June 14-15

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Monday June 14: Ghana

This day was awesome! Spent most of it outside at a Botanical garden, Dr. Opoku’s farm, and also went to an Herbal Medicine Center. We went from Accra (which is a large city) to the mountains (and I can’t remember the name of where we went to). The mountains were beautiful and made me feel right at home.
The first stop up the mountain was the Herbal Medicine center where they have found many natural ways to help people. Some of the main issues they are currently working on are Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Typhoid, and some issues present in Africa and around the world. We were also able to purchase some of the herbal remedies if we wanted to; so I bought a natural painkiller, so we will see how that works. They are also working on other natural ways to heal people and find cures for diseases in the world.
The second stop was at the Botanical gardens; unfortunately it was somewhat cloudy so it was not as pleasant but I still enjoyed myself thoroughly. The trees and the plants were so green, beautiful, and big! I took a lot of pictures beside the trees so if you look at my facebook pictures you can get a feel of how large they were! Also went into a tree that had been taken over by another tree. The inside was hollow from another tree literally rotting out the middle and strangling it. I had a great time there.
The last stop of the day was at Dr. Opuko’s farm (my professor from the University of Ghana). We were welcomed there with coconuts taken right off of the tree. They cut the coconut so we could drink the juice then cut it and we were able to eat it. Surprisingly I liked the coconut juice and the actual meat of it. His farm had a lot of trees and he said he mostly gives away the fruit/vegetables from his farm instead of selling it.

Tuesday June 15: Ghana > Togo > Benin

Drove allllllll dayyy long to get to Benin (about 8 hours).
It was crazy that I went to 3 different countries in 1 day. It was a long process to get out of Ghana, into Togo, out of Togo, and then to get into Benin; but it was an experience and now I have more stamps in my passport. The drive was very pretty and it was nice to leave the big city of Accra and see some of the less populated areas. That was a very long day but we arrived at a small hotel right on the beach. The rooms were little bungalows with AC (yayyyy) and a small tv. The beach was about a block or two from my room, I could see it from the porch. The hotel was more secluded than previous locations but it was beautiful. The currents off of the coast are much too strong to get into the water so we just walked on the beach in the morning and enjoyed the tranquil setting before packing up and leaving again.

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