Counting Down the Days

Hey everyone!
I've been super busy here in Ghana, making the most of my time here. As time speeds by, it's hard to believe that I only have about 3 weeks left! Between now and my last post, I have traveled more and discovered even more of what Ghana has to offer. Classes are also over, they ended last week, so now I'm into about a month of finals/studying. For a quick overview of the past weeks, here's what I've been up to:

• Mount Afadjato: Highest Point in Ghana. The weekend of April 12th, my friends and I traveled to the Volta Region to hike and explore more of the area. The hike was really challenging because it was in the typical Ghanaian style, straight up. It took us about an hour to reach the top. The view was amazing and after we took another short hike to a nearby waterfall.

At the top, looking towards Togo

• Cape Coast Trip with CIEE: Near the end of April, I took a trip with the rest of my program to Cape Coast. We saw the Elmina Castle, which was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 and served as a trading post and a stop along the Atlantic slave trade route. The whole experience of touring the castle was something I'll never be able to put into words. 

Elmina

• During the weekend we also walked across the canopy bridges of Kakum National Park, which was so awesome! 

The start of the canopy walk

• The North!! This past weekend, my friends and I took our longest trip up to the north of Ghana. The trip started with a 14 hour overnight bus to Tamale. The bus ride was relatively easy, except for some classic Ghanaian dirt roads, preaching, and the blasting of Ghanaian dramas/soap operas on the tv. At about 4 or 5 in the morning, we arrived in Tamale to find a bus/trotro to take us another 2 hours to Mole National Park. This road was also an interesting experience, to say the least. When we finally got to our hotel, we were blessed with seeing the much anticipated elephants from our viewpoint of the hotel pool that looked down into the savanna. It was amazing! Since it was only about 10am, we spent the day lounging by the pool and catching up on sleep from the night before. The next morning we woke up early to go on the walking safari to see more of the animals in the park. While on our walk, we saw warthog families, a lot of antelope, and even more elephants bathing in a watering hole. Again, a truly awesome experience, that I wouldn't trade for anything. Later that day, we traveled 6km to the local village of Larabanga where we saw one of the oldest mosque in Ghana and in West Africa. The age is actually unknown, but from records and reconstruction, it is estimated date back from the 17th century. From there, we took another trotro to the town of Wa, and after a lot of traveling and meeting Ghanaian friends we luckily found a hotel to stay in for the night. The next morning, we woke up early again to travel in another trotro to go on a canoe ride and see hippos. The ride was another good exposure to northern Ghanaian roads, but we made it. We also go to take a tuktuk, which is basically a motorcycle with a crate attached to the back to the river. The canoe ride was really great and peaceful, and the hippos were huge. The river actually served as a border between Ghana and Burkina Faso, so we managed to head to the opposite bank for a little bit and I can now say I've been to two African countries. After this, we headed back to Wa and after a lot of confusion and frustration about the lack of transportation, we decided to take a trotro to Kumasi and break up the long journey back to Accra. We again managed to find a hotel with the help of a nice Ghanaian man, and the next morning we got breakfast before visiting the market and then heading the rest of the way back to Accra. Overall, the trip was so amazing and I'm really glad I got to see a different part of Ghana. What struck me the most about the north was how clean it was, but also the fact that traveling and transportation is a little more difficult. The people are also a lot less in your face and at times a lot more friendlier. I can safely say that without the help of some great Ghanaians, my friends and I would have been lost or stranded. 

Pool at hotel with friends looking at elephants 

Larabanga Mosque

Looking over the river at Burkina Faso

So that's what I've been up to, these next few weeks I plan to study for finals and do some last minute exploring. I can't believe how fast time has gone, but I'm also looking forward to coming home and sharing my experiences with everyone back home.

