I continue to have incredible adventures here. How blessed I am.
This last weekend, our NYU group went about 4 hours away to a tiny village and helped them build a school for their children. We had to first gather water in huge buckets on our head from a stream about half a mile away, through the entire village, down a hot dirt road and through a small jungle. It was such an experience. I can’t imagine doing that a few times, every day like all the children and women of the village do. All of our necks were hurting from the weight, after a couple trips. It really, really makes you appreciate every drop that you use. After we gathered the water, we all helped to mix the concrete, and then shoveled it into our buckets, and carried it to the school on our heads again, where we would pass it off to a villager who was helping us and they would spread it across the floor. It was a very long, tedious process, but in just six hours, we had set the entire floor of the multi-room school house. It was also fun for me because I am so comfortable with concrete floors from my own house and I could tell everyone about what I remember about pouring the concrete floor in my house. I think my friends have a very funny vision about what my life is like at home☺. Also, halfway through the construction, my friend molly and I peeked our head in to the shade in a little communal hut, and there were about six women cooking Banku, which is a typical dish served here, basically a mixture of mashed cassava dough and ground maize, boiled together until it is a white, fluffy, sticky blob. It is usually eaten with some kind of spicy stew. They saw us observing and asked if we wanted to help, so we did, I ground up some chili peppers in a mortar and pestle, and molly helped to stir the banku. In the end, they shared some of it with us. It was a perfect snack to compliment the work we had been doing.
This week we have had a lot of visitors, many of the other student’s families and boyfriends have come to see them for their spring breaks, so it has been fun being around them, but it makes me miss everyone at home so much more!
Still, I cant believe how quickly this is all going. Tomorrow is April, (happy anniversary mom and dad by the way☺) and then there is really only about a month left. Its hard to process everything that I have experienced so far, and will continue to. There is a lot left to do here. I am working very hard for New Horizons right now, looking for outlets for the wares that the vocational school for the more mature students have created. There are beautiful cards, baskets, doormats, batik cloths and napkins…I really want to get their things out into the community. They occasionally have bazaars, but I think that if I could secure a steady source of business, the vocational school would do wonders for the health of the school. Fifty percent of the profits go to the student that creates the art, and the other half goes towards funds for the school. I have been struggling lately trying to find ways to bring money in for them, when I see all of the good work that is being done, even in policy towards the local attitudes of Ghanaians towards disabilities. I am going to help with this, raising awareness in the community about the importance of treating disabilities here. Many parents either ignore their children or deny their children their basic rights, embarrassed of having giving birth to a disabled child. The mindset behind this desperately needs to change. My head is deep in this right now, as I search for solutions, and changes I can help spark as I finish up my time here.
This long Easter weekend, I am traveling with a group of five friends and we are heading to Togo and Benin! We literally need to leave the country because our visas will expire. We were cheap and only wanted to pay the two month extension fee, but we don’t mind either because it gives us another excuse to travel! I am really looking forward to it, especially because both are Francophone countries. Apparently, the food is fantastic there, and the culture feels very different. From what I know about our plans, we are going to be visiting a python temple and some sacred forest sanctuary…we’ll see what happens! We leave this Friday. I love traveling so spontaneously.
Tonight we are having a Shabbat dinner too, there are a lot of Jewish students on the trip and they wanted to host a dinner for everyone, which should be really fun. We are all looking forward to a change from so much Ghanaian food!
I am thinking of my lovely familiy on their spring break right now, and all of you, hoping all is well. I love you all.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Spring Break- Part 2, Hideout Lodge, Green Turtle Lodge, Stilt Village
Spring Break Part 2
We arrived at the Hideout Lodge by early afternoon, after three hours of navigating tro-tros and taxis, down red dirt pathways, through jungles, until the road opened up on the most beautiful beach. The green lushness of the scenery, the open blue sky, the turquoise water…it was absolutely stunning. We went through a tiny local village, crossed a rickety footbridge over a lagoon, and walked down the beach for about 5 minutes, before arriving at Hideout. It was so secluded, and we entered this fairytale, Swiss Family Robinson-like paradise. There were little red bungalows, one of which we stayed in, with a shower, fan, beautiful bed…there were also tree houses that you could stay in. There was a restaurant that served every delicious meal on wooden tables next to the sand, about 15 feet from the water. There were hammocks, palm trees, and the nicest staff. I think that we were one of two groups there, and the other was a quiet couple, who we never really saw.
The afternoon that we arrived there, we had lunch, jumped in the ocean, and I went for the most glorious beach run, before Mara and Camilla and I walked at least a mile down the sand to “our” rock, a huge outcropping into the sea that we climbed up and just watched the scenery, and natural beauty all around us. We returned at dark for lobster and cocktails on the sand, for the US equivalent of 5 dollars. Wow. Sleep that night felt euphoric, and being in a real bed was so nice.
We woke up the next morning and went on a canoe ride of the river with a local guide who offered to take us. We got up around 6 and set off in search of crocodiles and monkeys, which we didn’t see, but we definitely saw some beautiful birds. Back in time for fresh fruit, tea, oatmeal and omelettes at our favorite table on the sand…I ran again and we sat on the sand, journaled, and I painted and charcoaled before lunch. After, we packed up our things and before we left, we crossed the river and climbed up a cliff where we could make out the presence of some old ruins of some sort. It turned out to be a surprisingly intact Dutch slave fort, build in the mid-1600’s. It was so beautiful, green vines encasing the ancient structure. We climbed all over it, and the view from the top was honestly one of the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life. The untouched rawness of the jungle, set against the ocean was unreal.
