Ghana recap
Busua was gorgeous, great food, beer, and company. I’m not sure if I got a picture of it, but there was an island out in the middle of the cove that provided a perfect focal point when sitting on the beachside, drinking a beer. It was pretty much the tropical paradise I dreamt about on too many frozen Western New York nights.
The eclipse was magical, the type of thing that forces me to recognize how small I am, how lucky I am, and how important it is to have my eyes open to the wonders of life. There’s another one in Canada somewhere in 2008, perhaps the focus of another adventure.
After that we accompanied our guide (Abby! She is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, we lucked into meeting her at the house of another wonderful volunteer, Erica, who hosted us one night. Abby was responsible for many of the good bits and free of blame for any struggles we had. Except maybe Elubo, but that’s getting ahead of myself…) to Axim for a party with a great crowd of volunteers – I mention some but I’ll fail to mention others who were every bit as important – Robert was the host and John brought a yearling goat for dinner, fantastic.
Then we peeled ourselves off the floor (a bit too literally in my case), readied and dragged back on the road, headed for Ankasa National Park. We made it to Elubo, the cab driver told us to get out, we were next door to Cote d’Ivoire, and I was a little bit of a blinking turtle emerging slowly from his shell, without knowing quite where the world was. We wandered over to a hotel we had seen on the way into town, but it was a little … disappointing, to be kind. I’m not sure if it was the arms and ammunition shop on the way over, the faded “elegance”, or just our general attitude, but we had a little pity party / lunch meeting and decided that, as the national park was 20 plus km away, and not the six that we had thought, and since we were on vacation and not too thrilled about our location, we’d just chalk it up as a learning experience and high tail it back to Busua. Intrepid travelers might have stuck it out, we were just a few tired volunteers.
So, back to Busua, more sun, surf, beer, great food, and quality time with Dave, a PCV working there. I moved very little from my chair that first day back, just to the water a few times to play in the very fun waves – the tides were big, the ocean doing just enough to remind me of fun times in Hawaii, I was in heaven – and back to my chair, book, and happiness. Vacation is a great thing.
We ended up spending three more days in Busua, not all as inert as the first, but not too strenuous either. Lots of swimming, reading, talking, fruit juice and joy. I read three books in the twelve days we were gone. Our last night in town we celebrated with a lobster dinner at a local spot called Nana’s, a one-table shack, where we ate with some Italians and had a great time. It was just about perfect.
On our way back to Accra, we spent two nights in Cape Coast, toured the castle there (it was centrally involved in the slave trade, a sobering tour of the dungeons and apparatus included) and took a hike through rain forest canopy on a 30m-high suspended walkway. In Accra we ate cheeseburgers at Frankie’s and spent a day in Aburi (in the mountains nearby), visiting botanical gardens and walking around a woodworking crafts area, seeing the men carve some great pieces and hearing a lot of sales pitches.
After one more night of great sandwiches and beer, we were off to the airport, back home via Monrovia and Freetown to our still cool Kombo region. There are quite a few volunteers around at the moment, and while I won’t say we are all hiding out from the heat, it does make one appreciate chilly nights when I know I’m going back to real heat very soon.
Thanks so much to all we met in Ghana, we’d love the chance to repay you here (or anywhere else) one day.
The eclipse was magical, the type of thing that forces me to recognize how small I am, how lucky I am, and how important it is to have my eyes open to the wonders of life. There’s another one in Canada somewhere in 2008, perhaps the focus of another adventure.
After that we accompanied our guide (Abby! She is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, we lucked into meeting her at the house of another wonderful volunteer, Erica, who hosted us one night. Abby was responsible for many of the good bits and free of blame for any struggles we had. Except maybe Elubo, but that’s getting ahead of myself…) to Axim for a party with a great crowd of volunteers – I mention some but I’ll fail to mention others who were every bit as important – Robert was the host and John brought a yearling goat for dinner, fantastic.
Then we peeled ourselves off the floor (a bit too literally in my case), readied and dragged back on the road, headed for Ankasa National Park. We made it to Elubo, the cab driver told us to get out, we were next door to Cote d’Ivoire, and I was a little bit of a blinking turtle emerging slowly from his shell, without knowing quite where the world was. We wandered over to a hotel we had seen on the way into town, but it was a little … disappointing, to be kind. I’m not sure if it was the arms and ammunition shop on the way over, the faded “elegance”, or just our general attitude, but we had a little pity party / lunch meeting and decided that, as the national park was 20 plus km away, and not the six that we had thought, and since we were on vacation and not too thrilled about our location, we’d just chalk it up as a learning experience and high tail it back to Busua. Intrepid travelers might have stuck it out, we were just a few tired volunteers.
So, back to Busua, more sun, surf, beer, great food, and quality time with Dave, a PCV working there. I moved very little from my chair that first day back, just to the water a few times to play in the very fun waves – the tides were big, the ocean doing just enough to remind me of fun times in Hawaii, I was in heaven – and back to my chair, book, and happiness. Vacation is a great thing.
We ended up spending three more days in Busua, not all as inert as the first, but not too strenuous either. Lots of swimming, reading, talking, fruit juice and joy. I read three books in the twelve days we were gone. Our last night in town we celebrated with a lobster dinner at a local spot called Nana’s, a one-table shack, where we ate with some Italians and had a great time. It was just about perfect.
On our way back to Accra, we spent two nights in Cape Coast, toured the castle there (it was centrally involved in the slave trade, a sobering tour of the dungeons and apparatus included) and took a hike through rain forest canopy on a 30m-high suspended walkway. In Accra we ate cheeseburgers at Frankie’s and spent a day in Aburi (in the mountains nearby), visiting botanical gardens and walking around a woodworking crafts area, seeing the men carve some great pieces and hearing a lot of sales pitches.
After one more night of great sandwiches and beer, we were off to the airport, back home via Monrovia and Freetown to our still cool Kombo region. There are quite a few volunteers around at the moment, and while I won’t say we are all hiding out from the heat, it does make one appreciate chilly nights when I know I’m going back to real heat very soon.
Thanks so much to all we met in Ghana, we’d love the chance to repay you here (or anywhere else) one day.
posted by Zac at
4:43 AM
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