Journey to the Western Region: this is honestly one of the best trips I have done so far in Ghana. Before this trip I had a nasty adventure at the post office trying to get a package and I ended up getting red listed…I am not sure what this means…but hopefully my next package will go through. The person I went to the post office will yelled at the workers…and they vengefully tried to get me back by having me apologize for a half hour and then convince them that I do respect them. oHHH GHANA…so this weekend was the EXACT PICK ME UP I NEEDED.
Tro-tro to Takoradi: So we left a little late from our destination (ISH), and ended up at Takoradi at 9:30pm at night. Luckily our hotel was RIGHT NEXT TO THE STOP…so we did not have to worry about wandering an unknown city.
Dinner at North Sea Restaurant: We (Katie, Avery. Lisa, Emma, and I were all on the trip) DISCOVERED A restaurant right next to the hotel that served PIZZA! Yes, any opportunity I have to eat pizza…I do…BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING! ;) AND I MISS CHEESE LIKE CRAZY (I understand your pain Heather…just a little bit). The owner was from somewhere in Europe and gave us a student discount…WE SAVED 4 CD ON THE MEAL…SCORE!
Night at Mosden Hotel LTD. So we check into the hotel for the night and the main man said we could not stay the night claiming that five people in a room is a violation. We convinced him we are only staying one night and we promise never to do it again…so stay the night with two beds we did. ☺ Wonderful Lisa slept on the floor using sofa cushions as a bed and the rest of us shared the two twin beds. It was a rough night. I forgot how rocky sometimes you sleep when you travel. We dragged ourselves out of bed the next mornings looking for food and bus tickets.
Morning rise for STC tickets and a GLORIOUS BREAKFAST: We found the STC bus station and bought tickets for the next day so we would get back to Accra with speedy efficiency. After writing down all our names and finally getting the tickets we found a Ghanaian lady that made egg sandwiches AND MILO (this is the hot chocolate of Ghana but is way more creamier and super yummy). The egg sandwich bread was to DIE FOR, she put so many veggies on the egg sandwich, AND HER MILO WAS HEAVENLY CREAMY! This was fo show an omen that this weekend was going to be a great one. ☺
Journey to Agona: So we found the tro-tro station, only a couple blocks from the hotel, and got in a tro-tro to Agona. This small town is the main transporter to all the small villages that we had hopped to travel to. We sat in the tro-tro for about n hour waiting for it to fill up. One thing I have noticed that has changed about me, is the patience I have acquired with waiting here. An hour seems like nothing here, but in the United States it seems like SO MUCH. Anyways…when the tro-tro is finally loaded we hop on our way to Agona.
Journey to Butre: from Agona we get another tro-tro to Butre (one of the small towns on the Western coast of Ghana). The journey there is on a bit of a rough road, but very beautiful rain forest/beach foliage. We arrive to the small town and are hearded to the tourist booth. You see, when someone arrives in this small town and they are clearly a foreigner they will be brought to the tourist venue. We paid 5 CD to see the local fort. The view of the ocean from the village was breath-taking…but the view from the top of the fort was even better.
Old Greg (SHOUT OUT TO MY DAD ANTHONY RAPPE….sorry I had to do it)…not really but Fort Batenstein. The hike up this hill, the highest point in the area, was liberating. Our view seemed like it should be in a guidebook as a must see destination. I felt like I was on one of those travel channels showing the beauty within. I was COMPLETELY SPEACHLESS AT THE BEAUTY…and so was the rest of the group. We had two young men give us a tour of the place…giving us no history but honestly there for pictures. So we of course took advantage of the situation and got some pretty spectacular pictures. The great thing about paying to see this fort is the money goes directly to the community for them to benefit. Since it is such a rural area I know they will enjoy the benefits.
Walk to Busua: we had a debate as a group whether to wait for a tro-tro or go out and walk on a mysterious footpath to Busua, the next town westward. Knowing me, I was pushing for the walking…always up for a little hike. ☺ We decided to go for it and walked about 2 km to the next town. We hiked up the next major hill and found ourselves hiking through a BEAUTIFUL forest, with butterflies and all. ☺ This defines my happiness of the weekend. I dearly miss nature when I am in a big city and this, my friends, COMPLETED ME. ☺ Although the heat and humid was strong…the nature out powered all these concerns.
Lunch at Okorye Tree: We made it Busua and were DETERMINED to find the EPIC BURRITO JOINT. We have heard from MANY people that this join is the best decision ever….we intersected with the juice man of the town. He made us fresh pineapple, orange, ad mango juice. So most of us bought burritos and drank glorious juice. This was a real natural haven. What could be better? My mother always used the saying…”drinking mint juleps”, when she was very busy with something…but I really did feel like I was on a BEAUTIFUL VACATION. Granted, this vacation required a lot of roughing it…but the sights we saw were wonderful. There was a PRECIOUS CAT at this restaurant that we obsessed over. The problem with dogs here is we avoid petting them…just in case they have rabies…you can never know. And since most of us did not get the rabies shots…we did not want to endure the terror that is rabies. Anyways, so seeing a cat was refreshing and we LOVED IT!