After we climbed down, we caught a tro-tro again, headed for the Green Turtle Lodge, a cheap, but amazingly well known backpackers resort. It took an hour or two to get there because of the conditions of the roads even though it was about 20 km away, but it was worth it. We made it, ran into a group of NYU students who had been there for their entire spring break already, and checked in to another lovely bungalow. We swam, got cocktails, played in the sand, and found out the Camilla’s family, who was traveling around Ghana, hoping to meet up with us in a couple days, was randomly staying down the beach from us, about a ten minute walk! They were the only two lodges for miles and miles, and the odds of them staying there were quite small, so we were thrilled that they were there! It was so nice to be around a family! We met up with her parents and younger brother and sister, and they treated us to fancy dinner at their lodge. It was such a treat. Then we went on a turtle hike along the beach around ten at night with some guides and other travelers from Green Turtle Lodge. Again, the open expanse of the ocean and the sheer clarity of the starry night sky was enough to make you feel both incredibly small, and at the same time, so blessed to be alive, to see places like this, so unexplored. Sleep felt fantastic.
The next day, the girls and I luxuriated and had breakfast on the beach again; I don’t think I can convey the sheer joy of having all of our meals in this setting. We got so spoiled! I ran, we read, did art and journaled again, and met tons of other young people from all of the world we had also ended up at Green Turtle. There was a group from Denmark, Sweden, some Peace core volunteers, some Ghanaian students…it was wonderful to hear how everyone came to be there. This was our most relaxing day, and it ended with Camilla’s family treating us to another beautiful dinner at their beach lodge (yes, on the sand) where we were their only customers and they served us fish that we saw locals literally swim in from the ocean to the back door of the kitchen to serve us. That night we spent at Green Turtle, staying up late and lying on the sand, letting the immense beauty of the sky, and the ocean soak into our bones.
Mara and I woke up early the next morning and she wanted to join me on my daily run, so we had a blast, just sprinting down the sand for as far as we could, until we were far away from any civilization. We stopped, did yoga, before running home. It was a beautiful way to start the day. After our beach breakfast, we sadly packed up, but headed to the Nzulezo stilt village, about a three-hour trek via tro-tro, taxi, etc. We reached the Village, or the river that we would catch a canoe ride on, around 4:30 and caught that last canoe headed toward the village. An hour ride through the jungle and a beautiful lake, we arrived. Nzulezo is a very special place in Ghana, and many people do not know about it. However, a friend who had been on this NYU program before had recommended it to us, so we ventured there. It is a little local village of about 500 people, and it is entirely on stilts, everything, every structure made from bamboo and raffia. We were the only tourists there when we arrived and the entire village greeted us, gave us a room to stay, and a tour of the tiny village. It was so wonderful.
We were able to take our canoe out at sunset, and in the middle of the lake, the girls and I jumped in and skinny-dipped in the fading evening light. I will never forget it. We paddled home right as it turned night, and our host, we called him Danny, had cooked us some kind of rice-dish, and soup and fufu, typical Ghanaian fare. We ate as much as we could because in Ghana, it is extremely rude to not finish your food if it is prepared for you. Luckily, Danny was a good cook☺
This town had no electricity either, so we went to bed earlier. When all is quiet in these villages, and everyone is settling in, it is hard to make it past 9:30! As we were in our room however, we saw tarantula size spiders hanging out by our beds. And Camilla is incredibly terrified of spiders. A local boy came running when he heard shrieking and didn’t look twice at the spider. After convincing Camilla that it was harmless, I asked him, attempting to back up my claims of them being innocent creatures, “Do this spiders bite?” “Yes,” he replied, smiling. Dang. So then, I asked him, “Well, is it poisonous?” To that, he also replied, “Yes.” Ooookay. I remember thinking, so much for making Camilla feel better. (We later found out that this boy did not know a word of English, except “yes” apparently, but we did not know this at the time, so the spiders were in fact harmless). Lets just say that we swiftly picked up our mattresses, and moved out onto the open dock, in the center of the village. We spooned close together, determined not to roll off, which was actually not that hard to do so im glad that we stayed dry. All of this said, once we settled down, I we ended up sleeping incredibly well, spider free, and dreams full of stars.
The problem with sleeping in the center of the village was that waking up in the morning at 6 meant that we woke up to the entire village surrounding us, looking down and wondering why these girls had camped out there. I specifically remember opening my eyes and seeing a mother bathing her child literally off the dock next to me, then turning over and seeing 5 naked Ghanaian teenage boys scrubbing themselves down on my other side. This was the ultimate moment of the trip where we said, “Where ARE we?” once again. Our guide roused us, and we headed out on our canoe around 7 in the morning, back to the village on the mainland. This was our last full day of traveling and our goal was to stay the night in Kokrobrite, at Big Milly’s Backyard bungalows, about an hour outside of Accra. Traveling is very difficult in Africa on Sundays because of the amount of religious ceremonies that occur, so we wanted to get the majority out on Saturday, and we wanted to have a relaxing day on Sunday. The day was stormy but beautiful as we navigated our way back along the Western Coast towards home, and we luxuriated in knowing that we had just had some pretty incredible experiences. We arrived at our beautiful, lofted bungalow at night, had a beautiful dinner and slept in a tiny double bed in the cozy wooden loft of our bungalow, sad about our last night together.
