Adventure to Green Turtle!

Time for a Ghana update!  This is going to be a lengthy one.  With classes finally in full swing, my Ghanaian adventures are now limited to the weekends for the most part, but as exciting as ever.  My schedule is such that I have no classes on Monday and am done at 930AM on Fridays so there is plenty of time to travel for a long weekend, which is exactly what a few friends and I did.  Two weeks ago the university held a Welcome Darbur for the international students where we ate delicious food, learned a bit about Ghanaian culture, socialized with fellow students, and got to watch amazing performances of traditional Ghanaian dance and music.  Although not a mandatory event, it was a lot of fun and a warm welcome to the country so most of us stuck around for it instead of traveling.  The following weekend was the first totally free set of days that we had since arriving in Ghana, so the four girls from Pitt and another friend Sarah from the University of Florida, decided it was time for an adventure.  In one of my West African guide books (a great Christmas present from my Dad) it recommends a weekend away at Green Turtle Lodge on the western coast of Ghana.  This eco-tourism lodge was started by a British couple and is located on a remote stretch of beach about an hour past Takoradi near Akwidaa Old Town.  As soon as we finished our Friday class, we gathered some belongings and began our long trek across the country.

dancers performing traditional Ghanaian moves at the Welcome Darbur

According to the directions on Green Turtle’s website, the travel time from Accra should have been about 5 hours consisting of a four hour STC bus ride to Takoradi, and an hour long tro tro ride to the lodge.  This seemed simple enough for 5 college students to handle, but what would a trip in Ghana be without a few twists?  Apparently when you attempt to catch a tro tro to Kaneshie Market around lunchtime, it is not possible to find one with space for 5 people and their backpacks of clothing; therefore, after our optimism began to dwindle, we were forced to squeeze into a taxi downtown.  Thank goodness Ama is a very petite girl, or else traveling with five people would have been even more complicated.  Fortunately, once we were dropped off at Kaneshie, an STC bus headed to Takoradi was waiting for passengers to fill it up before taking off.  The STC buses are similar to Greyhound or any other bus company in the US, but are a significant step up from the tro tros and much better for long distance transportation—and they are air conditioned!!  We had to wait about an hour on the STC bus before it was well occupied and ready to head to Takoradi.  I gladly dozed off for portions of the bus ride, but was occasionally woken up by the crazy Ghanaian TV series that was being shown or the several near accidents are bus encountered.  At this point, we thought the hard part of our journey was over, and we would be at our beach destination in no time.  Wrong again!  Despite the fact that I had written down the exact directions to the lodge as they provided on their website, no one seemed to know the landmarks we requested.  The STC driven advised we get off the bus before the Takoradi station in order to get a taxi to Green Turtle, because he said there would be no tro tros running that late at night.  However, a taxi from that point would have cost a ridiculous about of money and most did not even know where Green Turtle Lodge was.  I asked a passing woman where to catch a tro tro and she kindly walked us all the way to the best spot, and bargained with the drivers for us, even though it was in the opposite direction of where she was headed.  The tro tro was only able to take us to Agona Junction (which was lit only by a few candles) where we had to find a taxi for the last part of our trip.  Luckily Green Turtle has taxi drivers that they work with who were waiting here and gladly offered to drive us down the last 10 kilometers rocky unlit road.  Only then did we understand why every other person we had talked to said the last bit would take 2 hours—we even had to get out of the taxi and walk along side at points because the road was too difficult to navigate with passengers in the vehicle.

Our mosquito netted bed, watch out for the lizards!

                Finally, after a total of ten hours of travel, we made it to Green Turtle and were never happier to see the few people that were still awake sitting around a campfire on the beach.  True to Ghanaian hospitality, the man in charge for the night was nice enough to give us each some bread and spreads since we hadn’t eaten the entire day, before showing us to our rooms.  We stayed in dorm style accommodations which were essentially large rooms with multiple beds squeezed in and mosquito nets covering them.  This was perfect for our budgets and as we only used the rooms as a place to crash at night, they were more than enough.  We spent the next 3 days relaxing in every way possible—long walks on the beach, candle lit dinners, becoming totally engulfed in our books, and going for the occasional dip in the ocean.  One morning we took a walk down the beach to a nearby fishing village where we met two young girls on their way to fetch fresh water for their family.  Agnes and her little sister stopped us and asked to get their pictures taken, and then view it immediately after—they probably would shriek with excitement and burst into laughter at the sight of themselves.  We talked with them for a while and they held our hands as we walked with them to get water.  This was one of my favorite moments in Ghana so far because two girls less than the age of 10 unknowingly exposed me to a new world—one in which a young girl can sing a song about Jesus with a huge smile on her face, giggle at herself while wearing my sunglasses, and teach me how to do her favorite dance despite the fact that she was clearly malnourished and held a lot of responsibility for the wellbeing of her family at such a ripe age.  Saying goodbye to Agnes and her sister without being able to help them in the ways they desperately needed was hard, but I hope that singing and dancing with them brightened their day as much as they did mine.  That was a moment I won’t soon forget.

Agnes and her little sister get a picture with an obruni!

                Another perk of the weekend was the delicious food that was all made fresh from the surrounding resources—we even had French toast one morning from bread that was made by the Ghanaian women at Green Turtle with bananas and pure honey (so yummy)!  Aside from the animal of some sort that was trapped in the walls of our dorm and proceeded to cry all night long, we enjoyed a wonderful weekend escape on a remote beach with breathtaking scenery and wonderful people.  Monday, brought another long day of travel, but this time with a bit more organization on our part.  It is funny how arriving back on campus in Accra feels like home for the time being, and we are now back in the swing of class—the other reason I’ve come here.  This upcoming weekend we will stay in Accra, with plans to tour the city and some major historical sites around it.  Additionally, I am starting to volunteer at a local orphanage this week, which I am so excited for, as it is one of the driving factors in my wish to come to Ghana.  It is easy to see how fast four months here will go, and I don’t want to let it slip away from me!

