Like this:

I’ve been in Togo for over a week now. I have visited the voodoo-fetish market here in Lomé, and I just spent the weekend in the inland town of Kpalimé, where I hiked up to Togo’s highest point, Pic d’Agou (986 m). I think I’m off to Benin on Saturday; there isn’t much to do or see here, and things here are surprisingly expensive.

It’s really hot here: 90 degrees Fahrenheit or more, with high humidity. Lomé is the most run-down capital city I’ve ever seen. This is easily the least-developed place I’ve ever been. Most of the roads are unpaved, and they’re not even dirt but soft sand, which makes it difficult for the motorbike taxis to negotiate corners, and I was in a taxicab that got bogged down until the driver managed to enlist the assistance of passers-by to help push us out. Life here seems very quiet and slow.

I have no choice but to speak French from morning to night, as very few people here speak English. That’s going surprisingly well. It’s easier to speak French with francophone Africans than it is with French people, as the Africans don’t wince when you make a mistake. Vocabulary is my biggest issue, and my little Berlitz dictionary is getting a workout. I remember my verb tenses surprisingly well, but I have some dismaying pronominal issues (I’m never quite sure whether to use le or lui, les or leur, etc.). It would be very, very tough to get around here without French, and I’m glad my French is at least good enough to survive in conditions of near-total linguistic immersion.

That’s about all the news, readers. I hope the Internet is better in Benin.

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