We woke up to a light rain on the roof and headed out to the thatched roof restaurant on the sand where we had a celebratory breakfast. After a final beach walk, we packed up our things, soggy, dirty, muddy etc. and caught a tro-tro back to Accra. Pulling into Church Crescent, the complex where we live, was completely surreal, but we had the wonderful feeling of returning home, at least for now that is☺
These last few days being back has been great, everyone that traveled, my roommates especially, had amazing trips in Egypt, Rwanda, Mali…I want to travel EVERYWHERE now! When I came back to New Horizon yesterday to teach, the teacher and students cried they were so happy to see me. It was a wonderful, wonderful reunion. It feels good to be back, I cant wait to see you all!!
MUCH love.
We arrived at the Hideout Lodge by early afternoon, after three hours of navigating tro-tros and taxis, down red dirt pathways, through jungles, until the road opened up on the most beautiful beach. The green lushness of the scenery, the open blue sky, the turquoise water…it was absolutely stunning. We went through a tiny local village, crossed a rickety footbridge over a lagoon, and walked down the beach for about 5 minutes, before arriving at Hideout. It was so secluded, and we entered this fairytale, Swiss Family Robinson-like paradise. There were little red bungalows, one of which we stayed in, with a shower, fan, beautiful bed…there were also tree houses that you could stay in. There was a restaurant that served every delicious meal on wooden tables next to the sand, about 15 feet from the water. There were hammocks, palm trees, and the nicest staff. I think that we were one of two groups there, and the other was a quiet couple, who we never really saw.
The afternoon that we arrived there, we had lunch, jumped in the ocean, and I went for the most glorious beach run, before Mara and Camilla and I walked at least a mile down the sand to “our” rock, a huge outcropping into the sea that we climbed up and just watched the scenery, and natural beauty all around us. We returned at dark for lobster and cocktails on the sand, for the US equivalent of 5 dollars. Wow. Sleep that night felt euphoric, and being in a real bed was so nice.
We woke up the next morning and went on a canoe ride of the river with a local guide who offered to take us. We got up around 6 and set off in search of crocodiles and monkeys, which we didn’t see, but we definitely saw some beautiful birds. Back in time for fresh fruit, tea, oatmeal and omelettes at our favorite table on the sand…I ran again and we sat on the sand, journaled, and I painted and charcoaled before lunch. After, we packed up our things and before we left, we crossed the river and climbed up a cliff where we could make out the presence of some old ruins of some sort. It turned out to be a surprisingly intact Dutch slave fort, build in the mid-1600’s. It was so beautiful, green vines encasing the ancient structure. We climbed all over it, and the view from the top was honestly one of the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life. The untouched rawness of the jungle, set against the ocean was unreal.
After we climbed down, we caught a tro-tro again, headed for the Green Turtle Lodge, a cheap, but amazingly well known backpackers resort. It took an hour or two to get there because of the conditions of the roads even though it was about 20 km away, but it was worth it. We made it, ran into a group of NYU students who had been there for their entire spring break already, and checked in to another lovely bungalow. We swam, got cocktails, played in the sand, and found out the Camilla’s family, who was traveling around Ghana, hoping to meet up with us in a couple days, was randomly staying down the beach from us, about a ten minute walk! They were the only two lodges for miles and miles, and the odds of them staying there were quite small, so we were thrilled that they were there! It was so nice to be around a family! We met up with her parents and younger brother and sister, and they treated us to fancy dinner at their lodge. It was such a treat. Then we went on a turtle hike along the beach around ten at night with some guides and other travelers from Green Turtle Lodge. Again, the open expanse of the ocean and the sheer clarity of the starry night sky was enough to make you feel both incredibly small, and at the same time, so blessed to be alive, to see places like this, so unexplored. Sleep felt fantastic.
The next day, the girls and I luxuriated and had breakfast on the beach again; I don’t think I can convey the sheer joy of having all of our meals in this setting. We got so spoiled! I ran, we read, did art and journaled again, and met tons of other young people from all of the world we had also ended up at Green Turtle. There was a group from Denmark, Sweden, some Peace core volunteers, some Ghanaian students…it was wonderful to hear how everyone came to be there. This was our most relaxing day, and it ended with Camilla’s family treating us to another beautiful dinner at their beach lodge (yes, on the sand) where we were their only customers and they served us fish that we saw locals literally swim in from the ocean to the back door of the kitchen to serve us. That night we spent at Green Turtle, staying up late and lying on the sand, letting the immense beauty of the sky, and the ocean soak into our bones.
Mara and I woke up early the next morning and she wanted to join me on my daily run, so we had a blast, just sprinting down the sand for as far as we could, until we were far away from any civilization. We stopped, did yoga, before running home. It was a beautiful way to start the day. After our beach breakfast, we sadly packed up, but headed to the Nzulezo stilt village, about a three-hour trek via tro-tro, taxi, etc. We reached the Village, or the river that we would catch a canoe ride on, around 4:30 and caught that last canoe headed toward the village. An hour ride through the jungle and a beautiful lake, we arrived. Nzulezo is a very special place in Ghana, and many people do not know about it. However, a friend who had been on this NYU program before had recommended it to us, so we ventured there. It is a little local village of about 500 people, and it is entirely on stilts, everything, every structure made from bamboo and raffia. We were the only tourists there when we arrived and the entire village greeted us, gave us a room to stay, and a tour of the tiny village. It was so wonderful.
