Danyi Apeyeme Togo Homestay

Danyi Apeyeme Togo Homestay
Danyi Apeyeme, Togo West Africa
Home Stay Coordinates - Michel and Jane are the Owners
Saturday, April 21, 2007
07 degrees 12.203 North
000 degrees 41.452 East
795 Meters of altitude above sea level

I would put my Hobo Ok on this place, a great time, note, I paid the asking price of 2000 CFA and they would probably go lower. This is not a home stay in any formal sense, this is me just staying at the home of a family in Danyi- Apeyeme, Togo.



Photo of my room, 2000 CFA, and cool at night, because at about 795 Meter above sea level. I needed a mosquito net, the shower and toilet were camp style primitive. The will feed me for an extra fee, I do not know what, I do not like Fufu, then again, I have never tried it either, but I am not wanting too. I am hooked on the Haricots and that is enough extra carbohydrates to add to my diet, this is the land of Carbo loading, I could swim around Nigeria.

I have GPRS Internet Connection, Electricity that is on and off at scheduled hours. The family is great.



This is Jane, pronounced something like Jahn, and she has a husband by the name of Michel, he is in Kpalime, I do not understand, never came back.

There are many children here in this area and it is a playground, ask the girls to sing and dance.

Togo Hobo OK, Togo Hotels, Togo, Accommodations, Accommodations Types,

Danyi Apeyeme Togo Homestay

Cheap Room in Good Hotel

Cheap Room in Good Hotel
Lome, Togo West Africa
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I have found the cheapest room, in a good hotel, maybe the cheapest room here.

I decided I needed a different Auberge or Hotel, or Pas Cher accommodation, therefore about 7:30 am this morning; I left the My Diana Auberge. My friend Ami has quit the job there, and is gone, now
the place has gone from acceptable to not ok. I do not understand, yet it appears to be a huge electricity problem.

I was paying 5000 CFA for a fan room, with no electricity most of the day yesterday, then they turned on the generator at about 7:30 after I continued to holler at them for 20 minutes. I did my best to educate them to the curse words in English.

I am now paying 6,500 CFA and have Air Conditioning in the room, and at 1:28 pm, the electricity has commenced. It stopped at about 9:00 am, and they told me, you will now have electricity after noon, whether by normal public service or by generator.

I am in something called the Providence Auberge and I do not know where it is located, I do know I am far from the ocean. Not a big deal as the oceans is not used to speak of in Lome, Togo. I did a 1000 CFA tour of the hotels of Lome, and after many hotels, dumps and other, I found this one, under a big tree. The big tree makes this place about 10 degrees cooler.

Togo has been an education in how to find acceptable lodging. There are landmines about me, as I realize one small bad choice, and I live in a headache. This Auberge Providence, location unknown, is great so far, they have provided me more or less in Africa terms, exactly what they said. I was told the electricity would start at 12 noon, and it came on at 1:30, so right on time in African terms.

I discovered many smaller hotel, and have differentiated between Pas Cher or Cheap and not fun, or not Amical. I think that mean friendly, in French. A person wrote and said that the room at the Ghana - Togo border seemed good, as I said, very quiet, cool, easy to sleep, friendly and cultural.

That room was good, yet I do come from a culture where there is a toilet, shower and electricity. This is many ways a constant goal, how to bring my travelers nest up to my standards, yet live in the bush. I need big batteries, the lights are not a problem, and I have this hand wind up lamp given to me by Chris that is great. I need more batteries for my computer; I cannot work on my computer more than about 3 hours before the batteries are gone. There is also a severe shortage of English books in West Africa to read.

I think the number one thing most travelers need though is a place to party or a buvette, and they need some fast type action party, something that makes them feel like they went out in their own country. If you read both the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guides, you will see they continually tell the tourist and travelers how to find party type entertainment. I am fortunate in a way; I do not need this type of social life. I could have lived at the border for weeks, yet in the end, my desire to keep my internet pages current conflicts with the location of the village. It was in the middle of where the Togocel.tg map said, and the GSMWorld.com map said, cell phone access existed. There were zero bars of signal.

I have found one new way to get a great room, I go to a more expensive hotel, and have them show me all the rooms. It seems a requirement that all white people must look at the most expensive rooms and say no, before they will take us to the cheap rooms. I told them, I want a Pas Cher room and finally they found the cheap one, when they understood I was serious. Therefore, I have the facilities of a 10 Mille room or 10,000 - 13,000 CFA room, and live in room for 6,500 with inside bath and toilet and air conditioning. I am going to try this approach more. I will go to the 2 or 3 in the Roughguides and see if they have the 1-2 number priced rooms. There is close to zero tourist, they can be flexible.

There is always the best room in the hotel for value and location, sometimes not so obvious why and this is the art.

Often it comes down to my negotiation ability, can I hold the price and be hard enough to say, I will not pay that ridiculous price. It is clear in my head and easy for me, I think any room in Africa over 5000 is on the ridiculous price level in West Africa. I have lived all over the planet, I am positive these rooms are overpriced. Believing in your price is the first objective in negotiations. I know they are overpriced, so I am going for the correct prices now, and not being tolerant.

Cheap Room in Good Hotel

Travel into the Francophone

Travel into the Francophone
Kpalime, Togo West Africa
Thursday, April 12, 2007

Where oh where is the information on Togo? I have wondered off into the world of the Francophone, left the Anglophone and went to.
http://www.google.fr

I went searching for rooms in earnest, as I am leaving a sure thing internet connection tomorrow morning and going to the I-hope-I-have-a-connection areas.

Togo is not really in the sights of either the French or the English as their next travel destination. I may be wrong, but this country is not in the short, medium or long list, they do not have it on the list.

I found a few more terms to call a cheap room in French, and ways of thinking in French. I do not think French yet, but I am adjusting and thinking maybe a little Togo French.

Donnez moi un Cadeau cherita.

Type of accommodations in French, and I am not sure about the comme d’habitude, but think it is.

l’hotel
Chez
Auberge
Comme d’habitude
Pas Cher
Chambre de Passage
Chez l'habitant
Camping
Hôtel

I have this list of words to describe accommodations and it is continually growing, there is of course many ways to say I want a place to sleep in many languages, and there needs to be a lot of adapting to the local flavors to travel Hobo.

I am working on the list, because, I am cheap, so far, the only they call me cheap here, is to say I am sticky, and the Ghana Translation into English. I will soon learn to say in French. I am cheap; I do not give up the cash easy.

Searching and reading in a different language on the internet is a voyage. I think or try to empathize with the Chinese or Arabic world and try to think, understand how difficult it is to find the information available, there is a world of isolation and separation.

I can do pretty good at reading French and can surf, find, and read well. I am not too excited though about the French travelers in Togo, there is about the same number as the English speakers, a few and none.

I am sure to find Frenchie thinking there are some more French search engines to consider.

Travel into the Francophone