The North

Day 126.

We arrived in Tamale at 3:30am after a 13-hour bus ride. It was dark out and surprisingly cold. Hoping to get a ticket for the 6am bus to Larabanga, we walked to the MMT station. The station was busy for such an early hour: women selling bread, pure water, knives; men riding motorbikes in Muslim smocks; toddlers sitting on the ground playing with rubbish. To find out if there were tickets, we had talk to the conductor. He wasn’t around so we sat. And waited. Brushed our teeth. Watched our bags. Hours passed. No conductor. Finally, we were told the tickets were finished. We bought tickets for the 1:30pm bus, found a place to sit, and slept. Hours passed…slowly. After a strange interaction with foreigners wanting to take us to their hotel, interrupted sleeping, buying a few pairs of Ghanaian sandals, and eating plantain chips with peanut butter it was time for the bus to arrive. A hot, long, bumpy four hours later, we arrived in Larabanga.

Larabanga: population 4,000, 100% Muslim. Mud houses, dirt roads, minimal electricity, so many children. We stayed at the Salia Brothers Guesthouse, a simple room and a simpler bathroom (a hole in the concrete with an intoxicating ammonia scent). The coolest part was we could sleep on the roof! Up a small branch ladder to the flat roof, we could not only see much of the village but we could see all of Mole National Park in the distance. It was freezing but we made it through the night, waking up to Muslim prayer on the loudspeaker at dawn …melodic and calming, nothing like the amplified Christian praise we wake up to in Legon. By 6am the town is awake and beginning the day’s work: rhythmic pounding of fufu, collecting of firewood, and the setting up of small food stands. For a long time I watched from above the life that the people of Larabanga live everyday. A life of hard work and simplicity. A life that I am envious of until I hear their stories: husband killed in a car accident just before her son was born, father shot and killed at Mole for hunting antelope, the only of four brothers who wasn’t able to go to school can hardly read or write, a classroom full of children with no teacher, kids drinking water out of a tank with bugs swimming in it.

That morning we rented bicycles. Old, single-speed, squeaky, rusty, drop-bar bicycles. Mole is 10km from Larabanga on a dirt road. The road was relatively flat with a few hills to climb and potholes to avoid. It felt great to be riding again. We arrived at the park and realized there were 5 hours until the start of the tour so we biked back to get out books to read while we waited. Hot and tired after the second 10km, we napped instead. 10km back during the hottest part of the day and we were ready for the safari. No toes allowed so we rented big rubber boots and headed into the bush following D.K., our armed guide. Walking safaris are rare in Africa because of the danger involved so we lucked out. 5 minutes into the safari we were 50 feet away from a 54-year old male savanna elephant. He was casually shaking a tree and eating the fruits that fell from it as we watched in amazement. Through the binoculars, I could see every wrinkle in his face. He walked around the tree, sneezed, and then started coming towards us. D.K. told us to back up slowly to avoid him charging, he wasn’t coming for us, we were just in his way. With mighty steps, he passed us, ignored the baboons all around, and went to dig a hole to reach a salt lick…his dessert. Now only 30 feet away, we stood in awe. It is amazing the difference I felt seeing an elephant in the wild where it belongs as compared to a zoo. Just like elephants, that moment I will never forget.

The rest of the safari was great: antelope running, baboons grooming each other, warthogs walking, birds chirping. The sun was setting over the watering holes, a giant orange African sun, and I was happy. This is Africa. We returned to our bikes at sunset and tried to peddle back as fast as we could to avoid darkness. Before we knew it, we couldn’t see the path in front of us. Passing a few pairs of cows and fireflies on the way, we made it back to Larabanga safely but hungry. This is when we met Satau.

At a small egg sandwich stand on the side of the road, a woman stood waiting for customers. We ordered two sandwiches and waited for them while we talked with the local children that came to say hello to us. The sandwiches were amazing and as we ate them, we talked to Satau. She told us that about her husband who died, her father who was shot, and her 16-month-old son, Mohammed, who was sick. She was only 24-years-old. She told us she wanted to make us banku in the morning and teach us to pound fufu, so we decided we would be back to meet her at 10am. Afterward, we followed a girl named Ama to her house where she was going to take dinner and then escort us back to our guesthouse. At her house we were met by at least 20 other children who were so excited to see us, and even more excited for us to take their pictures. The most striking thing about the scene was the 16-year-old girl who sat in the middle of all the children butchering the better part of a cow with a machete. This was completely normal. So many pictures later, we returned to the guesthouse to find that we had been slightly robbed. 30 cedi missing from my bag, 10 from Carmen’s. Was it one of the Salia brothers? Was it the small girl who came in when we were napping? One of the boys in town who was in and out of the guesthouse often? Who knows…I just hope they really needed it.