We were able to take our canoe out at sunset, and in the middle of the lake, the girls and I jumped in and skinny-dipped in the fading evening light. I will never forget it. We paddled home right as it turned night, and our host, we called him Danny, had cooked us some kind of rice-dish, and soup and fufu, typical Ghanaian fare. We ate as much as we could because in Ghana, it is extremely rude to not finish your food if it is prepared for you. Luckily, Danny was a good cook☺
This town had no electricity either, so we went to bed earlier. When all is quiet in these villages, and everyone is settling in, it is hard to make it past 9:30! As we were in our room however, we saw tarantula size spiders hanging out by our beds. And Camilla is incredibly terrified of spiders. A local boy came running when he heard shrieking and didn’t look twice at the spider. After convincing Camilla that it was harmless, I asked him, attempting to back up my claims of them being innocent creatures, “Do this spiders bite?” “Yes,” he replied, smiling. Dang. So then, I asked him, “Well, is it poisonous?” To that, he also replied, “Yes.” Ooookay. I remember thinking, so much for making Camilla feel better. (We later found out that this boy did not know a word of English, except “yes” apparently, but we did not know this at the time, so the spiders were in fact harmless). Lets just say that we swiftly picked up our mattresses, and moved out onto the open dock, in the center of the village. We spooned close together, determined not to roll off, which was actually not that hard to do so im glad that we stayed dry. All of this said, once we settled down, I we ended up sleeping incredibly well, spider free, and dreams full of stars.
The problem with sleeping in the center of the village was that waking up in the morning at 6 meant that we woke up to the entire village surrounding us, looking down and wondering why these girls had camped out there. I specifically remember opening my eyes and seeing a mother bathing her child literally off the dock next to me, then turning over and seeing 5 naked Ghanaian teenage boys scrubbing themselves down on my other side. This was the ultimate moment of the trip where we said, “Where ARE we?” once again. Our guide roused us, and we headed out on our canoe around 7 in the morning, back to the village on the mainland. This was our last full day of traveling and our goal was to stay the night in Kokrobrite, at Big Milly’s Backyard bungalows, about an hour outside of Accra. Traveling is very difficult in Africa on Sundays because of the amount of religious ceremonies that occur, so we wanted to get the majority out on Saturday, and we wanted to have a relaxing day on Sunday. The day was stormy but beautiful as we navigated our way back along the Western Coast towards home, and we luxuriated in knowing that we had just had some pretty incredible experiences. We arrived at our beautiful, lofted bungalow at night, had a beautiful dinner and slept in a tiny double bed in the cozy wooden loft of our bungalow, sad about our last night together.
We woke up to a light rain on the roof and headed out to the thatched roof restaurant on the sand where we had a celebratory breakfast. After a final beach walk, we packed up our things, soggy, dirty, muddy etc. and caught a tro-tro back to Accra. Pulling into Church Crescent, the complex where we live, was completely surreal, but we had the wonderful feeling of returning home, at least for now that is☺
These last few days being back has been great, everyone that traveled, my roommates especially, had amazing trips in Egypt, Rwanda, Mali…I want to travel EVERYWHERE now! When I came back to New Horizon yesterday to teach, the teacher and students cried they were so happy to see me. It was a wonderful, wonderful reunion. It feels good to be back, I cant wait to see you all!!
MUCH love.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Spring Break- Part 1 Mole, Larabanga, Kumasi
Spring Break
I am going to start by saying simply that I have just had a truly life-changing week traveling around Northern and Western Ghana with my friends Mara and Camilla. I am so incredibly grateful for every experience that I had, and I have that incredible feeling that you get when you have experiences like this and literally wouldn’t have wanted to change a second of it.
I suppose the best I can do is start at the beginning and see how far I get, at least in this post. Camilla, Mara and I got up around 5am, and left Accra on an STC bus(similar to greyhound) headed to Tamale, in Northern Ghana. It was a fourteen-hour trip, and when we finally arrived at our hotel, and persuaded the restaurant to feed us around eleven, it felt amazing to be on solid ground. The three of us cuddled into a double bed and slept for a solid 4 hours, before waking up at 4 am to catch a four hour bus ride through mud-hut villages and red dirt roads to Mole National Park and Larabanga village. We were covered in red dust by the time we entered the park and reached the pretty funny 1960’s style hotel in the middle of the expansive park, with lookouts that viewed the savannahs and two watering holes. We arrived in time to have breakfast, where we were greeted by families of baboons and warthogs, who would literally grab your things or sniff around your shoes if you weren’t careful. We cooled off in the pool and then went on a walking tour through the park with an armed guide, searching for elephants. The scenery was stunning, hot and drier that we have seen before. We saw kobs, antelopes, and beautiful, exotic birds, but no elephants yet. Our guides all promised us they would go home and pray all night, hoping that we would see one tomorrow.
