Hurrah! The third internet café I've tried in Lomé has finally decided to open this site and not be painfully slow. Apologies for any misplaced letters - it's a French keyboard with half the numbers labelled as on an English keyboard.

Well, here I am, without aforementioned Lonely Planet (I did cave and buy a Rough Guide though) and having a bit of a mixed time of it so far. To begin with, my flight was late and Alitalia have bumped Tawfiq buses off the top of my 'Most hated transport company' list. Seven hours is a long time to spend in Milan airport with no euros and no food. The nice Ghanaian lawyer I was sitting next to on the plane told me they were giving out vouchers but not until too late, and they'd helpfully hidden the Alitalia desk anyway. I arrived at 3 a.m. smiled my way through a difficulty with my address at customs and was met by the lovely Revd Simon. He was so helpful on Tuesday - helped me get my visa, change money and cross the border etc. Then I got to Togo and it all went pearshaped.

There was a small communications glitch and I'm now homeless. Contrary to what I was told, it is NOT easy to find accommodation in Lomé and they do NOT have discounted rates with the guest house. And even if they did, the guest house mings. (Kenya people think Baringo, Kakamega or that place on the Malawi border and then imagine living there.) So I decided to live with a host family but they can't take me at short notice and the guy in the room next door keeps knocking on my door at obscure hours of the day asking if I like oranges or if I want to go to breakfast with him. Which I don't, and it's getting a bit annoying, and he's here for a month.

So, after getting very depressed on Friday night, I decided to do something yesterday. I found an internet café (well, 2, and they were both slow), walked along the beach, got followed around the market by a guy who wanted me to buy souvenirs from him and then went and sat in a nice, peaceful bar for a while drinking coke. I stayed there so long the manager came and talked to me, and while I'm not sure I can trust him entirely (I'm suspicious of people who throw money around, particularly in the direction of young, female tourists) it was nice to have the company. He drove me up the coast out of Lomé to a posh hotel on the beach and bought me beer. It was quite random and quite fun and I was very upfront about the whole having a boyfriend thing so I'm not leading him on at all.

Except he gave me water and tomatoes, one of which wasn't clean properly, so my stomach had an interesting night and I spent most of this morning lying on my bed in my dingy room, sipping chlorinated water and wanting to die. But I didn't die. I even managed to have a shower and leave the hotel. Aren't I clever.

Lomé is funky and I'm slowly learning my way round. Togo got through to the world cup yesterday and it was MAYHEM on the streets. Singing and dancing till the small hours and yellow t-shirts everywhere. It was great.

Anyway, my time's running out, so I'd better go.

Hope you're all well.

Hannah xx