Okay many apologies for skipping two weeks! Got swamped with IA's but long story short, the power was out almost every day, so it was a bore, but I went in to Makola Market for some last minute fabric buying and such and spent the weekend hanging around Accra with some people. You're basically caught up woooo! ;)
Monday
Group project due in Coastal Management so we all met up to work on it. Surprisingly productive! We got all our work done within 2 hours and I felt like I bonded with my group, which was all Ghanaian students. Afterwards, we had our first soccer game! We played Akuafo and I can just cut to the chase and say it wasn't pretty. We went down 4-0 but discovered that two of the girls on their team play for the NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM, the Lady Black Stars. And that's just unfair so i don't even count that as a loss in my head....And the game wasn't as one sides as the score would have you think, those 2 girls were the only two players that were above us, skill wise. We held our own quite well, it was just whenever either of them got the ball, there was no going back. Another game tomorrow!
Tuesday
Woke up no power or water. typical ughh. Decided to make the trek to IPO only to discover no power there either. UNBELIEVABLE. Stopped into Dr, Alhassan's office for a little to use his generator to get a little bit of work done, but then just headed back to ISH to bum around. We had our monthly ice cream and cake celebration this week, which was nice, and then hightailed it over to the field for the game (poor choice of the day: eating chocolate cake and fan ice before a soccer game. whoops.) Game went excellent, with us winning 3-1! Yay! Ran straight from the game to dance class, ew, but the power was out in the performing arts department. We had class outside, which is always somewhat of a disaster in my opinion. It's hard for the TA's to really have control in a dark quad of like 40 students so it usually ends with one of them getting frustrated and telling us to leave, but we lasted most of the time for once. Pretty tired and gross when we got back, so basically scarfed down dinner, did a lil bit of work d headed to bed
Wednesday
Started out in Coastal Management. It was our last day of class which is kind of a bummer in my opinion!I have immensely enjoyed that class, both because of the material and the people. We did our group presentations and then discussed our IA's and the final which is coming up. A few of the people in that class are going to give me a cooking lesson next week though so I'll look forward to that! Afterard, I just headed to IPO because (unsurprisingly) it was lights off at ISH. DIdn't do too much, but grabbed lunch from bush canteen (palava sauce) and headed on back to be greeted with power! Whoooo!
Thursday - Friday
Started out with class in the morning (ew) and afterwards headed back to ISH to pack. I made a long anticipated trip up to the North this past weekend with a few people, which was awesome! We headed up to Mole National Park which is one of the premier game viewing sites in West Africa. No giraffes, gorillas or zebras but they're known for their elephants. It isn't an easy trip though, and we started out by taking a tro tro from Okpongolo to Kwame Nkrumah Circle to catch one of the big buses that goes up there. I had booked the bus ahead of time so we had tickets, we just has to locate the station in good time. We finally stumbled upon it, thinking we were going to be late, but we ended up leaving about an hour and a half late (typical). It's about a 12 hour bus ride from Accra to Tamale, the big city in the North. Fairly eventful bus ride, with our tire blowing out around Kintampo (about 4 hours out of Tamale) and then an hour later, the buses stabilizer busted, so it was quite the bumpy journey. By the time it was light, we were well into the Northern Region and were able tot ake in some of the beautiful scenery. So my good friend Jenna had gone up last weekend and met a really friendly young tour guide at the park named Inusah. She told me to give him a call before we left so I did. He was very sweet and really made sure we had all the directions correct and offered to pick us up from Tamale to come with us on the bus from Tamale to Larabanga (where the park is. Another 4 hour bus ride. Safari's ain't easy!) But so we're about 5km from the bus station in Tamale and the silly thing breaks down. Like what the heck. You made it from Kintampo missing a tire and without a stabilizer, but a little speed bump took ya on out? But anyways, Inusah wasn't in town yet, so he called and had a friend of his pick us up from the bus and take us to his house, where he proceeded to cook us breakfast and give us a little tour of the town. Seriously, so nice! We made scambled eggs (with real cheese, praise the lord!!!) and Lebanese tea. After that, Amin very graciously drove us to the other bus station so we could pick up the bus to Mole Park. We met Inusah there and we knew right there that he was going to turn out to be a blessing for the weekend. Right away he bounded up to us excitedly and took us to a delicious Nigerian restaurant for lunch . I have to try and get some of it in Accra, I love it! We then made our way back to Metro Mass and piled on the easily one of the most run down buses I have EVER been on for that 4 hour trip. It was a rickety and bumpy ride and we could't be happier to finally arrive. We got to the motel and checked in and sat down for dinner only to realize about half of ISH was here too. I guess this is one of the last big weekends before the semester kids leave so a lot of ISHies decided to make the trip! It was nice bumping in to many people we knew and we had a nice dinner under the stars. Went to bed kinda early, b/c me and Cathy decided we wanted to get up early and watch the sunrise.