The missing money limited our activity the next day: no morning safari, no bikes, minimal food. Despite the run in our plans, I had an amazing day. Banku in the morning (fish in the pepe but I put on a smile and ate around it), pounding fufu with Satau, a tour of Larabanga, including the 600-year-old mosque, hanging out at local school, visiting with Satau at her grandfather’s house, egg sandwiches, and more playing and taking pictures with the children at night. We were the only Obrunis in the town and I felt at home.

4:30am the next morning we awoke to the bus approaching Larabanga. Lightening fast and laughing, we packed our things and ran to the stop, just in time. A hot, long, bumpy four hours later, we arrived in Tamale. Tamale lays in stark contrast to Accra: hotter, drier, Muslim, less crowded, more friendly, and the best part is everyone rides motorbikes or bicycles. The most impressive thing I saw was a motorcycle transporting (in this order, front to back) a toddler, a man, a goat, a woman, and a baby (on her back)…Now that’s efficiency. We spent the day exploring Tamale: the Center for National Culture, the central market, the side streets. After 5 days of dirt we finally took a bucket shower and went to bed satisfied with our journey to the North, alarms set to catch the 6:30am bus in the morning.

13-hours, the most unexplainably complicated traffic jam, and too many bananas later, we were home.

Traveling to Togo tomorrow.

More adventures to come.

music and football

Day 115.

Last weekend, Carmen played in three shows at the Music Department...I went all three nights it was that good. Line up: Yerekorossi (from Burkina Faso), Pure Water, Obrubini, and Big Shot. Each night was a little bit different and so much fun. On Friday night, Prophet Fish, Big Shot’s lead singer, invited me on stage to sing “Tunamensa” with them! As I had gone to a few of Carm’s rehearsals I knew the song, and as my only part was singing the word “Tunamensa” is was not so difficult.

Sunday: Ghana v. Mali FIFA World Cup Qualifier in Kumasi…this time everything went according to plan. The area surrounding the stadium was packed with football fans and hawkers, wearing and selling anything and everything with a Ghanaian flag on it: key chains, necklaces, noisemakers, hats, visors, scarves, flags, jerseys . I wore red, yellow, and green beads in my hair and waved a small Ghanaian flag, I thought that would be enough spirit, nope.

We arrived in Kumasi five hours before the game was to start, so we did some exploring. Elle, Karen and I wandered around what seemed to be a friendly area. The further we got from the stadium, the quieter it was, which I enjoyed but soon enough we were back near all of the excitement. Somewhere along the way we decided to make up fake names and where we were from. This is something I would do when I was little and I don’t think I ever pulled it off, but here it was a cinch and so much fun. Most of the time I decided to be German so I could say “Ich mag schwerkroft”, which means “I like gravity”.

The game was much more exciting than the last as Mali is a far better team than Sudan. Last time we had VIP tickets so we were in a chill section. This time we had middle range tickets so the crowd was more rambunctious and noisy -constantly yelling at the field in Twi and Pidgin. They scored. Half time. We scored. They scored. We scored! Satisfied with a 2-2 finish, we left the stadium for the long ride home.

The road from Accra to Kumasi is one of the most dangerous in Ghana as the majority of it is not paved and covered with potholes. The bus driver, who said a prayer before we left, drove like a maniac and didn’t seem to adjust his driving to the conditions, other than swerving determinedly around the potholes and the vehicles without slowing down a bit. Miraculously, we made it back to Accra safely.

Lectures are finished. I’ve taken my dance and Twi exams. Four more finals and I will be officially done with my undergraduate education.

I’m so excited to start traveling.

one day

Day 107.

Aburi Botanical Gardens. An hour north of Accra in the hills just beyond the Accra Plains. From the entrance, you turn around to see a panoramic view of Ghana’s capital and its surroundings – from there everything looks small and clean. Directly in front of you are houses made out of cement bricks or scrap wood with tin roofs in need of repair, if there is a roof at all.

The Gardens are small and not so well organized but they are well maintained. The place was full of Ghanaians enjoying the fresh mountain air and cool weather – drumming, singing, dancing, running, laughing, and even some students copying down scientific names! Walking in the shade of unique trees covered in vines felt like a fairy tale, especially when we stumbled upon kids playing in The Strangler Ficus Tree, a Ficus Elasticoides that strangled an Afzelia Africana killing its host and creating a hollow interior…perfect for climbing.

