Our trip to Togo was exactly the girlie holiday we needed! I think the photos speak for themselves, but it was basically real time-out from our placements, a gorgeous mixture of white sandy beaches, blue skies and turquoise seas with a bit of cool city life thrown in.

Togo is definitely different to Ghana, as soon as I crossed the border I was no longer on the receiving end of smiley happy 'you are welcomes!' and 'how are youoo?!'s. The people are friendly of course, but in a different kind of way, I think we've been so spoilt by Ghana's super warm welcome that of course anything else is going to seem pretty luke warm! The men were also a different kettle of fish too, the jokey 'will you marry me?!'s replaced with let's say a more forward approach (!).

The city of Lome is fantastic, sitting right on a long clean (!) stretch of yellow-white sand, palm trees swaying in the breeze it sort of lazes there, culture and noise and West-African colour all off-set with a real beachy vibe. I was surprised to see a lot less signs and billboards for NGO's as we drove through the city to our hotel, it seems Ghana has had more than its fair share of development initiatives whilst this place has hardly any in comparison. And the white people I saw seemed to be less the NGO lot like you see in Ghana, and more construction workers and engineers, sweating it out under the hot sun to lay down roads and build foundations, extending the decent road system that already serves the city.

The hotel we stayed in was just gorgeous, the perfect setting for lazing on the beach and having some real girlie catch up time with Sarah and Leahy (Peace Corps) from the Upper West. We had the beach pretty much to ourselves on some days, which stretched out on both sides for miles, and the blue sea that we could swim in every day thanks to the sea wall that has been built. We were just to the east of the city and the main city port, so to our right we could see the huge tankers coming in and out with goods, importing and exporting goods and oil. To our left was simply palm trees and typical Togolese shacks and small hotels, very pretty.

We spent most of our time lazing in the sun, swimming in the sea, and catching up over nice cold drinks and chilled music. We ate some amazing food - croissants and fresh orange juice for breakfast, fresh bread and butter with every meal, and mouth-watering meals from burgers to grilled prawn skewers...heaven! It was a real shock to the taste-buds, and being French influenced probably better than the shock I'll get when I get home ;-).

On Sunday it was Sarah's birthday, so we did birthday breakfast, birthday sun lounging, birthday swimming in the sea, birthday ice cream yum J, birthday drinks on the beach, and birthday dancing yey! We happened to have made friends with some kite-surfing guys with jet ski's (of course!) and so got to enjoy some birthday water-sports too!

We ventured out into the city a couple of times, loving the street cafe scene that exists there in the evenings, and sampling the classy (and very expensive, there must be some very wealthy Togolese in this city!) bars and local night clubs. For Sarah's birthday we went to a gorgeous pizza restaurant that would rival the ones at home, all sitting outside under the stars, lanterns hanging from the trees, live jazz playing on the stage...bliss. And then we went to a Karaoke bar...haha oh dear! So much fun, so little time, our holiday was a little whirlwind just like always J.

On our last day we ventured into the markets, and had a real taste of Togolese city life. The bazaars, the arts and crafts, the local food being cooked on the side of the road and behind little shacks, the fruits and vegetables being sold, the flowers and the materials and cloth, everything was so vibrant and colourful, similar to Ghana, but still somehow different!

The one thing I can say is that Togo seems to be way more expensive than Ghana, and certainly for any crafts or gifts the vendors were throwing out extortionate prices at us because we are western. Not being used to having to haggle so hard, none of us really had the energy to bother, which is probably a good thing otherwise I probably would have come back with a heap of souvenirs! I got to practise my French, or what little I can remember, which was fun, and we got to see a different side of West Africa for a change.

After our last afternoon and evening on the beach, soaking up the sea air and feeling the sand under our toes, we headed back to Ghana's capital in time for Thanks Giving (Leahy is American). Sarah and I headed off to Kokrobite for a night of chilled relaxation and because we still wanted more sea and beach time, and Leahy checked into her plush hotel in Accra (a gift from her parents for her birthday which was on Friday, so many celebrations in one week!). So there was more swimming in the sea, eating fresh fruit overlooking the fishing boats, and we also had a massage each under the palm trees as a little treat. Gorgeous.

Back in the city, we celebrated Thanksgiving by eating Indomie (Ghana style noodles) on the street in our party dresses before going to the classiest club we could find (I had no idea there were places like that in Ghana!) and being bought champagne! And we celebrated Leahy's birthday with ice cream, city shopping and an actual Thai meal in a cute little restaurant. It was lovely.

It felt fantastic to be away from Ghana, and the intensity of life in Zebilla. As much as I love it there it can be really full on, and so it was nice to have a real break. It was nice to switch off from my placement for a while too, a chance to relax and look back at all that I've done so far in preparation for my last month on the job when I get back before I head home. Wow, to be honest I needed the whole break just to get my head around that! One thing is for sure though, the shopping, partying and relaxing has definitely helped!

With love from Ghana,

Em

Xx