DAY 127---TOME, TOGO

 

        We finally were allowed to dock here in Lome, Togo, nearly two hours late after they discovered there were a few cases of passengers and crew with covid.  More about that later in this blog post.  It is extremely uncomfortable outside today.  88 degrees with 75% humidity almost takes your breath away.

Historical/Background Info:

        Again, we stopped here on our 2010 world cruise. Lome is the capital and largest city of Togo which is one of the smallest countries in Africa. Togo has a population of over 8 million, of which, 1.5 million live in the metropolitan area of Lome. Although a small country, Togo possesses valuable phosphate deposits and a well-developed export sector based on agricultural products such as coffee, cocoa beans, and peanuts. Cotton is the most important cash crop. It also exports phosphate and cotton. Togo ranks as the 10th poorest country in the world with over 50% of its people making under $1.25 per day.  

        Last visit we took the shuttle bus into town to see the markets.  It was a huge market with thousands of stalls where the man or woman displayed their souvenirs.  We didn’t last long there as we were hounded by locals hawking their stuff.  I was not comfortable with them being so close to me.  Most of the stuff was made of wood and quite nice. 

LAST EVENING

                     Mariner Lounge "bar flies".  Same people at the bar most every evening.

                     Chicken & vegetable spring rolls as appetizer were very good as usual.

        The crispy duck ala orange was very dry.  I also wanted to taste the slow braised pork belly (top) was also too dry to eat.  All I needed though was the baked potato which was very good.

                  Chocolate profiteroles but I asked for chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla.

Too bad the audience was small for Lisa-Marie's show.  I took this just prior to the show starting.

In addition to doing Dolly Parton & Whitney Houston songs she did Streisand, Adele, and Lady GaGa.

                                                            

        The other headliner entertainer, Josh Henderson, joined Lisa-Marie for a couple songs.  WOW!  What a great combo.  This show was one of, if not the best show we have seen on a cruise ship.  Too bad they are both leaving us today so will get some new entertainers.

TODAY

        When we arrived offshore Lome the authorities there would not let us dock initially because we have a few passenger & crew cases of covid/gastro illness on board.  So bobbed around while waiting for them to make up their mind about letting us dock.  Finally at 8:20 we got clearance to dock we should now be docked at 9:30 instead of original plan, 8am.

    In the meantime it is Sunday morning so I went down to CR for my usual caviar and egg benedict.

        I think Captain Abhi finally told them "screw you, I don't need a pilot".  We were finally docking at 9:45.  Tours did not start leaving the ship until 11:15 as it took the Togo authorities a long time to clear the ship.  Bunch of assholes in my opinion.  Then they are requiring everyone take their covid vaccination card with them and they must wear masks today when ashore.  Plus they are taking everyone's temperature as they leave the ship.  We had not planned to leave the ship anyway but certainly now we would not.

        After our treadmill time I went up to deck 12 and deck 6 to take some photos.

          Looking down at the gangway area and some local dancers plus some of the tour buses.

                                     The buses looked to be pretty nice and with air conditioning.

                                                      Looking forward towards town.

   Drum band, some women dancers, and a guy up on stilts.  Same as when we were here in 2010.

                      Stilts guy is down by the buses.  There are actually two of them on stilts.

        This is a very commercial port.  They are unloading something from this ship today.  Not sure if it is grain or fertilizer or what.

        Because of our late arrival they moved our departure time from 5pm to 6pm.  Not sure if this will delay our scheduled 8am arrival in Takoradi, Ghana, tomorrow.

        Rebecca is doing a little of her laundry this afternoon in one of the laundrettes.  After finishing this I will watch a movie. There are 3 "John Wick" movies to watch.  I started with the 3rd one then yesterday watched the first half of the 1st one.  Lots of action and violence for sure.  

        We were supposed to be dining with the General Manager, Nicki, this evening but I got a call this morning saying she was not feeling well so would have to cancel.  Hope we can reschedule later on.  So cocktails usual place and time followed by dinner in Compass Rose.

        Tonight's menu.  Rebecca likes the salmon with beluga lentils.  For my entree I ordered panko coated shrimp.

        Tonight's show will be this production cast's last showing of "Tuxedo".  The cast will be disembarking in Barcelona as will the WC folks like us.  We will be on the front row for sure.