Maranathas

Finally I'm sitting down to update you all on my African lifestyle. The long weekend is now over and I'm back to school, teaching and Twi. I am no longer the only Obruni in Banko because another volunteer from a different organization has joined me at the school and the orphanage. Her name is Sophie and she is from Germany. Finally, someone to eat my meals with (the children are all shooed away from me while I eat and I admit, its a bit lonely) and converse with in English. I'm in a neighbouring town to use the internet. The drive was about 15-20 minutes and it cost less than one cedis (one dollar). The dollar really goes a long way in Ghana.

I can't remember if I've already mentioned this in my last blog but there was a football (soccer) tournament for our JSS school and 3 other ones from other towns. It was so cute to see the children supporting their teams and dancing along to the music. I love how everyone just DANCES all the time. Its such a happy country and I love that!

After the tournament I took a taxi to Nsuta, where Jessi is, and we headed off to Kumasi to take a bus back to Accra. I left Banko around 3 and arrived in Kumasi around midnight. 99.9% of that time was spent sandwiched next to someone on a bus or a tro tro getting bashed against the window as our bus sped through the potholes. I woke up the next morning and I couldn't figure out why I had a bruise on my head. Then I realized it was from the bus ride.

Friday morning we left early for the lorry station to catch a tro tro to Ada Foah, a town in the volta region, relatively close to Togo. Generally speaking, as an obruni, all the people on the tro tros tell us when to get off at our stop even when we know where we're going. Unfortunately, nobody told us on our way to Ada Foah and we ended up going about an hour too far. In the end we did reach our destination and we only spent a few extra cedis. We stayed at a place called Maranathas Estuary Beach Club. You have to take a boat in order to get there. On the boat through the Volta River, we passed the coolest fishing village with all their fishing boats out on display. Its hard to believe you're in Africa though because a ton of rich white people have built mansions along the river and there are yachts, speed boats, sea doos and wakeboarders. Then you pass a village where the huts are made of mud or have a roof made from palm trees and you remember you're actually in Africa.

Maranathas was probably the coolest place I've been - apart from the pestering of men claiming their eternal love for me and Jessi. Our room was actually a little hut with a sand floor, a bed and two chairs. About 30 seconds walk behind our hut is the sea and about 20 seconds walk from our front door is the river. We were surrounded by palm trees and the views were amazing!!! I could easily spend the rest of my time there. There's a very real chance that I will be back there in the near future. One day we paddled across the river to an island where there are private houses and a small 'hotel' which is actually just two huge huts people can rent. It was about a 2 hour paddle there and back on a floatation device that was really sketchy. It didn't seem too far until we were about half way back. Anyways, I got a really bad burn and probably have the worst tan lines I've ever seen. I was even wearing sun screen (just for you Mother). However, I am no longer a poster girl for the london tan (thats for you Delwen) and my burn is going away and turning brown.


This weekend I think we are headed up north to Mole national Park which is the biggest NP in Ghana. There we expect to see elephants, maybe a lion if we're lucky, and all the other African animals one expects to see on a safari (minus the zebra and giraffe because they are nearly extinct in all of West Africa). Then we are thinking of going up to Paga, very far north, pretty much on the boarder of Ghana and Burkina Faso. There is a crocodile farm at Paga where you can feed a chicken to them and....SIT ON THEM! Since I've tried to remove every ounce of 'wimp' in me for this trip, there is a pretty good chance you'll eventually see a picture of me on a crock. If not on it, touching it, but I might be rather disappointed if thats all I did. We're also thinking of going to Kintampo Falls which is apparently this really awesome waterfall. I've heard its better during the wet season, which we are just entering, but I'm pretty sure its good all year round.

Anyways, I better finish up here as I only have 5 more minutes of time on this computer. It's taken me an hour to read one email, send one email, and get to this point. Remember the days of dial up?

Hope to hear from you all soon, but I can't guarantee a quick response.
I know its a day or two late but Happy Easter!!! I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! Say hi from Anna
xoxo Anna

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