Badou to Hohoe - Day 283

Date: May 28th, 2010
Distance: 76km
Country: Ghana

Left Togo today and entered Ghana. Country 24 and (hopefully) my final stop in West Africa. Crossing the border was easy. Except on the Ghana side everyone kept asking me if I had brought them anything. "We want to remember our American friend." I don't give bribes. Don't ask again.

The ride south to Hohoe was hot but beautiful. The sun was out and I was riding through a series of tropical hillsides. The heat from the sun did make it slow going though. I got into Hohoe late in the afternoon.

I town I met a guy working at a bike shop there. My bottom bracket has been giving me problems, and I wanted to see if they might have one. Their mechanic, Michael, turned out to be a really cool guy. He gave even showed me a couple of tricks about maintenance that I didn't know. I had stuff to do, but I promised to stop by later.

I check in at a hotel and I was going to go out to the Agomasta falls in the village of Wli. It turns out they are almost 15km away, and then you have a 45 minute hike. It was getting way to late in the afternoon for that. So instead I just rode around Hohoe for a bit and then got some dinner.

After dinner I met up with Michael again and took him out for a drink. I had a good time chatting with him about what it was like to be a bike mechanic in Africa. I guess they don't really make any money doing it. Instead he works with his brother fixing up bikes to sell. I wasn't real clear on how the bikes got here, but I am pretty sure they came from the states. Other than that, fixing a bike is something you do more out of charity than to make money. That is when the bikes get fixed at all. In most other countries the bikes don't even have breaks. Michael did seem a bit hopeful that people were finally starting to give bikes a bit more respect. People were paying more for bikes and were beginning to understand the need for maintenance. It is a start.

-Dravis