God loves Ghana

So remember that last post where I put up pictures of things I said I was going to do? Well, I really did all those things except all the hammocks were terribly uncomfortable. Here is a quick breakdown of my trip, or if you are a terrible friend who can't be bothered to read about my activities you can look at the few pictures that would upload with this terrible internet connection.

1) After 36 horrible hours of transport, we all arrived very smelly and sleepy and grumpy without a place to stay for the night. I was hoping against hope that the place I had planned for us to stay at (planned but didn't make reservations at) would have one room, otherwise I knew that everyone would hate me for being the worst trip planner ever. We arrived and miracle upon miracle they had a room! And we took it! And after we had showered they gave us lobster with french fries and there was a bonfire on the beach and I loved everyone.

2) We went hiking and walking on the beach and did a lot of body boarding. My first couple days I missed speaking French and so when I found a Nigerian it was really delightful speaking french to him. We ate more food (burritos, french toast and shark (not at all delicious, but I can say I've eaten it)).

3) Then we went to The Green Turtle, which Volunteers here rave about. I don't think it is that awesome. The waves are way to strong so you can't play in the ocean and everything is really far away. But we did eat delicious food and went on a bike ride with terrible bikes. Mine kept seizing up whenever we would go uphill and after the 5th time of almost being thrown I decided as much as I wanted to see South Africa, I'd rather not risk the head trauma and walked my bike up the hills. We biked to a lighthouse and stood at the closest land mass to the center of the world. It was pretty neat. On the way back I got a flat tire and we had to walk the rest of the way because the tire fixing man was at the beach (what kind of village has only one man who can repair tires? What kind of country is this?) but on the way back three of us- two ladies and one gentleman- spent the next two hours talking about engagements and weddings. It was hilarious.

4)We met some people from Holland. One of them talked a ton and had a little baby boys face. Then one night we met some South African men and had a high-larious time talking and sitting on the beach next to a bonfire. That was easily my favorite thing about the trip.

5)We went to Cape Coast and saw an old slave castle, it was less then exciting but there was a plaque from when Barack and Michelle visited in 2009. There was also a book in the gift shop entitled Obama: Africa's gift to the world. Bold claim Africa, bold claim. It was also their independence day when we were there so we saw a ton of people, school children in uniform, and adults in fancy clothes with nice watches getting in the ocean fully clothed (I still don't understand that one, don't they know that jeans are terribly uncomfortable after they are wet?).

6) We had a terrible trip back, but we made it. We moved from beautiful green rain forests of Ghana to the dead, hot, flat desert that is Burkina.

Overall, it was a really great trip. Nice to get away and do something not in Burkina. I really had missed the beach and the ocean. I didn't miss speaking English as much as I had thought, but that probably had a lot to do with the fact that Ghanians are very hard to understand/bad at speaking English. I really had missed wearing shorts. But now I'm back, everything is familiar and comfortable, I know how much cab rides cost and how long I will wait until a bush taxi takes me back to site later today. It's kinda nice.

Also, Happy 4th of July.