Saturday
Woke up at around 5 and headed on over to the lookout point at the motel. The motel sits up on a hilss and look down on to a watering hole and the whole of one side of the park. It was absolutely gorgoues. Since we arrived in the evening, we got a real nice view of the stars but didn't really get to see this side of the park until just then. Just savanna as far as the eye could see. There were already quite a few bush buck and kob and antelope hopping around down near the watering hole and right behind us on the grounds of the motel were a bunch of baboons, patas monkeys and warthogs. So cool. We grabbed a seat and kept an eye out for elephants as we took in the sun rising over the park. Didn't see any, but it was still pretty. We grabbed some breakfast and then met up with Inusah, who took us into town for the day. We went on a canoe ride on the White Volta River through the village of Mognori and then into Larabanga to see the oldest mosque in West Africa. Small but beautifully built! We headed back on over to the Mole Motel after and all went swimming for a little bit before our evening safari. We befriended a group of Canadians who are also studying at Legon and split the jeep with them. We got to sit on top of the jeep which was super fun. We took off bumping thorugh the park and saw so many antelope and bushbuck. Even though they might not be as exciting as elephants, they are so prety, especially the males with their winding horns. We drove in search for about an hour and then hopped out of the jeep when we got to one of the watering holes so that we could get a little closer to some of the animals. We saw some really awesome waterbucks (which are HUMONGOUS, bigger than horses!) and water buffalo down at the watering hole and of course, some crocodiles and patas monkeys and the kob and antelope. As we hopped back into the jeep we got to drive around and find a nice clearing to watch the sunset in. Beautiful! No elephants today but it was still a fun safari! It was Cathy's birthday so we had a nice big dinner and of course, embarassed her by loudly singing happy birthday which the assisstance of our new Canadian friends. We spent the evening at the lookout point, looking at the stars and trying to see hyenas. Beautiful stars, and lotss of warthogs as well! ;)
Sunday
Started out the morning with the early morning walking safari. It was a lot of fun with an eclctic group, 4 cali kids and 3 older but very sweet German couples. We did the 2 hour walk (they were sprightly for old folk!) and it was nice, because it was a different experience from in evening; the different time of day as well as the fact that we got to go much deeper into the bush since we didn't stay on the roads. We saw a lot of different landscapes that we didn't get to see on the other trip. We again, however saw no elephants. Headed back to the compound for breakfast, and afterwards split up; a few wanted to go swimming but me and Cathy were determined to get some elephants in! So we went with Inusah back to the lookout point on the bluff and lazed around there for the better part of 2 or 3 hours. And we were rewarded! Just as one of the other guides had come down to say hello and we were lamenting at our lack of luck, he suddenly pulled both of us to our feet and pointed out in to the distance and the further water watering hole. And there they were! Two HUGE elephants just wandering back into the bush. It's really amazing how big they look, even at a slight distance. Didn't get any pics unfortunately, because we were too caught up in the moment to whip out cameras so enjoy all the pics of deer and baboons instead! ;) We spent the afternoon and evening lounging at the compound, alternating between the lookout point and sitting in the shade. We ate at the bush canteen on the compund (perhaps not the best of ideas as I ended up accidentally chowing down on some bush meat . sorry Auntie Rose, I know you told us not to! and to you mr bushbuck! It was good though! And I'm still standing!) Inusah had some of his friends from the area come by and we enjoyed talking to them about Larabanga and Tamale and living there. It was nice to talk to locals who are our age but not from the hustle and bustle of Accra. That evening we went to Inusah's family's lodge and met some of his family and got to enjoy another spectacular view from the roof. They host many international students that are doing volunteer work in the area so they were all used to obruni's and the few volunteers we met were all awesome! Super fun!
