Ama and I leave today, and I am very excited to go home, but at the same time a bit sad. We have had lots of fun here and really enjoyed our stay. Although I am looking forward to going home, there are many things we will miss.
The people here are truly wonderful. I have met so many kind and helpful people in the past few months, and it will be an adjustment to leave that behind. There is just a different level of friendliness here than at home.
Wish me luck on the very long flight alone with Ama! I am hoping for no delays since we already have an 8 hour wait in Amsterdam!
I'm very much looking forward to catching up with everyone when I get home!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The signs of Ghana
Ghana has some very interesting store names and billboards-often very religious. Here are some of them:
Last Stop: Green Turtle Lodge
The trip from Mole to our last beach stop, Green Turtle Lodge, was a 3 day adventure. We went first to Tamale where we stayed in what might have been the dirtiest hotel in Ghana, the Christian Council Guesthouse. The walls were filthy, and the sheets could have been cleaner. The best part was the shower that was rotting-pretty sure that if you stepped on in you would fall through! At least it was only 1 night!
From there we went to Kumasi and stayed in a refreshingly nice hotel, and treated ourselves to expensive yet delicious Indian food at Moti Mahal. Pam and I both left with sore tummies from eating far too much, but the pain was worth it! From Kumasi we went to Takoradi, and finally arrived at our destination, the beach.
Green Turtle Lodge is a pretty fantastic little place. It's very environmentally conscious-run on solar power, self composting toilets (that don't always smell wonderful), local food etc. They also organize tours to the surrounding communities and have a community fund. We went on a boat tour of the mangrove forest which was very good. Unfortunately the shore where the boats go out is covered in garbage. The whole town seemed to have garbage just thrown everywhere, which was a bit of a turn off, especially for a "eco tour." Perhaps they are working on that problem?
The beach was fabulous, as was the food and everything else. Ama practiced getting as dirty as possible, and we practiced relaxing. Highly recommended little place!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Fire (Mole) National Park
We decided to splurge and hire a taxi to take us to Mole since public transport seemed like a bit of a nightmare. It was a pretty rough drive-check out the super safe bridge we went over. The road to Mole might just be the worst road in the world, but we made it. When we got there be had a bit of disagreement with our driver over fuel, but it was worth it overall.
At Mole we went on a couple of nature walks and saw tons of wildlife-elephants, baboons, patas and green monkeys, antelopes (or cantelope as Ama calls them), warthogs, crocodiles, birds, hyena poop, and various insects and lizards. Ama was thrilled with all the animals, particularly the elephants. When we had to leave them she cried and cried, it was pretty sad! The guide was heard telling the story of Ama the next day-she must have been memorable! In addition to the the wildlife seen on the walks, there were also plenty of monkeys, baboons and warthogs near the hotel. The primates in particular are pretty bad-stealing food and drinks from people, and getting into garbage and drinking the pool water.
The pool was a refreshing yet slightly disgusting treat. The water was definitely not treated properly, which was evident by the algae that was growing in it. However, when it's 40 degrees out that's easy to overlook-even for Pam, the environmental health girl!
We got swindled into going on a river safari, which I cannot recommend for the high price we paid. The most interesting thing was probably watching the girls and women get water from the river, which they used for everything from washing to drinking (it was far from clean!). Our guide new nothing, and probably couldn't really be called a guide. He was even a different person than we had originally discussed the trip with, but I suspect the first guys knowledge would have been slim to none also. When we asked about trees they were all "river trees" and all the birds (remarkably different) were "river birds." Overall it was still a good time, but not what we had expected.
Our last day at Mole was highly eventful. During the mid afternoon, while Ama and Pam were sleeping and I was relaxing by the pool, there was major commotion. Someone yelled FIRE and all the staff ran to the block of rooms where Pam and Ama were-closely followed by me! It turned out that there was a small fire in the room 5 doors down. The girl had left everything on in the room and left to a different town, and the air conditioner caught fire. I've never seen Ghanaian men move so fast in the mid-day heat-they kicked down the door and had that fire out very fast!
That night I said "there won't be another fire will there?" and Pam said "No, of course not." Well, at 2am we woke up to smoke and a hysterical girl-THE SAME GIRL, and this time the air conditioner 2 rooms away had caught fire. Pam bravely held the flashlight while the guard poured water on the electrical fire. Hmmmm.... Needless to say, their was no more AC for the rest of the night!
Although the wildlife at Mole is pretty spectacular, we were happy to leave the unsafe, slightly shabby hotel behind! It amazes me how the park has so much tourist potential but it is largely unrealized. Maybe one day, but at least it was affordable for us!
At Mole we went on a couple of nature walks and saw tons of wildlife-elephants, baboons, patas and green monkeys, antelopes (or cantelope as Ama calls them), warthogs, crocodiles, birds, hyena poop, and various insects and lizards. Ama was thrilled with all the animals, particularly the elephants. When we had to leave them she cried and cried, it was pretty sad! The guide was heard telling the story of Ama the next day-she must have been memorable! In addition to the the wildlife seen on the walks, there were also plenty of monkeys, baboons and warthogs near the hotel. The primates in particular are pretty bad-stealing food and drinks from people, and getting into garbage and drinking the pool water.
The pool was a refreshing yet slightly disgusting treat. The water was definitely not treated properly, which was evident by the algae that was growing in it. However, when it's 40 degrees out that's easy to overlook-even for Pam, the environmental health girl!
We got swindled into going on a river safari, which I cannot recommend for the high price we paid. The most interesting thing was probably watching the girls and women get water from the river, which they used for everything from washing to drinking (it was far from clean!). Our guide new nothing, and probably couldn't really be called a guide. He was even a different person than we had originally discussed the trip with, but I suspect the first guys knowledge would have been slim to none also. When we asked about trees they were all "river trees" and all the birds (remarkably different) were "river birds." Overall it was still a good time, but not what we had expected.
Our last day at Mole was highly eventful. During the mid afternoon, while Ama and Pam were sleeping and I was relaxing by the pool, there was major commotion. Someone yelled FIRE and all the staff ran to the block of rooms where Pam and Ama were-closely followed by me! It turned out that there was a small fire in the room 5 doors down. The girl had left everything on in the room and left to a different town, and the air conditioner caught fire. I've never seen Ghanaian men move so fast in the mid-day heat-they kicked down the door and had that fire out very fast!
That night I said "there won't be another fire will there?" and Pam said "No, of course not." Well, at 2am we woke up to smoke and a hysterical girl-THE SAME GIRL, and this time the air conditioner 2 rooms away had caught fire. Pam bravely held the flashlight while the guard poured water on the electrical fire. Hmmmm.... Needless to say, their was no more AC for the rest of the night!
Although the wildlife at Mole is pretty spectacular, we were happy to leave the unsafe, slightly shabby hotel behind! It amazes me how the park has so much tourist potential but it is largely unrealized. Maybe one day, but at least it was affordable for us!
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