Love,

Audrey

Update on life in Ghana

Hey everyone!
It's been a long time since I've posted and I've been busy exploring more of Ghana and becoming fully adjusted. It's crazy to think of when I first got here and couldn't even imagine taking a trotro by myself. Now, I can navigate and get myself pretty much anywhere in Accra! I also have adapted to the food, and although it's one of the most difficult aspects of being here, I can also say that I have found some favorites that I will miss once I'm home (which is in about 6 weeks!! AH!) So, since it's been awhile I thought I'd give everyone a brief update on my experiences.
UPDATE #1: The professors are on strike aka I haven't really had class for 3 weeks. This has been an interesting experience, because we've been told that some classes still might be held, so I basically wander to each class to find no one there. We've also been told by our director that we'll still be leaving at our scheduled time and we'll still get credit/take exams, so that's all good news! Thankfully, my internship is still going, so I still have that to keep busy with and stay occupied.
UPDATE #2: I went paragliding! Over Easter weekend, my friends and I traveled to a region where they hold a paragliding festival. Overall the experience was amazing and I loved it, but we also learned that Ghanaians have other ways of running events and don't really like organization. It was also really cool to talk to the pilots, who were from the US, Europe, and Asia and learn about their life stories and what got them interested in paragliding.

The runway 

Before the launch

UPDATE #3: Beach hut = sand everywhere. The weekend after the paragliding, we went to another beach/fishing village to celebrate one of my friend's 21st. It was an awesome relaxing time and the resort was  situated on an island with one side ocean water and the other side fresh water. We also got to take a cool boat to the resort and at night we slept in grass huts right on the beach. This is where all the sand comes in. But it was still an awesome time and great memories were made!

Our boat ride to the island

Arriving to the island

Our "rooms" 

This weekend, we'll be hiking to the highest point in Ghana and hopefully swim in some waterfalls! It's crazy to think I've been here for 3 months, and it's almost May, but I'm excited for what else Ghana has in store for me! I hope everything is great back home, and hopefully spring arrives soon!
Miss you all!
Love,
Audrey

Halfway!?

Hey everyone!

It’s been awhile since my last post, so I’ll try and update you all on what has been going on here in Ghana. Two weekends ago, we stayed in Accra and spent time relaxing and taking a break from traveling. I got a lot of work done and it was nice to sleep in, etc. We got to experience more of Ghanaian night life and we went to another market called Medina, where I got some more used clothes and other stuff.

This weekend we explored Accra even more. Friday, we took a trotro to downtown and found this amazing vegetarian restaurant on the coast. It was located right in the cliffs and it was a super cool view as we were eating. They also had delicious vegetarian bean burgers and chips, which really hit the spot. Saturday, was another quiet day of getting stuff done around the dorms. I’ve come to realize that I really appreciate the weekends we travel and after two weekends of Accra, I’m ready to go explore more of Ghana. 

Delicious veggie burger!

View from our seat at restaurant!

More of the view!

Sunday, we got up at 5am to take a bus to Kumasi for the soccer game, Ghana vs. Sudan. It was a world cup qualifier and Ghana won 4-0!! The ride there was long and our driver had an interesting way of approaching speed bumps, but we made it there by late afternoon. The crowds and general atmosphere were so exciting, and it was an awesome experience! Only in Ghana can you pay $3.50 for a ticket and less than $2 for snack and drinks at the game. After the game, we got back on the bus for the long ride home.

Made it through the ticket gate!

This week there are more classes and my internship, and this weekend we are still deciding between going past cape coast or going to a festival outside of Accra. I hope everything is well back home and it’ll hopefully start to feel more like spring. I can’t say that I’m sad I’m missing all that snow. Happy Easter!!

Love,

Audrey

Weekend in Kumasi

Hey everyone!