When we returned however, we found out that the hotel in fact had absolutely NO vacancy. Every room, dorm bed, was full. They did however, have one more tent that we could rent. Enthusiastically we agreed, and when it got dark, we walked into the trees a little ways to the campground, and literally set our tent up on a wooden platform. Now lets talk about this tent situation. It was a two person tent. Barely. No mats, no sleeping bags, just plastic bottom on wood. And we can’t just sleep under that stars here because apparently the baboons are aggressive and we need to be careful about exposure to mosquitoes to avoid malaria. So the three of us crammed in together, me in the middle, as usual( we have a formation☺ .) I don’t think I can describe the heat that was inside that tent. Imagine NO BREEZE in a plastic tent, in about 90-100 degree weather. If you moved a muscle, sweat dripped, from every single pore of your body. We were not prone to claustrophobia, but I think it is safe to say, that that night we were. It was funny it was so unbearable, but, of course, laughing at it moved a few muscles. However, we were so exhausted, having gotten about 3 hours of sleep in the last two days that we fell asleep, and woke up, actually refreshed. Around 6 in the morning, I unzipped the tent and breathed in real, fresh air, just in time to see a friendly family of warthogs hanging out about five feet from us. I waved them good morning before rousing the girls and packing up, in time to make the 7am safari drive around the park, for our second attempt at seeing elephants. And see them we did!
Seeing an elephant, in the wild, not a zoo, on TV, in the Lion King, or anything else, is one of the biggest rushes in the world. Their sheer size is astounding. I was overcome by their gracefulness, by the way they held themselves. It was a beautiful experience. We got about 15 meters away, closer than you get to them on any safari, anywhere. They were bathing, and had such a tangible form of communication with each other. Walking back, the girls and I were blissful. WE reached to hotel before breakfast. We could get used to this schedule. I think it is also necessary that I point out that both safaris that we went on in Mole cost the equivalent of 10 US dollars. This includes guides, transportation, everything. The cost of things here is truly unbelievable. East African safaris will usually cost upwards of 3 or 4 hundred dollars A DAY. Wow. What a gift to be able to do all of this.
Later that afternoon, we called the Salia brothers, twin brothers that live in a neighboring village that had been recommended to us by students who had been to NYU in Ghana before. They drove up to Mole, picked all three of us with our stuff up on motorbikes and drove us to their village of Larabanga, where we were given a mattress and a place to stay on their roof. Seriously. It was amazing. We walked around the village with their children, saw an ancient mosque that is the oldest structure in Ghana, and returned, where we hiked up to a neighboring compound and were led to a table and served food by lantern light. Apparently, the wife of one of the brothers had been in the kitchen, making us dinner. It was incredibly sweet. The brothers sat down with us and we talked until late in the evening. The stars here were some of the clearest I have ever seen. You can imagine, when no one has electricity for miles, the sky is like diamonds. We were led back to their house, in the middle of the village, and we got ready for bed by lantern again, and climbed up to our perch on the roof, where a foam mattress and a sheet was laid out. Perfect. Elephants and rooftop sleepovers. An excellent day. It was the most wonderful feeling to lie down, staring up at the sky, surrounded by Mara and Camilla, giggling and asking the question, Where ARE we? It was a perfect night.
Our next day was not quite so exciting, at 4 in the morning, we were woken up and told that our bus to Tamale, where we were headed, was leaving. We jumped out of bed and threw everything we had into our backpacks and barely were able to elbow our way on to the bus, but we made it, thanks to the help of our host. After four hours, we arrived, had time for a much needed breakfast, and got on another 8 hour bus ride to Kumasi, to stay in a wonderful backpacker guesthouse. We had a fantastic dinner at a neighboring restaurant, and returned late at night to take our first showers in a long time. What a fantastic feeling☺ The next day, we got up at 4 am again and headed to the coast of Western Ghana…I will save that for the next post…much love
I am going to start by saying simply that I have just had a truly life-changing week traveling around Northern and Western Ghana with my friends Mara and Camilla. I am so incredibly grateful for every experience that I had, and I have that incredible feeling that you get when you have experiences like this and literally wouldn’t have wanted to change a second of it.
I suppose the best I can do is start at the beginning and see how far I get, at least in this post. Camilla, Mara and I got up around 5am, and left Accra on an STC bus(similar to greyhound) headed to Tamale, in Northern Ghana. It was a fourteen-hour trip, and when we finally arrived at our hotel, and persuaded the restaurant to feed us around eleven, it felt amazing to be on solid ground. The three of us cuddled into a double bed and slept for a solid 4 hours, before waking up at 4 am to catch a four hour bus ride through mud-hut villages and red dirt roads to Mole National Park and Larabanga village. We were covered in red dust by the time we entered the park and reached the pretty funny 1960’s style hotel in the middle of the expansive park, with lookouts that viewed the savannahs and two watering holes. We arrived in time to have breakfast, where we were greeted by families of baboons and warthogs, who would literally grab your things or sniff around your shoes if you weren’t careful. We cooled off in the pool and then went on a walking tour through the park with an armed guide, searching for elephants. The scenery was stunning, hot and drier that we have seen before. We saw kobs, antelopes, and beautiful, exotic birds, but no elephants yet. Our guides all promised us they would go home and pray all night, hoping that we would see one tomorrow.
