Valentines Day?

I’m going to preface this blog by saying that I can safely say that I had an astronomically different Valentine’s day that I have ever experienced before. I am going to paint you a little picture:

Woke up in a hotel room, wedged between two other girls on a double bed with no sheets or blankets, the power is off, the water is off, and the floor has a substantial amount of water that flooded in from the middle of the night monsoon that hit around 3 in the morning the previous night. There was also a seven inch lizard on the wall. Cool.

This stunningly romantic setting was in the extremely charming, sense the sarcasm, Adomi Hotel near Akosombo town, a small colonial village near on Lake Volta. I had planned this trip a few days earlier and had lots of takers. Nine of my friends and I got up at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, and took off in cabs for the tro-tro station. For those of you who don’t know what a tro-tro is, picture an oversized van, usually very run-down, that carries about 15 people. There is really no schedule for them, there are no signs, and you really just need to ask around for the one that is going to place that you need to get to. Even at six in the morning there were hundreds and hundreds of people out at the station, pigs, chickens, grilled fish with their very distinct odor, everyone was grabbing us, selling phone cards, fabric, everything. Pretty much what we experience everyday, just concentrated in one large area. I don’t know how, but we boarded the right van, and actually left not long after. This is a great feat because tro-tros run notoriously late, and by late I mean anywhere from two to seven hours, if they even leave at all. So we were feeling pretty good about ourselves as we flew down the highway. As soon as we got out the city and started heading north towards Lake `Volta, which is the largest man-made lake in the world by the way, the scenery changed and suddenly we were in rolling green hills and savannah. It was absolutely stunning.

Two and a half hours later, we arrived at the ferry port of the Dodi Princess, a cruise that takes six hours to explore the lake and visit Dodi Island. On the cruise there was great music, we danced with everyone, a small pool, and a barbeque! We soaked up so much sun, it was paradise. We met so many people, and really relaxed. Our weeks are really crazy here, literally I am busy with class, working at New Horizon Special School and getting everything done, that I am off to one thing or the other seven until ten Monday through Thursday. The weeks are flying by, so it was nice to take a step back. I was able to journal, read, and we all had a great time with each other. Little did we know it was also the special Valentine’s `day cruise so it was completely hilarious, as the band played love songs and couples were canoodling everywhere.

After the cruise, we checked into the Adomi Hotel, and like I said before, it wasn’t ideal. About half of us saw the humor in the lizards and power outages, and cement block exteriors and showering over the toilet, and lack of mosquito nets, but its safe to say that initially, not everyone was thrilled. However, by the next morning, we couldn’t stop laughing about it.

In the morning, after realizing the wonderful irony of our V-day situation, we ventured to a lovely breakfast on the lake before we took canoes out to explore. It was one of the most peaceful experiences I have ever had in my life. It was so calm, and so physically stunning, that we couldn’t help but let the perfection of the moment overtake us.

After another successful tro-tro ride home, we were able to have a lovely afternoon at home before dressing up and meeting up with the rest of our friends who had stayed in `accra for the weekend, and going to Mamma Mia’s, a fantastic Italian restaurant, where had authentic food, the owner is from near `Tuscany, and great wine. So I suppose that Valentines night was a little more conventional.

I continuously find myself in these situations, where the familiarity meets the completely foreign. It is so exhilarating. The arc of my days here take me through so many stages, emotions, activities; I feel so alive, and so grateful to be here. I will update soon, just wanted to share and wish you all the happiest of Valentine’s Days!:)