This past week has brought much of the same activities and I’m happy to say that this coming Friday marks 2 months! Last week held again the same activities of going to class and my internship, but Wednesday was actually special because it was Ghana’s Independence Day, celebrating 56 years of independence and a stable democracy!  The night before, Tuesday, my friends and I decided to go to the Chris Brown concert downtown. I’m not a huge fan of Brown, but some of his songs are great, and I went with the mentality of “when in Ghana…”. After finally tracking down tickets for general admission (20 cedi, $10 US) we made our way down to the football stadium. It was super crowded and busy, and as expected Chris was way late to perform. One exciting and unexpected aspect of the concert was sneaking/army crawling under a barrier to get to the VIP section and front rows. We successfully snuck through and managed to get to the fourth row in the crowded and extremely hot standing section. When I say hot, I mean sweat everywhere; I was absolutely drenched when the concert was over. But Chris finally came on around 11pm and he sang most of his songs and some others not by him. Overall a great experience with hilarious memories.

Adinkra symbols

Fabric stamped with adinkra symbols

My market purchases

This weekend we traveled with CIEE to the Ashanti region/Kumasi. It’s great when CIEE sponsors some trips because we don’t have to deal with the hassle of trotros and they pay for everything. So Friday, we woke up really early and boarded an air conditioned bus. The ride went really smoothly and we stopped a t a Kente cloth weaving warehouse. Kente is a form of weaving and each design actually has a specific meaning. I bought a stole for graduation and the meaning is two hands are better than one and it also represents the founders and foundation of kente. We then also went to an adinkra symbol stamping place. Here we saw how the dye is made from tree bark by mashing it and then boiling it down for several days. The result is a very dark black ink that they use to stamp symbols onto fabric. The symbols all have different meanings too, here is a website with some of their meanings. At the end, we all got to try stamping symbols onto fabric. Later that day, we arrived at the hotel, where there was (gasp) hot water and ac! Seriously didn’t know how to handle that and I may have burned myself in the shower because I was so excited/not used to hot water. Dinner at the hotel was great too, some delicious chicken and jollof. The next day, we went to a museum about the tribal king of Kumasi and then later we went to the largest market in West Africa. It was huge. Honestly, if they would have brought us there in the first couple weeks, we would have been so lost and terrified, But my group and I are now pretty used to walking though markets and having to bargain for everything. The market was so busy and filled with narrow aisles full of everything you could think of: used clothes, dishes, jewelry, live chickens, fish, rice, beans, spices and fabric. Every aisle was also crowded with people walking through with huge amounts of things on their heads and chatting to each other. My goal was to get some fabric to be made into some clothes and some gifts for people back home. I can successfully say I found and bargained for 3 different fabrics, jewelry, and some scarves from a lady near our bus. Market day well spent, and I wasn’t even that overwhelmed. After the market, we came back to our hotel for some free time aka nap time. That night CIEE said they would take us out to dinner and the options were traditional Ghanaian food (fufu/banku) or continental aka INDIAN FOOD. No questions were asked, I was getting Indian. Four of my friends and I enjoyed one of the best meals I’ve had here: naan, chicken curry, and other delicious dishes. I am also happy to discover how much I really like Indian food, because apparently Sri Lankan cuisine is very similar and based off it. Now, I’m looking forward to the food this coming summer. After eating till we were fully satisfied we drove back to the hotel for a quiet night from the full day. Sunday, I spent time reading before getting back on the bus and traveling back to Accra. Sunday night and most of Monday I spent studying for another test in history of medicine on Tuesday.

Overall, the weekend had some fantastic opportunities to see the town and people of the Ashanti region and I really enjoyed how relaxing it was to not have to plan everything. However, I am also glad that my friends and I are able to travel on our own and that we take advantage of every opportunity to do this. There is something about traveling with almost no plan and just rolling with the punches that feels truly Ghanaian.

That’s all for now. 

Love, Audrey

Beach Weekend

Hi everyone!
This past week and weekend have brought even more adventures in Ghana. I can't believe I've been here for almost 2 months! Time is flying and I'm loving every second. This past week I've done most of the same things like going to class and my internship. I've had more success with the trotros, but they are still full of surprises. This past weekend my friends and I traveled five hours to Busua beach. The traveling there went really smoothly and we got there on Friday at about 2pm. After finally getting dropped off by a taxi in a small beach town, we found the resort/inn that a friend had recommended. It was breathtaking. Right on the beach, with little huts for people to stay in, and a bar/restaurant that served some of the best chips (fries) I've had here in Ghana. After settling in, we got some drinks at the bar and spent the last part of the day on the beach. The water and waves were amazing and we were so happy to be there. That night we found a place to eat in town and I had some great Redred (beans with sauce). We then spent the night on the beach looking at the stars and drinking some Don Simon.