Monday
Only way to get from Mole to Damongo, Larabanga or Tamale is the Metro Mass Transit bus service. It leaves once a day from the Mole motel at 3:30 AM. We hauled ourselves out of bed and on to the bus for the rise back to Tamale. Equally annoying, is the fact that buses from Tamale to Accra leave only at 5:30 in the evening. So we arrived in Tamale at around 7 AM and had all day in front of us. We started out by Inusah taking us to his apartment in the area (literally our savior all weekend, he took such good care of us!) and getting us some breakfast. We spent some time relaxing there for awhile and then we went out and ventured around town. Tamale is literally everything Accra is not. It's relatively clean, the roads are not very crowded, it is safe to ride motorbikes, people know each other, they wave to one another as they pass. Now I'm not saying Accra is some heinous place we should all hate, but this was a nice change of pace. I think that if I came back to spend any amount of time in Ghana after this, I would definitely come settle myself down in Tamale or Damongo. I think we also had a good experience however, because we were traveling with someone who is obviously well known and respected in the community; everywhere we went we were smiled at, or he greeted them and children happily trailed along behind us simply for the sake of walking with us. We went to the market and got a few things each and then we headed to the cultural center to do a little more of the souvenir shopping. After that we headed to the same Nigerian restaurant for lunch (yum yum yum!) and then spent the heat of the afternoon back at the apartment. We met more friends as they came in and out during the day and at around 4 we headed to the bus station for the ride home. It was an uneventful drive and we were thankful to be off it when we finally got back to Accra (at 4 AM, we made pretty good time for once!) I had such a great weekend this weekend, and while I still rank Akosombo as my favorite place in Ghana, I definitely rank this as my favorite trip! I think it made me wish that I had more time here since I really don't have time to come back, but now I have a reason the return to Ghana soon! I'm getting nostalgic and I haven't even left!
Monday
Group project due in Coastal Management so we all met up to work on it. Surprisingly productive! We got all our work done within 2 hours and I felt like I bonded with my group, which was all Ghanaian students. Afterwards, we had our first soccer game! We played Akuafo and I can just cut to the chase and say it wasn't pretty. We went down 4-0 but discovered that two of the girls on their team play for the NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM, the Lady Black Stars. And that's just unfair so i don't even count that as a loss in my head....And the game wasn't as one sides as the score would have you think, those 2 girls were the only two players that were above us, skill wise. We held our own quite well, it was just whenever either of them got the ball, there was no going back. Another game tomorrow!
Tuesday
Woke up no power or water. typical ughh. Decided to make the trek to IPO only to discover no power there either. UNBELIEVABLE. Stopped into Dr, Alhassan's office for a little to use his generator to get a little bit of work done, but then just headed back to ISH to bum around. We had our monthly ice cream and cake celebration this week, which was nice, and then hightailed it over to the field for the game (poor choice of the day: eating chocolate cake and fan ice before a soccer game. whoops.) Game went excellent, with us winning 3-1! Yay! Ran straight from the game to dance class, ew, but the power was out in the performing arts department. We had class outside, which is always somewhat of a disaster in my opinion. It's hard for the TA's to really have control in a dark quad of like 40 students so it usually ends with one of them getting frustrated and telling us to leave, but we lasted most of the time for once. Pretty tired and gross when we got back, so basically scarfed down dinner, did a lil bit of work d headed to bed
Wednesday
Started out in Coastal Management. It was our last day of class which is kind of a bummer in my opinion!I have immensely enjoyed that class, both because of the material and the people. We did our group presentations and then discussed our IA's and the final which is coming up. A few of the people in that class are going to give me a cooking lesson next week though so I'll look forward to that! Afterard, I just headed to IPO because (unsurprisingly) it was lights off at ISH. DIdn't do too much, but grabbed lunch from bush canteen (palava sauce) and headed on back to be greeted with power! Whoooo!
