Day 1 and 2 of Trip to the North

Hello Everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to write about my holidays! Right after I got back from my travels, I had to hop on another bus to Accra to get started with my new placement. Which also means moving in to a new house, getting acquainted with new roommates and friends, getting to know a new surrounding area, and...LESSON PLANNING for the new school! So needless to say, in the last two-ish weeks I've been quite busy! However, finally...finally, I had a morning to write in the quiet. So let's take this jam-packed vacation day-by-day...

Day 0: Dec. 26, 2007
The day before we were supposed to leave, we sat down for about one half hour planning out our routes, figuring out tro-tro times, hotels, and realizing we would be REALLY lucky if we made it to see the hippos. The hippo sanctuary was SO far out to the west that we weren't sure if we would have time because the elephants at Mole National Park were our main priority. Take a look at the map below.



The hippo sanctuary lies within the Black Volta River, which is the border between Burkina Faso and Ghana. Anyway, those were just our thoughts as we left for...

Day 1: Dec. 27th, 2007
We were packed and ready to go. Each with just a backpack which also had a bed sheet and a towel inside (we rock at packing now)! We left before 8am and taxied to the tro-tro station in Ho. We then bought our tickets to Kumasi (our first stop), stepped into the vehicle, and squeezed in between our neighbors to sit and wait (shoulder to shoulder) for the tro-tro to fill up with passengers so that we could leave. So Kristy and I, in the middle of the very last bench, finally said, "Goodbye," to Ho and began our, what we thought was a 5 hour journey to Kumasi. However, this trip turned into (are you ready?) a not only shoulder to shoulder, but hip to hip, knee to knee, ankle to ankle, with our backpacks squished between our calves, sweat that is half-yours, half your neighbor's all over your body, window seat people who close the window (our only source of ventilation) because the dust gets in their eyes, bag of water in your hand that you can't drink because if you do, you'll have to pee, and the tro-tro doesn't stop, EIGHT-hour drive to Kumasi. The speed bumps along the way don't help either, hehe. Something that's fun on the tro-tro, though, is when it stops to drop people off, or the driver needs to do grocery shopping, ladies run up to the side with big bowls of goodies on their heads that each cost about 10 cents. There were bananas, little bags of peanuts, fried yams with tomatoey-spicey sauce, plantain chips, loaves of bread, oranges, bags of water (2 for 10 cents), some places had chunks of fish or chicken (but we stayed away from the meat knowing that stomach problems would make this a trip from H-E double hockey stick) and that became our breakfast and lunch for the next seven days.

When we arrived in Kumasi (busier than Accra) with our shirts and pants stuck to the back of us, we got off that tro-tro and asked the nearest person to point us in the direction of our hotel. So we started walking, legs-so happy. When we arrived we were told they were full, but had we tried the Presbyterian Guest House? Haha, do we have "Presbyterians" stamped on our foreheads?? So God looked after us, because this place was AWESOME! For only $8 ($4 each) we had a ceiling fan, two beds, a nice bathroom down the hall, and it was REALLY clean! Rock on! After dinner at a restaurant with pool tables (we treated ourselves to a game), we headed back to our home for the night, showered and hopped in our beds (that had plenty of leg room).

Day Two: Dec. 28
6:00 am we 'checked out' (handed the key to the guy as we walked out) and grabbed a taxi to the bus station, no tro-tros for us today. When we arrived at 6:10, the bus to Tamale (check map) was already full! Boo! Taxi driver says, no worries, I'll just take you to the other bus station. So we thanked him after he dropped us off and walked up to the Tamale bus-ticket-people and asked to buy one. "Oh, sorry, the tickets are finished, and there are no more buses to Tamale today." The only other bus in the yard was to Wa, which just so happens to be the way to the hippos! Okay God, should we go see the hippos? Apparently! Kristy and I pow-wowwed and decided bus-to-hippos was better than finding a tro-tro to Tamale (direction of elephants).

We waited about two hours for them to pack all the big bags under the bus and let us on (it's like a Greyhound with hard seats and no tvs or bathrooms). Kristy and I were just excited because we had seat numbers! And they were NEXT to each other! Well, as luck would have it, we walked to our seats and there in our 3-seat row, was a lady sitting in our, what we felt was a much deserved, window seat. This would have been not THAT big of a deal if she didn't have a 3 year old boy and a 12 year old girl sitting on her lap! So, with our hard attitudes, we sat down in the middle and aisle seats. Now, thinking and talking is all you can really do on Ghanaian transport. There is no room to write and it's too uncomfortable to read. And because Kristy and I were in bad morning moods, I just sat there, thinking. Thinking about this horrible situation that I was in. The seat that I paid for had again no foot room and I didn't get the window seat, AGAIN! I'm just TRYING to have a good vacation here! Vacation. I'm on vacation. This lady can't afford to buy another $7 ticket for her 12-year-old and I'm sulking about my 'deserved' leg room? Wow Meg. Classy. So, if Jesus were sitting next to me (which He probably is anyway), what would He want to see from the girl that he sent all the way to Ghana? So, for the next seven hours, Lydia, the 12-year-old from Sawla, Ghana, sat on my lap and talked Kristy and my ears off. I also decided if I'm ever back in the area, I'm gonna look her up and hang out with her because that 12-year-old was COOL! Oh, and she was like our little tour guide! She showed us various types of trees, told us the names for the small villages we passed, and she even did her share of 12-year-old making fun of the 'bush' people. Anyway, listening to Lydia's plans of someday becoming a doctor was MUCH more fun than being pissed all day.

We were sad when the three of them got off in Sawla and we continued on, especially without a tour guide! We arrived in Wa and headed to the tourist office to figure out how we were going to get to the hippos. The guy told us it would be best to leave tomorrow morning for Wechau (village where hippo sanctuary office was). So we took the night to shop for our dinner for tomorrow (no restaurant at the river!) and find a hotel. The Kunateh Lodge had a room for just $10 ($5 each) WITH a bathroom! Score! There weren't any places open to eat dinner, so we asked if the hotel had it. He called a few people and eventually got two girls to come and cook for us. Then a shower and bedtime with dreams of seeing hippos in the morning!

to be continued...