View from our hut.

Saturday, some of my friends went to a surfing lesson, while me and the rest of the group went to find pancakes/something for breakfast. I ended up having some french toast, which was delicious, although I miss not having syrup. We then went back to watch the surfing and get ready for a full day at the beach. Most of the day was spent swimming, tanning, walking the beach, and reading. Around midday we went into town to find lunch, where we met a guy named Jerry. He said he had food at his bar, so we followed. He ended up being quite the character and the "food" was more of reheated rice and beans from the night before. Not the best. But we weren't discouraged, so we went back to the beach to enjoy the rest of the day. Dinner, we went back to the place from the night before, and I had an interesting variation of oatmeal. The rest of the night we, again, spent watching the stars on the beach.
Sunday morning we got up to go to the highly recommended pancake place, and I had a chocolate banana pancake, which was pretty delicious. We then spent a couple more hours at the beach before boarding a trotro for the long way back home.
So far, from our weekend travels it has been interesting to see how different Ghana's regions are from each other. Each place we go has something different to offer. We also are realizing how comfortable we are getting here. I'm starting to refer to the dorms as home, and when we get back sunday nights, I can't wait to get an egg sandwich or Sarah's chicken in the night market. Overall, a really relaxing weekend and a great time. This next weekend we'll be traveling to the Ashanti region with CIEE! Hope everything is well back home! Sorry about all that snow, can't say that I miss it :)
Love,
Audrey

Too Blessed to be Stressed

This weekend was by far the best weekend I’ve experienced here in Ghana so far! This weekend we planned to go to the Volta region where the largest waterfall in West Africa is located. Friday morning, we got up at about 5:30am to catch a trotro and begin our journey. We luckily caught a bus to Tema station downtown, where we caught another trotro to Ho Hoe. The trotro we boarded was a dream. Air conditioning, brand new plush seats, it was unreal. Driving through the countryside was great, it really solidified the fact that I’m finally in Africa and studying abroad. Close to Ho Hoe, we got off the trotro to go to a monkey sanctuary and have lunch. We found out that the sanctuary was actually about 3km away, so the best way to get there was on motorbikes. Absolutely no hesitation to this idea, we all got our own driver and started cruising down a dirt path. It was so cool! We passed by local schools where the children were waving and other buildings surrounding the villages. We got to the sanctuary and had lunch at a local chop bar, which was rice with tomato stew. After that we bought some bananas and went to the monkey sanctuary where we got to feed them to the little monkeys (which looked like little wizard gremlins) and some even climbed down and would sit on your shoulders! After this, we decided to continue on our way to Ho Hoe and then the base of Wli falls so we could stay overnight somewhere. We miraculously got an empty trotro on the side of the road to take us the rest of the way and then another trotro and the always crucial fan chocos to take us the rest of the way. When we got to the base of Wli, we found a homestay/lodge to stay in and took a nap before dinner. For dinner, we went to a bar/restaurant that didn’t have lights, but rather black lights and ordered some rice and chicken. There, we experienced the classic Ghanaian time scale and waited about an hour and a half for our food. But the view of the mountains was really cool, and even though we couldn’t really see our food, it was still an awesome experience. After dinner, we tried to go to bed early because we knew we had to wake up early to start hiking.

Roommates at the lodge!!