Thunder. Suddenly, it started to rain and people from all directions went running for cover. Kids laughing, tripping, yelling, parents right along side them. When it let up, we left the Gardens and walked towards the station. Carmen bought a coconut on the side of the road and just after the man hacked it open with a machete, it started to pour. Quickly, we hid under a truck until the coconut man showed us to an overhang where we stood crowded with about twenty-five Ghanaians also waiting for the rain to stop. It was pouring harder than I’ve ever seen it pour. Then it stopped.

Exhausted, we returned to campus, ate banku at night market, and came back to our room. A dance and drumming group from the Volta Region was performing at the drama studio on campus this weekend and in return for them performing for us, we were supposed to perform for them. Carmen and my dance classes were asked to participate – people from her class performing Gown, people from mine performing Kpatsa. I couldn’t do it on Friday night but signed up for Saturday. Expecting there to be four other Obrunis and ten Ghanaians as there had been the night before, I arrived to find nobody from my class. Ten minutes before we were supposed to go on, seven Kpatsa dancers showed up, all Ghanaians. Ten minutes later, I was the only Obruni on stage in front of one hundred plus people performing a Ghanaian traditional dance. Despite my worrying that it was going to be terrible, I had so much fun.

day 101

power is back to normal.

water is being rationed (volta = tuesdays and saturdays).

dance class is great. lessons anyone?.

it's still hot.

mosquitoes are out.

bug spray is on.

laptop is broken.

birkenstocks have holes.

i love banku.

i miss burritos.

in 64 days i'll be home.

funerals. nature walk and small things

Day 93.

Traveling on Saturdays is always a trip because in Ghana, Saturday is reserved for funerals. On a short trip (outside of Accra), you are likely to see at least one funeral, and on longer trips, it is not uncommon to see four or five. Funerals in Ghana, though largely Christian ceremonies, incorporate cultural elements that would never be see in the States. In America, people generally wear black to a funeral; in Ghana, people wear the most amazing fabric, a dark slightly shiny black with brown adinkra symbols or white with small black patterns, both with red accents. Older men simply wrap the cloth around them. Women have it made into outfits with a long skirt and matching top. A funeral can be spotted from a mile away because hundreds of people attend every one. Another difference is that during a part of the ceremony, the casket is carried by people though the streets as friends and family members crowd around clapping, singing, dancing. Unlike at home where funeral ceremonies are centered around mourning the dead person, in Ghana, funerals truly are a celebration of life.

Saturday (and exactly three months since I left): Day trip with Carm to Boti Falls in the Eastern Region. Nature hike with a guide named Frank: descended a rainforest valley emerging into a partial cave that was once the home of the natives of Koforidua, climbed vertically arriving in a savannah landscape, relaxed in the shade of Umbrella Rock eating fresh coconut, followed by small children to the three-trunked palm tree, sat on a stone that is thought to make the sitter the bearer of twins (I sat on it twice, thought it might reverse the first time, but maybe I’m having quadruplets), swam in the pool below Boti falls. It rained.

Small things:

All the women here have fake hair. Sometimes it falls out and single braids are found disembodied on the side of the road (Andrew: gross right?).

Because they all have fake hair, the women change their hairstyles monthly, sometimes making it impossible to recognize your friends.

People here sweep all day long. If there is 100 leaves they sweep. If there are 10 leaves they sweep. If there is one leaf they sweep.

My new favorite meal is banku with pepe. Banku is a traditional Ghanaian dish made from cassava and corn that essentially tastes like unbaked sourdough bread. Pepe is a combination of tomatoes, peppers, and onions – spicy. No utensils allowed.

It is so hot now that I don’t even leave the room in the morning before I start sweating.

Last night I realized that I am really going to miss Ghana.

a walk in the dark and no power

Day 87.

Saturday: Carmen and I left Legon at 6:45am for an overnight trip to the Volta Region. We went to Wli Falls since Carmen couldn’t come the first time. Though there wasn’t as much water this time, the sky was clear and there was a rainbow at the base of the waterfall that was almost too perfect. We went in the water and worked our way backward towards the falls, fighting the winds. The water got deeper as we got closer and though we were a little scared, we couldn’t stop laughing.
It was getting dark, but Carmen and I wanted to stay the night at the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary for the 6am tour. We took a tro from Hohoe that we thought would drop us at the sanctuary. At 90kph, I saw the sign “Tafi Atome, 5km” with an arrow pointing right. Realizing that we weren’t stopping, I said, “Mate, Mate! We need to get off”.

