Trip to Upcountry #2

The weekend adventure continued to the next town.

(To read the first part of the trip, go "Trip to Upcountry #1")

On the way to Kara, there was an interesting spot on the road. The mountain road is very narrow, so they cut the mountain and made two lane road.

Faille d'Aledjo

-Kara-

We heard that there is an Artisan Center where women make local fabrics in Kara. So we decided to go there and see. However we couldn't find the place anything like an Artisan Center in the town called Ketao which we were told to go. We asked many people, but they were not sure where it is.

Finally we found a man who can take us there, but the place we arrived was a house with few women working inside. I'm not sure this was the place to go, but the women were making fabric so I guess I should consider this is the place.

People there are very interested in my camera, and as soon as I held it, their face brightened with excitement. The local children we met there was so happy when I showed the photo of them. This gave me an idea to carry around Polaroid camera when I travel upcountry, so I can give the picture right away.

A woman making local fabric

The local children

In 1974, a Togolese airplane crashed at the village of Sarakawa. Eyadéma, who was the President of Togo, was on the airplane and only him survived from the accident. Eyadéma declared his survival day, 24 January, to be "Economic Liberation Day." The Togolese government built a monument at the crash site. There is the crashed airplane near the monument and people can still visit there.

The monument of the President Eyadéma

with the guide at the museum

The crash site

There is another monument in Pya Hodo. It is called "Monument aux Morts". This is built for the Togolese who sacrificed their lives for fighting against the French colonizers with simple bows and arrows.

The Monument aux Morts

We heard there is a blacksmith family near the monument, but we weren't sure the exact location. Luckily, we found two men who knew the place very well, and they took us to the blacksmith.

We had a totally awesome experience at the blacksmith at the village Tchare. That family was very friendly and showed us how to make the iron shovels from the beginning. Starting from making fire in the forge, and form the hot iron with heavy stone.

The chief of the blacksmith is a woman. Her name is Clement and she was very enthusiastically explained the work. It seems like this blacksmith is quite famous around the region. People from Burkina Faso come to buy tools at this place.

They also make pottery. Clement showed us how to make them too. The tool is only her hands, but she made it very quickly.

I really like the fact that a woman is the chief and managing everything in that family. Even though we didn't met the main boss, but I don't think the business won't work without Clement. She gave us her contact for other people to visit. She is a real business woman!

The Chief of the blacksmith, Clement.