Walk to Delightful Dixcove: After our bellies were wonderfully full we decided to walk to our next destination to Dixcove. We crossed a bridge over a stream that connects fresh water with ocean water. These rivers fascinate me…being land locked my entire life. This was another delightful walk up another hill and to a bit larger of a village, rather a small town. Their port was breathtaking. Something so simple in the eyes of a native is something so capturing I just wanted to say and consume the organic qualities.
Fort Metal Cross: we find the fort by looking for the highest point. This fort is very different than the other one in Butre with it updated with a layer of white paint constantly. The other fort was falling to pieces and was clearly never treated to. This fort had kids playing around up in it…playing their typical African game of football (American soccer). The vivid whiteness with the surrounding green (plants) and blue (ocean) makes for another mind-blowing view. We decided not to go inside this fort because the money did not seem to go to the locals that needed, but rather the local elite…which is something I firmly disagree with…but VERY prevalent in Ghana.
Green Turtle Lodge: sadly the walk to our next destination was not appropriate to our time schedule…it was a 10 km walk…which is honestly not that bad…but we needed to get to the lodge before it was dark. So we hopped into a cab and had him guide us to this raved about hotel. This lodge’s commitment to the environment is truly refreshing. This Green Turtle Lodge run by am English couple is all solar power and pays local fisherman to save the sea turtles they catch in their nets. The lodge was a very decorative place, but a bit of a reference to camping. In my opinion, this place was the best of both worlds. We fell asleep to the sounds of the ocean crashing. Our view of the ocean felt like it was out of a world traveler book…nothing real…just imaginative. Yet, here I was, a college student wanting an adventure for a semester…experiencing this blissful beauty.
Akwidaa and the Mangrove Lagoon: The next morning we rise early hoping for another adventure: canoeing down a lagoon. We were told by one of the Green Turtle Lodge employees to walk to the next town, which was 1km away from the lodge and meet up with a man on the beach. I was thinking…how are we going to find this Ghanaian? Ya, what was I thinking…of course he was just looking for the Obrunis out of place walking towards the town. Of course the first Ghanaian guy we see we try to walk away from because we receive so many taunts from Ghanaians that they should not be easily trusted, specially with five girls. But, indeed he was the tour guide. We walk to the river and find a canoe ready for us. We hop in and he begins the tour. We go out for 45 minutes and 45 minutes back. He points out all different kinds of birds, fish, crabs and plants (specifically the plentiful amount of mangroves). This was yet again an AMAZING SITE. The water, the sky, the trees, and the animals made for a spectacular canoe trip. As discussed with everyone in the group, I honestly can’t describe the experience and give it the needed justice…but indeed IT WAS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. I felt like I was in a dream…hoping it would never end. Saddly, it did…and with it ending required the journey back to Accra.
Long Journey back to Accra with a friend from BOULDER along the way: So it took about 9 hours to get completely back to our “home city”. Granted we had a two-hour wait in Takoradi bus station. At this bus station I had a pleasant conversation with a man from Poland thinking about spending 5 more years in Ghana (he has been here for about 4 months)…DANG TALK ABOUT A LONG TIME. I think the PC (Peace Corps) is a long time…then I got to reconsider…hahahaha ☺
On the way back to Accra we stopped in Cape Coast and picked up more people. I ended up sitting next to a man from Boulder…NO JOKE! For non-Coloradoans…this is a city in Colorado about an hour away from my hometown, Fort Collins. He was in Ghana for 10 days working with a school for Autism in Ghana. He has started a Non-profit school in Denver…and working on starting one in Boulder. I believe they are called the Josuha Tree schools…sorry if I spelled it wrong. But before this, he worked in the public school system. Needless to say…we TALKED THE ENTIRE TIME. Me being a future teacher and pretty liberal…we connected greatly. I hope to tour this school sometime in the future because awareness and understanding of different students is critical in becoming a teacher. This trip was FABULOUS ALL AROUND! ☺
On a bit more of a startling light…there is a cholera outbreak on our school’s campus…YES A CHOLERA OUTBREAK! There are signs posted everywhere warning people to be very smart about where and what they eat. After being sick twice already in Ghana I plan on trying to avoid this outbreak. It is scary though…this sickness hits you fast…and long hospital hours while needing to rush to the bathroom all the time…IS NOT A GOOD IDEA.
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