what I did.

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Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am not ready for the Domino's Pizza World Championship of Pizza Making (I'm almost certain that's a real contest in the US). As a matter of fact there was no pizza dough flinging (or tossing or whatever it's called) whatsoever. Gravity is an issue here in Mango and there is an ever present layer of thick Harmattan dust covering everything so if I were to drop the dough on the floor we would have had to eat freezy pops for dinner again.
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As you can clearly see in the first picture, I plopped the dough ball down on the pizza pan and then proceeded to pound it with my fists until it covered the entire pan. Probably not the best method but it worked for me. From there, it was simple. Just add sauce, cheese and toppings! If you're wondering why there are so many different "sections" on the pizza it's because, well, he doesn't like pineapple on his pizza, I don't like green peppers or onions on mine, sometimes he likes green peppers, onions and pepperoni and sometimes I just like pepperoni. So there you have it......a real crowd pleaser (do 2 people make a crowd?).

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So, at any rate, we had pizza for dinner. And just in case you were wondering......there are NO restaurants in Mango. Seriously. Not one. Some people would argue that fact with me but I stand firm......random pieces of meat on a stick being cooked in the middle of the road on an upside down metal gas barrel does not a restaurant make.

bon voyage......or not

Here are some not so high quality shots of 3 different accidents we saw on our return trip from Tsiko to Mango a week ago. We have to cross a couple of mountain ranges on our way up country (secretly, I've always wanted to use the phrase "up country").

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The bottom left picture is the first accident we saw on a really good stretch of road on the first mountain. As you can tell, we were heading down the hill and from the looks of it, the oncoming truck couldn't make it up the hill and he started to roll backwards causing his truck to jack-knife and roll (I mean, I'm not Adrian Monk or anything but that's my take on it). The bottom right is from the other side of that same accident and the load he was carrying is on the road.

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The top right is the second accident we saw just a few minutes later. This time the truck went completely off the road and down the side. Apparently, this one had happened recently because all of the stuff he was carrying (motorcycle assembly parts) was still there and had not been cleaned up yet.

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I actually got out of the van so that I could see over the side in order to snap a couple of shots. Let me give you a small bit of advice: Next time you are in Togo and you see an accident of this nature, actually stop the vehicle you are traveling in, get out, walk to the side and start taking pictures - you should first check your surroundings for the ever-present guard who is standing not too far away making sure that people don't make off with the goods! Hey mister, I just wanted a picture! I have no use for a motorcycle wheel! Or do I? Hmmm.....

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The top left is a picture of stuff that was recovered from a truck that went clear over the side of the mountain. People must have gone down to the truck and brought as much of the stuff as they could back to the road so another truck could take it and deliver it to wherever it was going.

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The "Ice Road Truckers" on the Discovery Channel have nothing on the Togo truckers! Driving truck in Togo is not an easy job!