Our Trans Togo Trek

What do you get when you cross eight Mercy Shippers, one car and the national highway of Togo? A trans-Togo trek! Togo is roughly the same size as West Virginia. However, unlike West Virginia it’s very long and thin when viewed on a map. So we thought it would be fun to say we walked across Togo in a day. Could we do it? Others had tried before and failed, but we set out bright-eyed and excited for our 36 mile adventure at 4:45 in the morning one fine Saturday about a month ago.  (Just slightly behind in the blogging here)…
P.S. The umbrella was for the sun...when it eventually came out. 

It was a quick car ride in the wee hours of the morning to the Ghana border across town. Here we are starting our adventure in the dark.

Murray was our trusty driver who stopped about every mile and a half to give us food, water and make sure we stretched. We wouldn’t have been able to do this adventure without him.  We got to walking as the sun came up. You’d be amazed at the number of Africans out running at 5am in the dark with us (many barefoot nonetheless!) Now Jen and I are definitely the shortest in the group, and we had to run to keep up for the first few miles as the pace was so quick! I guess that’s what you get for walking with some tall folks (although at five foot three I guess most people are taller than me).

We were making good time by our return to the ship about 2 hours later. It was here that Liz, Jen and Tim said goodbye as we continued onward. So the four remaining walkers (Estelle, Haley, Ben and I) and Murray continued onward on the main international highway as the day got hotter.

Here we are at our halfway point below. By this time Estelle was finished. While we didn't see too many cattle as this sign would suggest, we did see a zimi accident with bodies covered by the palm leaves (unfortunately all too common here) as well as a naked man hanging out on the side of the road.  Never a dull moment in Africa! 

A much deserved Tampico stop for Haley and Ben

Bathroom Break for us all!...where we also ran into some other Mercy Shippers enjoying a day at Lake Togo. 

We are excited to be at the 26.2 mile marathon mark and still feeling good...only ten more miles to go!



But shortly after, our day long adventure began to feel more like the Trans Togo Trudge.  With blisters on our feet and still miles to go, we were not all smiles. It was also at this point that the Adele song came on in my i-pod, asking “Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavement?” Very fitting, and we all had a good laugh.  Here we are emerging through the African grass, and me with my umbrella in the hot sun.

Below, this picture was where I just about gave up. The pain in my right foot was shooting up my leg with every step I took.   Nonetheless we trudged onward. I don't think I would have made it if Ben and Haley hadn't kept on going. 
  

The killing point though was when Murray said he was going to head onward to go to the border. When he didn’t come back after a good 25 minutes (mind you he was driving) we got a little worried. Ben called him on the cell. “Murray where are you? How far away is it?” Murray’s response: “I’ll tell you when I see you.” Uh oh. Not a good sign…

But eventually, after much more walking on the day we thought would never end – Aneho – the last village before the border. With a second wind we continued onward. Enjoying some nice scenery with some train tracks below.

Crossing the bridge to the border!

And victory! I have never been so excited to get into a car and rest at that point.  After 36 miles in one day....

...I can safely say this is something I will never, ever do again, nor recommend for anyone else!  But we did it.  From Ghana through Togo to Benin, we walked across the country we’ve called our home this year. And four weeks later, sadly, I’ve still got the blisters on my feet to prove it!