Standing alone on the side of the road, in unfamiliar surroundings, we realized that our only option was to walk. It was pitch black by this time and we were on a dirt road flanked by dense vegetation on either side. At first, we were using our cell phone flashlights to guide the way but we turned them off when we realized we were surrounded by fireflies. Looking up it seemed as if the sky was a mirror – the stars stationary reflections of the fireflies below. It was quiet except for the insects and we felt safe. Up ahead, we could see the lights of a town. It wasn’t the sanctuary so we continued on. Almost out of town we were stopped by a very kind man offering us a place to stay if we didn’t want to walk. We thanked him and said we were fine, but asked how much further it was. “Oh, not far, just a stone’s throw, just a stone’s throw”. An hour later, we were there. Apparently, Ghanaian’s can throw stones far.

We have only had running water for about 5 hours in the last month. This week, the power has been off and on all over campus. This means we can’t charge our phones, laptops, or cameras, use internet (or a computer for that matter), lectures that require televisions or powerpoints are cancelled, and all the ice cream is melted. Despite all of that, it is nice when the lights are off, because when the power is out, there is no noise. Everyone retires early and speakers don’t work. I miss the quiet. Last night, I remembered that I had birthday candles, so I stuck three in a piece of bread and Carmen and I watched in silence as they slowly burned, flickering in the wind coming in through our window. After five perfect minutes of thought lost in flame, Carmen noticed that they left the shape of a heart burned into the bread.

fake money for a fake country

Day 79.

Friday.

6:00pm: meeting to pay for Benin trip to support the Black Stars. 30 Ghana Cedis for international students. Paid. Told to meet at Central Cafeteria at 2am on Sunday to depart. Excitement is high!

Saturday

5:30pm: Meeting finalizing the details of the trip to Benin. International students are told we do not need visas as the organizers have received clearance from the Ministries for us to pass through the Togo and Benin borders with an escort for one day only. All we need to bring is our student id card; bring your passport if you have it. Time change: eet at Central Caf at 11pm, leaving at 12am.

10pm: Time change: text message received stating that the time we are to leave for Benin has been moved from midnight to three am, no reason given.

Sunday

12am: Nap until 2:30am.

2:45am: Walk to Central Caf to find other obrunis and some Ghanaians waiting in the dark. There is a bus but no one in it. I lay in the grass and wait.

3:45am: More people have shown up. Coordinators cannot be reached. We wait.

4:10am: We load the bus, however half of us don’t fit. They stay behind to wait for bus two. We wait in the bus. Many people haven’t slept. Coordinators show up.

5:30am: Bus one leaves UG campus. Bus two is still M.I.A.

9:45am: Arrive in Aflao, the border town. Exchange money from cedis to CFAs. We wait.

10:30am: At the border. The escort has left, as we were supposed to have arrived by 8am. Told by men in uniform that the obrunis will not be permitted to enter Togo or Benin without a visa. $20 in to Togo, $30 into Benin, $20 back in to Togo. No one has enough money or would be willing to pay even if they did. We must wait for bus two so that a bus of Ghanaians can proceed to the game and the obrunis head back to Accra. People are bummed but accept it and keep their cool.

11:30am: Bus two is still behind. We backtrack to meet it.

11:45am: We make the switch. The Ghanaians apologize for us not being able to go. We wish them a great time. Lots of handshakes, snaps, and smiles.

3:00pm: After a long, uncomfortable and hot bus ride, we are back at school. 30 Cedis and 12 hours down the drain.

4:30pm: The Black Stars lose to Benin.

The best part of the day was in Aflao, where Togolese women cross the border to sell baguettes (!) full of avocados, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. Amazing, not quite worth 30 Cedis and 12 hours, but amazing nonetheless. Despite that fact that we weren’t able to see the game (or even step on Togo soil), the coastal drive to and from the border was beautiful, in an imperfect world, what more could we ask for?

anecdote: When we finally got off the bus, I asked Sauce if he was hungry (which he always is) and he said, jokingly serious, "yeah, but I only have that fake money for that fake country that we never went to". I laughed, then we walked to the traveling market where I bought him lunch in exchange for his fake money that I will use in Senegal. 1,000 CFA will probably get me quite a few more guacamole baguettes (fingers crossed that they have them there).