The beautiful beach at Green Turtle Lodge

                

Getting Settled and a trip to Bojo!

   As the days go on, I am becoming more adjusted to life here in Ghana and am finally settling on a daily routine.  Life here is much slower than what I am used to back on the eastern United States, and at times that can become quite frustrating for a person who plans to achieve a lot during a day.  Sometimes it is hard to accept the fact that registering for all of my classes, buying another set of sheets for the bed, and checking my email are simply not all going to happen in one day.  In fact, it has taken the entire week so far to register for classes, and we still aren’t signed up for some because neither the departments haven’t been open, nor have the time slots been posted.  However, this appears to be a typical occurrence and the university staff assures us that it will all be sorted out by the end of next week.

   One class that has been running this first week is Traditional African Dance, which I take every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  I have been looking forward to taking this class since officially accepting to study abroad this spring semester, but I couldn’t have anticipated just how much fun it would be!  On Tuesday evening about 70 students (mostly Ghanaian) and I crammed into the only dance studio on campus and were told to “open your mind and be free, let the music speak to you.”  With that, we were directed to our feet and told to join in the dance.  On the stage were seven drummers who played live music throughout the hour and a half as we moved to the beat.  Being thrown into an African Dance class without any prior dance experience—minus the time I did ballet in first grade when I spent more time searching for my parents in the audience than I did performing the recital—I was nervous that my rhythmically-challenged self would flounder.  To my surprise, it was easy to follow the experienced Ghanaians and it was the most fun I’ve had so far in Ghana.  It was definitely the best workout too!

   Last Saturday, some of the Ghanaian residents organized a trip to Bojo Beach for the international students which proved to be nothing less than an African adventure.  We left around 8 in the morning, squeezing in way more students than the bus capacity was meant to handle.  The trip was supposed to take about an hour and a half given all of the predicted traffic, but no more than 20 minutes into the journey, our bus had a miniature collision with a tro tro.  When I say miniature, I mean that our front right headlight was cracked, but this added a few hours onto our trek to the beach.  After a period of heated arguing between the respective drivers, we moved to the driving center to sort out insurance policies; later, we discovered that this was the wrong location to do so, and had to drive further to the police station.  It took a few attempts to fill out the right paperwork for the incident, and finally by noon we were on the road again.  The drive to Bojo was very eye-opening as we left the busy city area of Greater Accra, and entered the more rural neighborhoods along the dirt paths to the ocean.  Even in these obviously struggling communities, I saw little kids with huge smiles on their faces as they roll an old tire around together.  Most don’t speak any English because they can’t afford to attend school, but a simple smile and wave can break any language barrier and let someone know you care. 

Tiki huts on Bojo Beach and the ferry that brought us to the island

   Once we finally arrived at Bojo Beach Resort, we were so excited to run through the soft sand and dive into the warm water.  Bojo is a small island right off the coast, so we all piled into a long canoe and were escorted across the bay so our paradise escape.  I never thought I would be swimming in the ocean in January, and experiencing warmer water temperatures than I ever have in the middle of the summer at the Jersey Shore.  This true bliss did not last for long however, because about a half an hour after arriving, a giant storm rushed in and we had to huddle under a tiki hut bar to avoid the downpour.  What I enjoyed most about this change of events was the fact that the sideways rain and gusting winds didn’t appear to ruin anybody’s day—the huddle under the tiki hut turned into an African dance party, and those who were brave enough decided to start a soccer game in the rain!  When the day was over and our soaking wet, sandy selves were back at the hostel, everyone was ready to call it a night!

   By Sunday, the campus had taken a complete 360 as all of the students finally moved it.  It is more crowded everywhere you go, and forget trying to sleep in—if the roster calling outside your window doesn’t wake you, the congregations of students, as well as the hustle and bustle of the market will certainly do the trick.  Our Ghanaian roommates have all moved in as well, and it is nice to get to know some of the locals and start friendships with people we never would have before.  The once daunting campus now seems like a place I’ve been walking around for years (although it is still very large and spread out).  We are even grasping the notion of bargaining which is an absolutely necessary skill here in Ghana, especially for the obruni (white people).  In fact, today LaVonda, Bridget, and I took an adventure to the National Cultural Center in Accra where we had to prove we knew how to bargain in order to get the best prices on the handmade crafts sold there.  I was very pleased with our ability to negotiate a tro tro to the right location and find our way around the city to the Cultural Center, navigate our way through the aisles of vendors begging us to purchase their products, and successfully find our way home.  It really feels like we are getting the hang of things here, especially after hearing that another group of girls accidentally took the wrong tro tro 4 hours in the opposite direction of the Cultural Center.

ladies selling tomatoes in Accra, the streets are lined with vendors like this

   There are definitely things that I am starting to miss as I approach the two week mark of me being in Ghana, but little things every day remind me of the beauty of this country.  For example, the other night some of the girls and I sat on the balcony reading by candlelight as we listened to the sounds surrounding us.  I cannot remember the last time I even had a chance to sit and read a book for pleasure, or chose to do so over watching The Bachelor on a Monday night, but it was so lovely to be able to do just that.  It is nice to be able to ignore the western world for a bit, and enjoy the simplicity of life here.  I am excited for classes to get in full swing next week, and for all of the surprises to come!