Thursday - Friday
Started out with class in the morning (ew) and afterwards headed back to ISH to pack. I made a long anticipated trip up to the North this past weekend with a few people, which was awesome! We headed up to Mole National Park which is one of the premier game viewing sites in West Africa. No giraffes, gorillas or zebras but they're known for their elephants. It isn't an easy trip though, and we started out by taking a tro tro from Okpongolo to Kwame Nkrumah Circle to catch one of the big buses that goes up there. I had booked the bus ahead of time so we had tickets, we just has to locate the station in good time. We finally stumbled upon it, thinking we were going to be late, but we ended up leaving about an hour and a half late (typical). It's about a 12 hour bus ride from Accra to Tamale, the big city in the North. Fairly eventful bus ride, with our tire blowing out around Kintampo (about 4 hours out of Tamale) and then an hour later, the buses stabilizer busted, so it was quite the bumpy journey. By the time it was light, we were well into the Northern Region and were able tot ake in some of the beautiful scenery. So my good friend Jenna had gone up last weekend and met a really friendly young tour guide at the park named Inusah. She told me to give him a call before we left so I did. He was very sweet and really made sure we had all the directions correct and offered to pick us up from Tamale to come with us on the bus from Tamale to Larabanga (where the park is. Another 4 hour bus ride. Safari's ain't easy!) But so we're about 5km from the bus station in Tamale and the silly thing breaks down. Like what the heck. You made it from Kintampo missing a tire and without a stabilizer, but a little speed bump took ya on out? But anyways, Inusah wasn't in town yet, so he called and had a friend of his pick us up from the bus and take us to his house, where he proceeded to cook us breakfast and give us a little tour of the town. Seriously, so nice! We made scambled eggs (with real cheese, praise the lord!!!) and Lebanese tea. After that, Amin very graciously drove us to the other bus station so we could pick up the bus to Mole Park. We met Inusah there and we knew right there that he was going to turn out to be a blessing for the weekend. Right away he bounded up to us excitedly and took us to a delicious Nigerian restaurant for lunch . I have to try and get some of it in Accra, I love it! We then made our way back to Metro Mass and piled on the easily one of the most run down buses I have EVER been on for that 4 hour trip. It was a rickety and bumpy ride and we could't be happier to finally arrive. We got to the motel and checked in and sat down for dinner only to realize about half of ISH was here too. I guess this is one of the last big weekends before the semester kids leave so a lot of ISHies decided to make the trip! It was nice bumping in to many people we knew and we had a nice dinner under the stars. Went to bed kinda early, b/c me and Cathy decided we wanted to get up early and watch the sunrise.
Saturday
Woke up at around 5 and headed on over to the lookout point at the motel. The motel sits up on a hilss and look down on to a watering hole and the whole of one side of the park. It was absolutely gorgoues. Since we arrived in the evening, we got a real nice view of the stars but didn't really get to see this side of the park until just then. Just savanna as far as the eye could see. There were already quite a few bush buck and kob and antelope hopping around down near the watering hole and right behind us on the grounds of the motel were a bunch of baboons, patas monkeys and warthogs. So cool. We grabbed a seat and kept an eye out for elephants as we took in the sun rising over the park. Didn't see any, but it was still pretty. We grabbed some breakfast and then met up with Inusah, who took us into town for the day. We went on a canoe ride on the White Volta River through the village of Mognori and then into Larabanga to see the oldest mosque in West Africa. Small but beautifully built! We headed back on over to the Mole Motel after and all went swimming for a little bit before our evening safari. We befriended a group of Canadians who are also studying at Legon and split the jeep with them. We got to sit on top of the jeep which was super fun. We took off bumping thorugh the park and saw so many antelope and bushbuck. Even though they might not be as exciting as elephants, they are so prety, especially the males with their winding horns. We drove in search for about an hour and then hopped out of the jeep when we got to one of the watering holes so that we could get a little closer to some of the animals. We saw some really awesome waterbucks (which are HUMONGOUS, bigger than horses!) and water buffalo down at the watering hole and of course, some crocodiles and patas monkeys and the kob and antelope. As we hopped back into the jeep we got to drive around and find a nice clearing to watch the sunset in. Beautiful! No elephants today but it was still a fun safari! It was Cathy's birthday so we had a nice big dinner and of course, embarassed her by loudly singing happy birthday which the assisstance of our new Canadian friends. We spent the evening at the lookout point, looking at the stars and trying to see hyenas. Beautiful stars, and lotss of warthogs as well! ;)
