Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else. - Tennessee Williams

28 September 2019, Atakpamé to Nyamassila, 57.02km
Auberge 5,000XOF (R125)  

On the roadside today, we saw foodstuff laid out to dry in the sun. One sees this often in Asia, less often in Africa, but today people were making use of the nice smooth shoulder. Corn and chillies and okra drying in the dust and fumes from passing vehicles. The shoulder continued all day, only disappearing at bridges where the road becomes too narrow to support it. One must take care then; if daydreaming, you could hit a pavement at speed. It was overcast until noon, then hot, causing us to stop earlier than our planned destination. The Nyamassila auberge has no name and is not advertised by a board on the road. As usual, we asked if there was accommodation in town and, getting an affirmative, followed directions to it.
We were not optimistic about dinner, not having seen a formal restaurant in town. We walked up one side of the road through the town, without any luck, but then were walked back down the other side of the road by a helpful man to a woman serving rice or spaghetti with chicken. We opted for the rice, which she dished up with a large spoon; her chicken, in a spicy sauce, was less tough than some we have eaten, but not exactly Woolworths! We saw her dishing spaghetti for another customer by digging her hand into a pre-cooked mass and placing what she gathered on his plate. Africa is very hands-on. Almost all the food you eat has been touched many times, despite which, we have not been made ill. Our dinner was eaten with spoons made from recycled aluminium, and a bell was on our table, a nice touch we have seen throughout Togo.
Near our dinner vendor was a second-hand shoe “stall” - actually shoes laid on the dirt verge for sale. It seemed the shoes were old enough and worn enough that they had in fact been discarded by their previous wearers. Life is tough when you are poor, whether selling or buying. We have, of course, seen much poverty in Africa, but no starvation, which is a relief. We assume this is a result of improved economic growth in many parts of the continent.
In all the towns through which we passed today and on previous days, the roads are built a metre or so above the level of the town. On either side are extraordinarily dangerous drop-offs, usually angled, but unprotected, and it is here that people walk and cycle and bike and park and load and wait…
Outside one village, I was made to delete a photo I had taken of some huts. In another, we saw a naked man sitting on the pavement edge, genitals a-dangle. We crossed several small brown rivers, sluggish and unappealing. And consumed our first FanMilk products: an ice cold orange juice and a delicious frozen yoghurt.

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…