When we returned however, we found out that the hotel in fact had absolutely NO vacancy. Every room, dorm bed, was full. They did however, have one more tent that we could rent. Enthusiastically we agreed, and when it got dark, we walked into the trees a little ways to the campground, and literally set our tent up on a wooden platform. Now lets talk about this tent situation. It was a two person tent. Barely. No mats, no sleeping bags, just plastic bottom on wood. And we can’t just sleep under that stars here because apparently the baboons are aggressive and we need to be careful about exposure to mosquitoes to avoid malaria. So the three of us crammed in together, me in the middle, as usual( we have a formation☺ .) I don’t think I can describe the heat that was inside that tent. Imagine NO BREEZE in a plastic tent, in about 90-100 degree weather. If you moved a muscle, sweat dripped, from every single pore of your body. We were not prone to claustrophobia, but I think it is safe to say, that that night we were. It was funny it was so unbearable, but, of course, laughing at it moved a few muscles. However, we were so exhausted, having gotten about 3 hours of sleep in the last two days that we fell asleep, and woke up, actually refreshed. Around 6 in the morning, I unzipped the tent and breathed in real, fresh air, just in time to see a friendly family of warthogs hanging out about five feet from us. I waved them good morning before rousing the girls and packing up, in time to make the 7am safari drive around the park, for our second attempt at seeing elephants. And see them we did!
Seeing an elephant, in the wild, not a zoo, on TV, in the Lion King, or anything else, is one of the biggest rushes in the world. Their sheer size is astounding. I was overcome by their gracefulness, by the way they held themselves. It was a beautiful experience. We got about 15 meters away, closer than you get to them on any safari, anywhere. They were bathing, and had such a tangible form of communication with each other. Walking back, the girls and I were blissful. WE reached to hotel before breakfast. We could get used to this schedule. I think it is also necessary that I point out that both safaris that we went on in Mole cost the equivalent of 10 US dollars. This includes guides, transportation, everything. The cost of things here is truly unbelievable. East African safaris will usually cost upwards of 3 or 4 hundred dollars A DAY. Wow. What a gift to be able to do all of this.
Later that afternoon, we called the Salia brothers, twin brothers that live in a neighboring village that had been recommended to us by students who had been to NYU in Ghana before. They drove up to Mole, picked all three of us with our stuff up on motorbikes and drove us to their village of Larabanga, where we were given a mattress and a place to stay on their roof. Seriously. It was amazing. We walked around the village with their children, saw an ancient mosque that is the oldest structure in Ghana, and returned, where we hiked up to a neighboring compound and were led to a table and served food by lantern light. Apparently, the wife of one of the brothers had been in the kitchen, making us dinner. It was incredibly sweet. The brothers sat down with us and we talked until late in the evening. The stars here were some of the clearest I have ever seen. You can imagine, when no one has electricity for miles, the sky is like diamonds. We were led back to their house, in the middle of the village, and we got ready for bed by lantern again, and climbed up to our perch on the roof, where a foam mattress and a sheet was laid out. Perfect. Elephants and rooftop sleepovers. An excellent day. It was the most wonderful feeling to lie down, staring up at the sky, surrounded by Mara and Camilla, giggling and asking the question, Where ARE we? It was a perfect night.
Our next day was not quite so exciting, at 4 in the morning, we were woken up and told that our bus to Tamale, where we were headed, was leaving. We jumped out of bed and threw everything we had into our backpacks and barely were able to elbow our way on to the bus, but we made it, thanks to the help of our host. After four hours, we arrived, had time for a much needed breakfast, and got on another 8 hour bus ride to Kumasi, to stay in a wonderful backpacker guesthouse. We had a fantastic dinner at a neighboring restaurant, and returned late at night to take our first showers in a long time. What a fantastic feeling☺ The next day, we got up at 4 am again and headed to the coast of Western Ghana…I will save that for the next post…much love
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Happy Birthday Ghana!
I forgot to say that last week, for my African Dance class, we got to go to the National theater and danced with th national dance troupe of Ghana. Seriously. It was absolutely incredible! They were so generous and kind, while making fun of us at times too, which we deserved. We all left wishing that we had larger butts to shake around. Oh well!
This last weekend, my friends and I rented a house at Big Milly’s Backyard, a backpackers paradise on Kokrobrite beach, about an hour and a half from Accra. We left early Saturday morning, which was Ghanaian Independence Day, and got to the hotel around 11. We checked in, squeezed 11 of us into a tiny little house with an upstairs, balcony, cute little couches… and hit the beach, swimming with children everywhere, shopping on the beach for dresses, pottery, jewelry, fresh pineapples, coconuts and oranges, and reading. It was blissful. In the middle of the day, a crazy rain storm came in for about an hour and I had one of the most glorious moments of my life, standing in the warm, warm ocean in the rain, feeling the wind all around me. We went out to a little Italian restaurant owned by real Italians(!) and then celebrated Ghanaian independence day with reggae, dancing and excellent company.
This week we are all getting ready for our spring break adventure, while simultaneously taking midterms. I had my art history midterm yesterday…yeesh! But I think I did well☺. On Friday, my friends Camilla, Mara and I are traveling to Tamale and Mole National park to see elephants, sleep on the roof of our hotel, and then work our way south, staying at the famous stilt village, Green Turtle Eco lodge and hiking through the rainforest to visit bat caves for a week. I am so excited to just go, it will be pretty spontaneous, and I think its safe to say, pretty unforgettable, whatever happens.
Love to everyone at home, thinking of you as always.