Sunday
Started out the morning with the early morning walking safari. It was a lot of fun with an eclctic group, 4 cali kids and 3 older but very sweet German couples. We did the 2 hour walk (they were sprightly for old folk!) and it was nice, because it was a different experience from in evening; the different time of day as well as the fact that we got to go much deeper into the bush since we didn't stay on the roads. We saw a lot of different landscapes that we didn't get to see on the other trip. We again, however saw no elephants. Headed back to the compound for breakfast, and afterwards split up; a few wanted to go swimming but me and Cathy were determined to get some elephants in! So we went with Inusah back to the lookout point on the bluff and lazed around there for the better part of 2 or 3 hours. And we were rewarded! Just as one of the other guides had come down to say hello and we were lamenting at our lack of luck, he suddenly pulled both of us to our feet and pointed out in to the distance and the further water watering hole. And there they were! Two HUGE elephants just wandering back into the bush. It's really amazing how big they look, even at a slight distance. Didn't get any pics unfortunately, because we were too caught up in the moment to whip out cameras so enjoy all the pics of deer and baboons instead! ;) We spent the afternoon and evening lounging at the compound, alternating between the lookout point and sitting in the shade. We ate at the bush canteen on the compund (perhaps not the best of ideas as I ended up accidentally chowing down on some bush meat . sorry Auntie Rose, I know you told us not to! and to you mr bushbuck! It was good though! And I'm still standing!) Inusah had some of his friends from the area come by and we enjoyed talking to them about Larabanga and Tamale and living there. It was nice to talk to locals who are our age but not from the hustle and bustle of Accra. That evening we went to Inusah's family's lodge and met some of his family and got to enjoy another spectacular view from the roof. They host many international students that are doing volunteer work in the area so they were all used to obruni's and the few volunteers we met were all awesome! Super fun!
Monday
Only way to get from Mole to Damongo, Larabanga or Tamale is the Metro Mass Transit bus service. It leaves once a day from the Mole motel at 3:30 AM. We hauled ourselves out of bed and on to the bus for the rise back to Tamale. Equally annoying, is the fact that buses from Tamale to Accra leave only at 5:30 in the evening. So we arrived in Tamale at around 7 AM and had all day in front of us. We started out by Inusah taking us to his apartment in the area (literally our savior all weekend, he took such good care of us!) and getting us some breakfast. We spent some time relaxing there for awhile and then we went out and ventured around town. Tamale is literally everything Accra is not. It's relatively clean, the roads are not very crowded, it is safe to ride motorbikes, people know each other, they wave to one another as they pass. Now I'm not saying Accra is some heinous place we should all hate, but this was a nice change of pace. I think that if I came back to spend any amount of time in Ghana after this, I would definitely come settle myself down in Tamale or Damongo. I think we also had a good experience however, because we were traveling with someone who is obviously well known and respected in the community; everywhere we went we were smiled at, or he greeted them and children happily trailed along behind us simply for the sake of walking with us. We went to the market and got a few things each and then we headed to the cultural center to do a little more of the souvenir shopping. After that we headed to the same Nigerian restaurant for lunch (yum yum yum!) and then spent the heat of the afternoon back at the apartment. We met more friends as they came in and out during the day and at around 4 we headed to the bus station for the ride home. It was an uneventful drive and we were thankful to be off it when we finally got back to Accra (at 4 AM, we made pretty good time for once!) I had such a great weekend this weekend, and while I still rank Akosombo as my favorite place in Ghana, I definitely rank this as my favorite trip! I think it made me wish that I had more time here since I really don't have time to come back, but now I have a reason the return to Ghana soon! I'm getting nostalgic and I haven't even left!
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