Day 15: A Farewell to Fetishes (Lomé)

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Day 15: A Farewell to Fetishes (Lomé)

Written by Eric Mathurin

Saturday, 20 December 2008

The group shot, minus Annie! (Photo, however, by Annie.)

Our flight didn't leave until 23:00 so David, Il and I had an entire day kill while the others had to backtrack to Accra for their flight. The three of us, after breakfast, rode with Einz and Andrea as their entourage the 3 km to the Ghanaian border: they had been in a panic about it because during their first crossing they'd been surrounded by a mob of large men who distracted them and tried to pick their pockets and bags.

The Lomé side of the border where we left them was not very busy and apart from a money changer holding a large wad of bills (who I joked with, asking him if it was a "cadeaux" for me) we were left entirely alone. Hopefully the Ghanan side went equally well for them.

The three of us then rode around town for a little bit, stopping at a couple of grocery stores attempting to find some Togolese hot sauce as gifts for friends back home—but without any luck.

We relaxed in our rooms with the air conditioner.

We went out for sandwiches.

We said goodbye to Annie, Jorgen and Lena who had hired a car on the Ghanaian side at noon to take them to Accra.

We took a taxi to an internet cafe where I had no messages in the last two weeks except from Gill and 700 mailing lists. The cafe had reggae versions Christmas carols playing in the background, including "Jingle Bells" which was kinda hilarious.

I call this one Prosper with Blowfish. (Photo by Il Kim.)

We then took a cab—driven by an young English-speaking Togolese dude named Prosper. We had him take us to the renowned "Fetish Market"—the largest in the world. It was hilarious to listen to David try and explain where we were going without using the word "fetish" which is derogatory, although (even though) the locals use the word themselves. David insisted on refering to it only as the "traditional medicine market" and I think the exchange ended with us getting to the market and Prosper getting a lecture on neo-colonial language in Africa from David.

We exited the car inside a sandy, walled, gated and completely treeless courtyard devoid of people except for us three Yovos, Prosper, and the men who work in the market.

Our guide and medicine man. (Photo by Il Kim.)

Several large tables stood full of animal skulls and other miscellaneous body parts baking in the full sun. We had already seen enough, I think, just getting out of the cab but we went and saw the Vodun market chief who told us it was the enormous price of 5,000 CFA for admission. We ended up haggling half-heartedly and came to an agreement that Il would pay (and could take pictures) but David and I could tag along for her tour. Which was hilarious because Il was even less impressed and more cynical than us, and didn't even want to come. He he he.

Skulls. (Photo by Jorgen.)

The tour involved walking around and listening to the various medicinal purposes of the of the different animals. It ended with us dubiously shunted behind a curtain in the back of the stalls where they told us the "powerful magic" was. It was really just a hustle to sell tourists small charms (such as the infamous "Fetish Phone" for travellers—at least so-called by tourists) at massively inflated prices—had we deigned to show any interest or ask the price.

We then returned to the hotel with Prosper (who had followed us on the tour) and arranged for him to pick us up with two taxis at 20:00 to take us all to the airport.

We killed more time.

I had a Fanta and smoked a cigar in the courtyard.

I had a conversation with one of the souvenir vendors next to our hotel whose family lives at the Burkina Faso border but he works in Lomé because there's no money to be made up there. (Or from me!) I left him with a cigar and my lighter which he appreciated.

We went to a nearby Lebanese restaurant in the early evening and ordered a fixed-price "dinner for four". They brought us a tonne of food and it was all delicious. We definitely left behind enough for a fourth person to eat.

Back at the hotel we showered and changed into our clean "airplane attire". I definitely lost weight while Il lamented she didn't lose any and was a "chunkmeister".

Women.

Eric and the Great Guide, David Mozer. (Photo by Il Kim.)

By 20:30 Prosper was nowhere to be seen and we were getting antsy. As we were trying to get another cab he finally showed up with a friend—they had clearly been running on African time. (Plus Prosper had lent his cab to someone else and showed up as a passenger in one of the cabs.)

We ran the myriad of useless African airport checks together and finally said our goodbyes together hours later at Charles de Gaulle where I had leave for a separate terminal for my connecting flight to Toronto.

It was great hanging out with my two friends again and in many respects the last half of the tour was just the three of us riding together.

I hope we can do it again soon.

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