This last weekend, my friends and I rented a house at Big Milly’s Backyard, a backpackers paradise on Kokrobrite beach, about an hour and a half from Accra. We left early Saturday morning, which was Ghanaian Independence Day, and got to the hotel around 11. We checked in, squeezed 11 of us into a tiny little house with an upstairs, balcony, cute little couches… and hit the beach, swimming with children everywhere, shopping on the beach for dresses, pottery, jewelry, fresh pineapples, coconuts and oranges, and reading. It was blissful. In the middle of the day, a crazy rain storm came in for about an hour and I had one of the most glorious moments of my life, standing in the warm, warm ocean in the rain, feeling the wind all around me. We went out to a little Italian restaurant owned by real Italians(!) and then celebrated Ghanaian independence day with reggae, dancing and excellent company.
This week we are all getting ready for our spring break adventure, while simultaneously taking midterms. I had my art history midterm yesterday…yeesh! But I think I did well☺. On Friday, my friends Camilla, Mara and I are traveling to Tamale and Mole National park to see elephants, sleep on the roof of our hotel, and then work our way south, staying at the famous stilt village, Green Turtle Eco lodge and hiking through the rainforest to visit bat caves for a week. I am so excited to just go, it will be pretty spontaneous, and I think its safe to say, pretty unforgettable, whatever happens.
Love to everyone at home, thinking of you as always.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Possibilities:)
It has been particularly scorching this week, but I have been accustomed to the constant layer of sweat. I am discovering new pores and outlets of sweat I never knew existed before I came here. But I feel strangely clean sometimes…I suppose I am entirely rid of toxins in my system, getting flushed out daily☺ (sorry I just re-read that and I guess that was a lot of sweat talk, but I’m gonna keep it because that’s the way it is here)
I went to an awesome art show on Tuesday night after dinner with a couple of friends and it was so cool, we got to meet the artist and talk to him about his work. His name is Akirash, and I was able to get his information and I am going to do an artist profile on him for my non-western art class, visiting his studio and talking to him about the materials he uses, how he started doing his work in the first place, where he finds his inspiration…I am very excited because his art, it is very experimental, and focused on installation pieces as well as paintings and drawings. The art space he had set up in the studio was covered in beach sand all over the ground and in the center was a giant tradition canoe boat made out of large plastic water bottles. On the walls were beautiful traditionally focused paintings, as well as origami hats made from scraps of recycled paper and children’s shoes dyed in mud. Outside, there was a traditional performance of African dance and drumming, with the performers dressed in traditionally designed clothing, but all made from trash scraps. He was dressed in a similar outfit with paint all over his face, a smiling, young man, excited about showcasing all of his work. It was completely bizarre, but so vibrant and free. I am looking forward to talking to him more.
New Horizon Special School continues to be so rewarding, everyday I go, I am grateful for the experience. In my African Women Speak class, we have been discussing feminism in Ghana a great deal, and today I had a large research paper due about some aspect of feminism in Ghana that I found intriguing. The requirement was that we talked to many local Ghanaians around us as our primary source for research. I happily toured around this week, and met many women, the bearded fruit lady who sells us pineapple, my two seamstresses, the teller at EcoBank when the machine ate my ATM card…I had some pretty wonderful, fascinating conversations.
Spring break is coming up and we are all furiously making plans. Let me start by saying that traveling in Africa is insane. First of all, getting somewhere about 200 miles away is a day trip, at least! the roads are slow, when buses are your only option, and they also choose which days of the week to actually travel, and never on a Sunday. Also, a flight to ANYWHERE is 1000 dollars. Literally. I could get to Europe easier that anywhere is Africa, probably for cheaper too, but I want to stay here. I figure that I’m in Africa, how could I leave? So my friends Mara and Camilla and I were planning to go to Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso, to the Gorum Gorum region to ride camels and go to incredible Islamic markets. The problem is that there was a huge meningitis outbreak in Northern Ghana, and we are banned from travel in those areas. Also, Cote Ivoire, the country to my left, has been in intense political turmoil for some time so that has always been out of the question travel-wise, and then Togo, the country to our right just had elections yesterday and the effects of that are possibly going to be violent, so we are advised not to travel that direction. So essentially, if you follow me, and can picture Ghana on a map, we are surrounded, literally, by places that are off-limits. The realities here are just mind-blowing. We had a huge trip meeting with the entire NYU in Ghana group this week, and hearing all of the security measures was a eye-opening experience. There are a few people traveling to Rwanda, Mali and Egypt, but the rest of us are “re-evaluating” I should say. I will keep the Spring Break chronicles up to date for you, as they tend to be quite interesting, however I will say that our back up plan at the moment is going to this amazing eco-lodge called the Green Turtle, a few hundred miles west on the coast of Ghana, and going on hikes, day trips, visiting caves, waterfalls, staying on the beach, visiting an amazing wildlife reserve with elephants and chimpanzees and maybe going camping for few days. Some back up plan right? Our break starts March 12th, so we have time to figure it out, however. I actually love the spontaneity that is required here, doing anything. It has forced all of us to really adapt to new things constantly. Its pretty liberating.
On an ENTIRELY different note, I just found out that I was accepted into the NYU Florence Fall semester program! I applied in late January, just to see what would happen, but now that I know it is looking more and more appealing! Being here has been a traveling wake-up call for me…I officially have the travel bug, I am itching to go Everywhere!
Wow, this blog has been ALL over the place. Questions, concerns, suggestions? I’m open to anything! Please also, if anyone is curious about anything here, just little things about everyday life, or anything, Ask me! I have had a lot of people asking me about things like that and I forget sometimes to include them. I miss and love you all, as always!