Saturday morning, we woke up at about 6:30am to get ready to go and then met our guide, Wisdom Mighty or just Mighty for short, and began our journey. As we began our hike, Mighty stopped at a palm bush and cut us each a walking stick to use while on the trail. We had decided to take the longest 6 hour hike that would take us to both the upper and lower falls. Clarification: hiking in Ghana usually means scaling mountains and vertical/ 90 degree trails, switch backs are not present, ever. Despite this challenge, the hike was amazing and began with super cool views of the village below and the surrounding mountains. After about 3 hours, which included a particularly steep portion of the trail where we basically slid down the mountain, we reached the upper falls. It was again, unreal. The mist and the wind were super powerful, but that didn’t stop us from swimming under the falls for awhile. We then ate some lunch before starting hiking again to the lower falls. This portion of the trail included more downhill sections, but was still challenging and I had to concentrate so I wouldn't misstep. The palm branch walking sticks came in quite handy at this point. After another couple hours, we reached the lower falls and went swimming again and enjoyed the surrounding view and sun. We then hiked out to the village and gathered our stuff together to catch a trotro back to Accra. The trotro ride home was slightly longer because of some traffic. When we arrived back to the dorms we got food, I got my favorite Sarah’s chicken wings and kelewele. After scarfing down dinner, I passed out on my bed, exhausted from the past two days.

Sunday/today was my friend Christin’s 21^st birthday, so we spent time celebrating! Some of my friends and I went to the mall early in the morning and got stuff to decorate her room. We then went down to Osu to get the cake we order for it and went to Frankie’s for dinner. I enjoyed some prime American food, my favorite: bacon cheeseburger and fries. The cake was delicious and it was the perfect end to the weekend. Overall, I’m so glad everything went smoothly. Surprisingly, we really didn't have that much of the trip planned. We got on the trotro, not really knowing where we were going to stay that night or any real details, but everything worked out. It makes me want to take advantage of any opportunity to travel, if it comes up. Tomorrow, brings more school, my internship, and more Ghanaian life. So, until next time, I hope everyone is having a great time back home!

Love,

Audrey

Daily life and some weekend adventures

Hey everyone, sorry I meant to post this on Tuesday...

Life in Ghana has been great for the past two weeks! More going to classes,working at my internship, and every day I feel more comfortable living here. The rest of last week was pretty normal and I spent another day successfully getting to and from my internship site. This last weekend we decided to spend Friday going to Boti Falls and then Saturday, we traveled with my whole program to the eastern region. Friday was probably our longest trotro ride we’ve taken, and unfortunately I did fall victim to car sickness due to the winding mountain roads and the incredible speed that trotros seem to go. Typical of me, but I am pretty proud of myself that I lasted this long without getting sick. When we finally got to the falls, we learned that since it was the dry season, there wasn’t any water. Completely dried up falls, but the view was still pretty cool. Saturday we woke up really early to be bused to the eastern region. There, we visited a cocoa farm and I got to sample some raw cocoa right from the pod. We then went to the botanical gardens and got to tour it and enjoy a fantastic free buffet for lunch. Needless to say, I took full advantage of all that food. Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at the wood carving village and I got some neat jewelry. Sunday, I spent time catching up on reading and studying for my test on history of western medicine for Tuesday. Monday, I spent time at my internship and studied more and then Tuesday I took my first test here. I would say it went rather well, considering it was answering one essay question and it was open notes/open books. I also went to my lecture on Human Rights in Africa, and I can really tell that I’m going to enjoy that class. Tuesday/today, I went to my internship and I’m happy to say that I finally caught a trotro for the first part of the ride. This has been one of the most difficult aspects of my internship because of the traffic and the fact that there never seems to be room in a trotro going to 37^th station. But finally today, an empty trotro pulled up and I managed to get a ride. This being said, I did arrive at my site a little early, but I’m still really happy I did it. For those of you who may still be confused as to what a trotro is, here is a link to site that gives a painfully accurate description of this wondrous method of transportation. I also forgot to mention, but Monday, I also got to pick up a pencil skirt that I had made by a local seamstress and I liked it so much, I’m having her make me another. I also got one of the dresses another seamstress made me and it also rocks, I promise I'll post pictures soon! This weekend I will be traveling Wli falls and a monkey sanctuary and looking forward to celebrating one of my friend’s 21^st birthday! Hope everyone is doing well back home!

Love,

Audrey