Talk to you soon! MUCH LOVE
I went to an awesome art show on Tuesday night after dinner with a couple of friends and it was so cool, we got to meet the artist and talk to him about his work. His name is Akirash, and I was able to get his information and I am going to do an artist profile on him for my non-western art class, visiting his studio and talking to him about the materials he uses, how he started doing his work in the first place, where he finds his inspiration…I am very excited because his art, it is very experimental, and focused on installation pieces as well as paintings and drawings. The art space he had set up in the studio was covered in beach sand all over the ground and in the center was a giant tradition canoe boat made out of large plastic water bottles. On the walls were beautiful traditionally focused paintings, as well as origami hats made from scraps of recycled paper and children’s shoes dyed in mud. Outside, there was a traditional performance of African dance and drumming, with the performers dressed in traditionally designed clothing, but all made from trash scraps. He was dressed in a similar outfit with paint all over his face, a smiling, young man, excited about showcasing all of his work. It was completely bizarre, but so vibrant and free. I am looking forward to talking to him more.
New Horizon Special School continues to be so rewarding, everyday I go, I am grateful for the experience. In my African Women Speak class, we have been discussing feminism in Ghana a great deal, and today I had a large research paper due about some aspect of feminism in Ghana that I found intriguing. The requirement was that we talked to many local Ghanaians around us as our primary source for research. I happily toured around this week, and met many women, the bearded fruit lady who sells us pineapple, my two seamstresses, the teller at EcoBank when the machine ate my ATM card…I had some pretty wonderful, fascinating conversations.
Spring break is coming up and we are all furiously making plans. Let me start by saying that traveling in Africa is insane. First of all, getting somewhere about 200 miles away is a day trip, at least! the roads are slow, when buses are your only option, and they also choose which days of the week to actually travel, and never on a Sunday. Also, a flight to ANYWHERE is 1000 dollars. Literally. I could get to Europe easier that anywhere is Africa, probably for cheaper too, but I want to stay here. I figure that I’m in Africa, how could I leave? So my friends Mara and Camilla and I were planning to go to Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso, to the Gorum Gorum region to ride camels and go to incredible Islamic markets. The problem is that there was a huge meningitis outbreak in Northern Ghana, and we are banned from travel in those areas. Also, Cote Ivoire, the country to my left, has been in intense political turmoil for some time so that has always been out of the question travel-wise, and then Togo, the country to our right just had elections yesterday and the effects of that are possibly going to be violent, so we are advised not to travel that direction. So essentially, if you follow me, and can picture Ghana on a map, we are surrounded, literally, by places that are off-limits. The realities here are just mind-blowing. We had a huge trip meeting with the entire NYU in Ghana group this week, and hearing all of the security measures was a eye-opening experience. There are a few people traveling to Rwanda, Mali and Egypt, but the rest of us are “re-evaluating” I should say. I will keep the Spring Break chronicles up to date for you, as they tend to be quite interesting, however I will say that our back up plan at the moment is going to this amazing eco-lodge called the Green Turtle, a few hundred miles west on the coast of Ghana, and going on hikes, day trips, visiting caves, waterfalls, staying on the beach, visiting an amazing wildlife reserve with elephants and chimpanzees and maybe going camping for few days. Some back up plan right? Our break starts March 12th, so we have time to figure it out, however. I actually love the spontaneity that is required here, doing anything. It has forced all of us to really adapt to new things constantly. Its pretty liberating.
On an ENTIRELY different note, I just found out that I was accepted into the NYU Florence Fall semester program! I applied in late January, just to see what would happen, but now that I know it is looking more and more appealing! Being here has been a traveling wake-up call for me…I officially have the travel bug, I am itching to go Everywhere!
Wow, this blog has been ALL over the place. Questions, concerns, suggestions? I’m open to anything! Please also, if anyone is curious about anything here, just little things about everyday life, or anything, Ask me! I have had a lot of people asking me about things like that and I forget sometimes to include them. I miss and love you all, as always!
Talk to you soon! MUCH LOVE
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Global warming?
Since my last hurried blog post, I hope that I can fill in some gaps…
This last weekend we traveled to Kumasi, a large town about 5 hours away from Accra, we got up at 430 in the morning and all took a bus up to the region, the Ashanti Kingdom. We visiting the palace of the modern day king, went to some beautiful craft fairs of Kente Cloth and drum making…it was a fantastic trip. We stayed in a lovely hotel, and soaked up a different region that we have been spending time in lately…it was a great change of pace.
I feel like everything has fallen into place for me, my classes, friends, my work at New Horizon. There is a wonderful routine to everything, and at the same time, I find days, moments when I am suddenly surrounded by all things new. In talking to mom, dad, friends, I am continuously shocked at how I have accustomed to certain things here, like crazy markets, haggling for literally EVERything, taxis, food, clothes, fabric etc., friends with irregular bowel movementsJ, beggars on the street…I feel myself challenged, and my heart breaks a little every day, but I feel so unbelievably charged right now, like I really need to do something big. I have notes, drawings, ideas, scribbled all over my journals, papers taped to my wall. Being here has been a wake-up call, I feel on the verge of getting a project rolling… more to follow on that. Oh and it is SO HOT here, the locals all say it is the hottest that they can remember...global warming???
I am thinking of you all, so very much! You are in my heart as I navigate this crazy wonderful adventureJ
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